A transalp with a difference – cycling from Kappl to Sölden

A transalp is the dream of many mountain bikers. Usually, the crossing is from north to south, with Lake Garda as the destination. Such a Tour is great, but it also requires some logistical planning, especially for the return journey. Last summer, I decided, at short notice, to tour the Alps with friends. We wanted to start and finish in North Tyrol, which saved us a long day of travelling. The entire adventure ran along the many great trails of the main Alpine chain.

The result was this Tour and its seven stages. Starting in Kappl in the Paznaun valley, the route leads in a semicircle back north to the Ötz valley. You pass through three countries – Austria, Switzerland and Italy. Many beautiful valleys and some of the highest passes in the Eastern Alps lie on the way. For even more downhill fun, we used cable cars four times. This reduced the amount of elevation gain we had to conquer ourselves to almost exactly 8,000 metres (26,250 ft).

The Tour combines many well-known highlights, like the trail from the Fimbapass to the Madritschjoch and the Tibet trails. This is the great challenge of the adventure – it’s not so much the uphill altitude metres that take so much energy, but the downhill. The bottom line: this Transalp is for experienced riders with good endurance and technique. Keep an eye on the weather and find out the snow conditions for the high crossings before you set off.

We booked most of our accommodation in advance. In the larger towns, this was easy. However, book the Rifugio Fraele and the Zufallhütte early to be on the safe side. There are no alternatives there. As the start and end points are well connected to the rail network, this adventure is easy to reach with public transport. Some of our group travelled by train to Kappl and returned directly from Ötztal station. In the summer months, bike spaces are often booked up quickly. Here too, you should book in advance.

We all agreed that the tour was a great transalp. We travelled through three countries, heard many different dialects and crossed the main chain of the Alps, twice. We didn’t have the feeling of missing out for not having ventured further south. Of course, arriving at Lake Garda is also an experience – we’ll leave that for our next trip!