GRA Itinerary Title
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The combination is breathtaking: a crystal clear lake lined by sheer cliffs rising to complex mountain ranges, riddled with mountain bike trails. Add great hotel accommodation, the most experienced & respected guides in the region and you have a mountain bike holiday like nothing else in Europe.
Highlights
- Spectacular mountain singletrack
- An expert guide and many routes to explore
- Uplifts included for mountain-to-lake epic rides
- Secret trails with stunning views
- Great accommodation and fine Italian food
Usual daily distances:
32 - 45km
20 - 28 miles
Please Note: This is a sample itinerary. The guides will select the best order of the rides for each day, depending on the group, the weather and other factors.
Ride Description
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Day 1 – Milan Bergamo to Torbole
Saturday
Flight transfer from Milan Bergamo
Transfers are included for all arrivals between 15:00 and 19:00 local time. We will pick-up after the last arrival flight (if you arrive early there are bars and cafes at the airport). For departures we like to allow 2.5 hours for the transfer and suggest that people book flights not leaving Milan Bergamo before 10:00am. We will set off in time for the earliest flight.
Our hotel is in Torbole Sul Garda, at the northern end of the lake. Depending on arrival times, we'll build up the bikes if you are bringing your own and make sure everything is working well.
For those renting bikes we will set up the bikes for your weight and riding style. We hopefully have time for a quick spin to familiarise yourself with the local area. This evening we can walk to a good nearby restaurant for your first taste of the great Italian food, wine and hospitality on this trip.
Accommodation for the week:
The New Garden Hotel (or similar)
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Day 2 - Val San Valeder
Sunday
Monte Tremalzo hosts probably the most famous trail of the area, but also some of the most secret ones! We'll take the shuttle from Torbole to near the top of Monte Tremalzo 1650mtrs. We still have some pedalling to do though as we combine bits of the classic route and the stunning views it offers over the region using tracks made by the military during WW1.
We'll stop for lunch at an old frontier post, high in the mountains catered by the Alpini, who were once the army regiment who fought in the mountains. The food here is amazing and plentiful, all freshly cooked with produce from the local area, rinsed down with local wine, all served at 1260mtrs of altitude!
We'll be riding along this famous battle frontier where you can still see the trenches from a 100 years ago. We soon leave the classic trail and head into secret single track heaven where you'll wonder if any bikes have been before us or not! It's not on any map, strava or trailforks! It starts with a gentle silent climb through a forest where the only noise is the tyres crumpling leaves and snapping the odd twig.
One of the best views in the area appears before we start to drop down beautiful natural single track, nothing man made here, no breaking bumps. Here we'll find fast flowy, then slow switchbacks, loamy, rooty, rocky a bit of everything. The final part of the descent is down the magnificent Ponale trail, an abandoned road cut into the side of a vertical cliff overlooking the lake. We end our ride in Riva del Garda harbour piazza, where the temptation of an Italian aperitivo might be hard to resist.
Back to the hotel, bike check, shower and change and then we'll head out to one of the other great restaurants in the town.
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Day 3 - Monte Biaina
Monday
Monte Biaina is a favourite among the locals who are in the know, yet is rarely ridden by visitors, unaware of what they are missing out on!
After breakfast we'll make our way towards Arco and it's famous castle perched precariously above the town, a world renown place for climbers. Our climb takes us up a very quiet lane through a beautiful valley, past vineyards and olive groves.We'll have earned lunch at the top at the mountain refuge with stunning views over the valley below.
After lunch we start a long traverse along a secluded valley taking in the first section of single track before a short steep climb. No one has cleaned it that we know of, so the gauntlet is down!
Mere mortals will push the bikes for 10 minutes, a small price to pay as it leads us the the sentiero delle viperi, amazing views as we drop down this fantastic trail, steep and flowy with a couple of technical sections to hone your skills on. We drop back down into Arco and we'll pedal through the old town, take a coffee, cake, ice cream etc in the square and do the obligatory bike watching.
A gentle ride back alongside the River Sarca will take us back to Torbole and a ride to the beach for that well earned refreshing drink in the sun next to the lake.
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Day 4 - Malga Campei
Tuesday
A shuttle uplift to 1650mtrs to give the legs a rest after Monday's effort will take us up Monte Altissimo to Rifugio Graziani.
A coffee at the rifugio to get us prepared for the first section, we are contouring round the mountain towards the narrow single track that hugs the slopes with uninterrupted views for miles (kilometres) towards Trento and Bolzano.
Photo opportunities galore along this section with the valley over a thousand metres below us.
A beautiful flowy forest section follows that will have you beaming from ear to ear as we drop down to the lunch stop. Here the landowner has opened a Baite to sample local food including cheese he makes himself. The big surprise however is what he has done underground! As a hobby, he has created a reconstruction of a WW1 tunnel, trench and underground encampment, open for guests to visit. Unique!
After lunch we climb on forest roads around 300mtrs to a point where we have a choice of 4 trails back to Torbole! One is the well known Val del Daiol, or we could do the Coast Trail with it's breathtaking views over Lake Garda as it descends over a rock plate, or the famous 601 trail but more than likely, we'll head off into the lesser known trails, off piste, off map, a mix of flowy tech with a huge grin factor! Who mentioned aperitivo and ice cream again?
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Day 5 - Rest day !
Wednesday
Yay! Torbole can offer you complete rest or a whole host of non biking activities.
Take to the beach and recover or maybe try the windsurfing or sailing on the lake that is rated in the top 3 in the world for sailing! Rock climbing? Via ferrata? Trekking? Kite surfing? Stand up paddling? Wine and cheese sampling?
A visit to one of the many cantinas that make wine in the area or to a frantoio where olive oil is pressed. Waterfalls, the cascate di varone is nearby, canyoning, rafting? We can help organise these if you are interested. Maybe hike up to the top of Monte Brione to visit the bunkers and gun emplacements from WW1 with a spectacular view over the lake.
Walk the old world cup DH course (riding is banned due to the danger - it runs along a vertical 250mtr cliff drop!) Lots to do if you want more adventure. Did we say rest day?
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Day 6 – Paganella Bike Park
Thursday
What? A bike park? wait though..... it's not what you might be thinking.
Paganella is a short drive away from Garda and offers an amazing diversity of trails. It's new and they have really thought it out well. We'll take the shuttle to Paganella and from there we'll prepare and take the ski/chair lifts up the mountain with breath taking views as we ascend.
From the top there is the super smooth fast flow of Willy Wonka that a beginner would find just as much fun as a full pro rider who can jump and berm everything to the max. At the other end of the scale there is completely natural, steep, tech, loamy, rooty, single track, untouched by humans, nothing artificial.
The top of Paganella is 2250mtrs with stunning views over the surrounding valley and is served by a network of chair and ski lifts offering a combination of trails that would need several days to take in everything. A favourite with riders every time we visit.
We'll take lunch at one of the many restaurants that are on the mountain and the final run will be from the very top of the mountain, where we can take a coffee before our final rock 'n roll descent down natural single track, all the way down to the shuttle waiting for us.
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Day 7 – Monte Zugna
Friday
It's Freeride Friday! Last day of the week so we'll keep the climbing to the minimum and use the shuttle all day! But don't underestimate the effort involved, you'll know you've been out after today!
We use the shuttle to take us up Monte Zugna. An site of significant historical interest, Zugna was a huge battlefront in WW1 for 3 solid years the front line didn't move so the area has an abundance of history and acknowledgent to the war and it's effect on the region as well as the landscape.
We will be riding next to and even in the trenches, we;ll pass by caves used for munitions and armaments, sniper points etc. The trails are a legacy from that era, built by the military to evade detection. Zugna is relatively undiscovered apart from the locals.
We'll shuttle up between 3 and 4 times and get in around 3500mtr of descending on the labyrinth of trails on the mountain. A mix of fast and flowy, tech and rocky, tight and twisty, all on single track! Lunch on top of the mountain to boot! One of the guide's favourite days out!
It's our last night, so put your best knee pads on and we'll venture into the town for the best of local food and drink (ok, maybe you won't need the knee pads)
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Day 8 - Departure day
Saturday
On our last day we pack up our bikes and start our transfer back to the Airport for a flight home. Once again our expert guide will help with any packing issues, if you have any. If you would prefer to spend more time in Italy, either staying in Lake Garda or breaking the flight home to spend a few days exploring Milan, please let us know as we can help with these arrangements.
We use the shuttle to take us up Monte Zugna. For departures we like to allow 2.5 hours for the transfer, and suggest that people book flights not leaving Milan Bergamo before 10:00am. We will set off in time for the earliest flight.