Bike regions in Italy
Discussion
Planning a one-week trip to Italy this year, and looking for recommendations for a nice place to start and finish daily trips of around 100km from.
We'll be having our bikes transported there, so the route to the destination is not important.
Looking for a good mix of riding in scenery, eating and looking at things. Dolomiti? Tuscany? Abruzzi? Any experiences?
We'll be having our bikes transported there, so the route to the destination is not important.
Looking for a good mix of riding in scenery, eating and looking at things. Dolomiti? Tuscany? Abruzzi? Any experiences?
Only 100km per day is rather limiting. Are you only wanting to stay in Italy or could you venture in Austria / Switzerland?
It depends on where you want to start and end up I suppose.
If you haven't already done the Stelvio pass, this is obviously a good run out. You can come to the pass a number of ways, either from Bormio, but I would advise doing the Umbrialpass that leads up to the stelvio peak, then head down to Gomagio.
If you are heading further west, the Bolzano region has some good roads and you are within reach of the Dolomite mountains where there are a number of awesome roads.
Ive done the Alps a number of times and am headed to the dolomites in June so let me know if you want some more information on the "must do" roads in these regions and Ill be happy to advise - you will need to be doing more than 100Km per day tho!
It depends on where you want to start and end up I suppose.
If you haven't already done the Stelvio pass, this is obviously a good run out. You can come to the pass a number of ways, either from Bormio, but I would advise doing the Umbrialpass that leads up to the stelvio peak, then head down to Gomagio.
If you are heading further west, the Bolzano region has some good roads and you are within reach of the Dolomite mountains where there are a number of awesome roads.
Ive done the Alps a number of times and am headed to the dolomites in June so let me know if you want some more information on the "must do" roads in these regions and Ill be happy to advise - you will need to be doing more than 100Km per day tho!
100km per day is EXTREMLY limiting. Many of the really nice places to ride are in the mountains and it's quite common to find that there simply isn't a circular route that can be done in 100km. (Mountains are f
king big obstacles to get around/over!)
My recommendation would be The Dolomites in the area around Merano, Bolzano, Cortina d'Ampezzo
The Old Gits did this area in 2019 - http://www.old-gits.org/2019.htm and we had a great time. (I can highly recommend the hotel too!)
ETA - Just looked at you profile and understand the 100km range! I think that you'll be very restricted as to where you can ride as charging will, I suspect, be difficult. I'd be concerned doing such a trip on a petrol bike that only had a 100km range as I'm sure we've been further than that between petrol stations.
king big obstacles to get around/over!)My recommendation would be The Dolomites in the area around Merano, Bolzano, Cortina d'Ampezzo
The Old Gits did this area in 2019 - http://www.old-gits.org/2019.htm and we had a great time. (I can highly recommend the hotel too!)
ETA - Just looked at you profile and understand the 100km range! I think that you'll be very restricted as to where you can ride as charging will, I suspect, be difficult. I'd be concerned doing such a trip on a petrol bike that only had a 100km range as I'm sure we've been further than that between petrol stations.
Edited by black-k1 on Monday 16th January 16:16
We'll be having the bikes hauled by a truck who does Malmö-Rome-Malmö every week; two electric, and two 125cc. Hence the range limit and the need for twisty roads. The electrics may charge for lunch break, but two hours on each of any of the bikes makes the bottom hurt.
These are some good tips, thank you all.
A good place to stay has roads in all directions, and I agree: the deeper the valleys, the fewer roads and thus the options for different 100km road trips. Might be easier to find where the peaks don't exceed 1000m.
Thinking about the Apennines between Genoa and Florence:
Somewhere up in the mountains, so we can visit Portofino or Cinqueterre as well as venturing to the east deeper into the Apennines.
These are some good tips, thank you all.
A good place to stay has roads in all directions, and I agree: the deeper the valleys, the fewer roads and thus the options for different 100km road trips. Might be easier to find where the peaks don't exceed 1000m.
Thinking about the Apennines between Genoa and Florence:
Somewhere up in the mountains, so we can visit Portofino or Cinqueterre as well as venturing to the east deeper into the Apennines.
Have you fixed the date for your visit yet.
If you are interested in classic and vintage cars you might want to tie it in with the week when the Mille Miglia is passing through. It's June 13 to 17 this year.
My wife and I rode our motorcycles down and stayed in an airbnb not far from arezzo.
We got to park up in some great locations and view the classic cars on their way from Brescia down to Rome and then on their way back up the following day.
It's a great event to follow on a motorcycle because you can get in amongst the cars and overtake them without causing any difficulties for the rally.
The roads around arezzo were fantastic and we got to visit Siena and some other fantastic villages and towns.
Have a great trip you should really enjoy it.
If you are interested in classic and vintage cars you might want to tie it in with the week when the Mille Miglia is passing through. It's June 13 to 17 this year.
My wife and I rode our motorcycles down and stayed in an airbnb not far from arezzo.
We got to park up in some great locations and view the classic cars on their way from Brescia down to Rome and then on their way back up the following day.
It's a great event to follow on a motorcycle because you can get in amongst the cars and overtake them without causing any difficulties for the rally.
The roads around arezzo were fantastic and we got to visit Siena and some other fantastic villages and towns.
Have a great trip you should really enjoy it.
Cestrian said:
There is a Youtube channel called Marc Travels, with some dude currently travelling in Italy on an electric bike. Think it might be a Zero. Might be interesting for you or at least give some hints on availabilty / practicality of charging an electric moto in Italy
I have found the episode where he is closer to Cinqueterre - 'Range doesn't suck today!' in Viareggio. He comes across as a nice guy, but this style of vlogging is hard to watch for me. Anyways, looks like half of all charging stations in Italy are out of order
Shouldn't be much of an issue for us, as we plan to find accommodation with a wall plug close to where the bikes park. 700W is enough to fully charge one in nine hours - which is good for a 100 kilometers of spirited driving.Gassing Station | Biker Banter | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff