The Cimbre Alps are a place I am very fond of. They are certainly not as known as the Dolomites and the other tourist resorts of South Tyrol, but they offer many opportunities to relax and play sports surrounded by nature.
Folgaria is one of the towns that are part of the highlands of these mountains. During winter there is an area with many cross-country and ski slopes. During summer time it offers a variety of trails for hiking or cycling. These places lived the Great War and presents many testimonies of those tragic days.
In fact, many of the routes refer to the roads used by the Austrian soldiers to reach the fortresses which defended the border from the Italian attacks coming from the southern slopes of these mountains.
In Lavarone and Luserna, highlands of Folgaria, there are still these Austrian and Italian fortresses linked by paths in the middle of the woods and nature.
Tourism agencies have rightly pushed the promotion of sporting activities and every year thousands of tourists face pleasant and healthy efforts.
Today we organize mountain bike competitions, foot races that attract people from all over Italy and European countries as well. (bike tour of the strong insert link)
Since a couple of years, you can also rent electric mountain-bikes (e-MBT) which are pretty easy to use and such a useful discovery. This fall I rented an e-MBT and I made a splendid ride. A group of friends and I left from Folgaria and we made a ring of almost 40 km on the ridges of these mountains.
The path led us to see the ruins of forts. We only saw few of them just because the entire trip would have lasted 100 km otherwise…
We could not miss a stop to eat delicious tagliatelle with porcini mushrooms. The Osteria where we stopped is in Passo Coe, well known in the winter for cross-country trails and in summer for the Museo Tuono. In fact in this place up to 30 years ago there was a born missile base. Now what remains was transformed into a very interesting museum inserted in a context made of pastures and grazing cows.
Thanks to the assisted pedaling, our bicycles have brought us up to the top of Monte Maggio. On the top of these mountains there is a cross in memory of the fallen of the First World War. If you are lucky and there is no mist, from the top of this mountain you can see the Venice lagoon.
The tour continued in the middle of fields and woods until you reach Costa di Folgaria where there is a beautiful 18-hole golf course (Folgaria Golf Club). I don’t really know much about this sport even though it always fascinated me. (Not knowing how to play, we are still dedicated to a sport that succeeds.)( Drink of good wine … ) The Country House is housed in a beautiful 18th century rural complex and inside there is a Bistro … a glass of white wine (Traminer) and a chopping board with Speck have pushed/helped us to finish our tour .
Let’s say that we do not represent a great example of “sport-people”, but these moments represent one of the pleasure of life. Food, nature and sport have been a perfect combo. I have not lost weight but at least at the end of this tour we were all “happy” and regenerated.
We couldn’t finish the day without dessert. Strudel is the typical dessert of this area. The strudel is made out of apples and other many delicious stuff.
The experience with e-bikes has thrilled me and I will certainly try other routes in the Cimbrian Alps.
One thing in favor of these places is the proximity to the Brenner motorway. It takes less than an hour to reach Folgaria from the Verona airport and a little more from the Venice one.
There are many hotels, and many of them offer modest prices.
I recommend visiting the site Alpe Cimbra where you can get all the information to plan a stay or organize sport activities.
Useful Information
Nearest Airports:
Verona Airport (VRN) – ( 95 km far from Folgaria)
Low Cost Airlines operating on these Airports: Ryanair, Easyjet, Transavia, Eurowings, Jet2.com, Volotea, Vueling, NeosAir
Hotel reservation: Alpecimbra, Booking.com, Trivago.com
