Alpine triangle (I, A, SLO) by road bike

Individual arrival at the hotel in Hochpustertal. Free, unguarded public car park near the hotel.

The first km from Hochpustertal to Abfaltersbach in East-Tyrol (Austria) will warm up your muscles. The following ascents will demand ambition from every cyclist. In Lesach and Gailtal valley you will be rewarded with a marvellous rural landscape, traditions & customs and lots of cultural sites. A last ascent over the Gailbergsattel and a rapid downhill ride will take you to Oberdrauburg.

Following the river Gail you continue heading south, passing small typical villages. Soon you will reach the Pressegger See. With up to 28° C water temperature, the „Bath of the Gailtal“ is one of the warmest lakes in Austria and is one of the first to open the swimming season in Carinthia. If you like the athletic challenge, you can choose the more challenging option via lake Weißensee. Just right after the start the first steep ascent towards Weißensee is waiting for you (as an option to shorten this part you can use a boat ride – ticket not included). After a while you will reach lake Farchtensee, following the valley and passing small villages you arrive in Feistritz a. d. Gail.

Shortly after Kärnten (Carinthia) you reach the border and continue towards Tarvis. After a comfortable introduction to this stage, you will start to scale up to Passo del Predil. The pass serves as border between Italy and Slovenia and the deserted border station signifies the end of the ascent before dipping speedily downwards. By looping back and forth, you work your way up to the Vrsic. The journey through the Triglav National park in the Julian Alps and passing by Kranjska Gora and Jesenice will direct you through some of the most unique landscape; settings offering clear lakes, foamy rivulets, thundering waterfalls, undisclosed ravines and the Triglav Mountain, the highest in Slovenia and namesake of the eponymous National Park. The day fades away at the romantic lake Bled.

The farewell at Bled could prove to be a little gloomy, but the valley in Bohinj will soon enough replace the mind with euphoria as you take in its wide and breath-taking grandeur edged by the jagged cliffs and peaks of the Julian Alps. You will encounter the first challenges of the day as you cycle through the saddle of Mount “Bohinjsko Sedlo”. Again and again, you are rewarded with exceptional views of the summits crowning the Triglav massiv and the Savatal Mountains. As you cycle down the other side at a racy speed into the Soca Valley, you will catch a glimpse beyond the mountains towards the onshore. As you bypass Tolmin and Kobarid, it will be a sign of your departure from Slovenia. Your energy store will be replenished at dinner with pasta and wine in Cividale del Friuli.

Close to Cividale del Friuli and near to the Slovenian border, you will find the Castelmonte Abbey, one of the oldest places for Christian Pilgrimages in Italy. Continue through the Collio Goriziano the best known wine region in Italy. As you cycle up and down the hills and dales, you will leave behind a myriad of wine estates. The fragrant perfumes of the vines tempt a sampling of the pressed nectar at the numerous wine cellars along the route.

From a distance your face will be caressed by a soft sea breeze proclaiming the ever nearing Adriatic Sea. The hinterland dotted with Karsts formations, is a region made up of white broken limestone cliffs housing countless caves leaning towards a slightly bizarre appearance. Where the high Karsts plateaus submerge into the deep blue water and the white precipices tower vertically towards the sky the coastal road trails through evocative resorts such as Duino, Sistiana, Miramare and Barcola. Time should be allocated to visit Castle Miramare nestling in the middle of a beautiful park perched high above the bay of Grignano. Over the Gulf of Trieste you will spend a night in the city bearing the same name and past times, the harbour metropolis of the Habsburg Empire.

Individual departure from Trieste or extension of your stay.