Itinerary Expand all Fly to Venice; transfer to Dobbiaco. Fly to Venice; transfer to Dobbiaco in the South Tyrol. We stay in the family-run Hotel Tschurtschentaler, a firm favourite with our summer walking and winter snowshoe groups for over 10 years. Comfortable Hotel Meals included: Dinner Day 1 Start Dobbiaco. Start Dobbiaco in the South Tyrol. We stay in the family-run Hotel Tschurtschentaler, a firm favourite with our summer walking and winter snowshoe groups for over 10 years. Comfortable Hotel Meals included: Dinner Day 2 Ride along the Rienz River to Brunico; visit outdoor folklore museum then transfer back to Dobbiaco. Today our scenic route follows the Rienz River as it winds its way down the Val Pusteria to the town of Brunico (Bruneck). After a look around the pretty town we visit the South Tyrol Museum of Cultural Anthropology at Teodone (Dietenheim). This fascinating open air museum depicts local rural life and culture over the ages, contrasting life in a wealthy manor house with that on a remote rural farm. We then transfer back to Dobbiaco to relax or visit the hotel spa.Comfortable Hotel Meals included: Breakfast Dinner Day 3 Transfer to the Sexten Valley; cycle back to Dobbiaco along quiet cycle paths via San Candido and the 8th century Innichen Abbey. This morning we transfer to the stunning Fiscalina Valley and get on the bikes at the Talschlusshutte mountain refuge. After a drink and some magnificent views we head down past Sesto (Sexten) to the larger market town of San Candido (Innichen) along a network of excellent cycle paths. Here we will see the 8th Century Innichen Abbey, before following quiet cycle paths back to Dobbiaco.Comfortable Hotel Meals included: Breakfast Dinner Day 4 Follow the Drau cycle path across the Austrian border to Lienz; transfer to Dobbiaco. Today’s ride is the classic route of the entire region. Riding from the hotel we pick up the lovely Drau cycle path, a scenic traffic-free route that follows the river gently downhill into Austria. We finish the ride in the charming medieval town of Lienz, known as the ‘Pearl of the Dolomites’. Here we have plenty of time to explore the old town with its elegant squares and café culture. A transfer returns us into Italy and our hotel in Dobbiaco.Comfortable Hotel Meals included: Breakfast Dinner Day 5 Free day to relax, enjoy a walk or visit Bolzano, capital of the South Tyrol. Today we have a day off the bikes in order to relax and make the most of the area. As well as the inviting hotel spa, there are also a huge number of local walks that will get you in amongst the spectacular mountains surrounding Dobbiaco. It is also easy to take the train to the beautiful city of Bolzano, the capital of the South Tyrol, with its pretty network of winding alleys and upmarket shops to explore. The world-famous Museum of Archaeology with the ‘Otzi’ Iceman and the Reinhold Messner Mountain Museum at nearby Sigmundskron Castle make Bolzano a city of mountaineering history and culture. Comfortable Hotel Meals included: Breakfast Day 6 Transfer to Cortina d’Ampezzo; cycle past the famous peaks of Tre Cima di Lavaredo en route to Dobbiaco. In the morning we have a transfer to the chic alpine town of Cortina d’Ampezzo where we have some free time to explore or visit the Bunker Museum before getting on the bikes and enjoying a great ride along an old railway track that has been converted into a cycle path. Today's route takes us through illuminated tunnels towards Lake Landro and on to the wonderful panoramic vista of the iconic Tre Cima di Lavaredo (Drei Zinnen), these three dramatic rock formations are the ‘emblem’ of the Dolomites. Finally we pass the beautiful Lake Dobbiaco before arriving back at our hotel. Comfortable Hotel Meals included: Breakfast Dinner Day 7 Transfer into the tranquil Casies Valley; visit Monguelfo castle then ride to Dobbiaco. This morning we start with a transfer to the head of the tranquil Casies (Gsies) Valley. The scenery here is a little different with more rolling countryside and plenty of agriculture. Our ride follows a mix of road and cycle paths as we make the gentle descent through a number of traditional villages en route. We rejoin the main valley at Monguelfo (Welsberg) with its impressive castle (depending on your departure date there may be the opportunity to visit), before finishing the day back at Dobbiaco.Comfortable Hotel Meals included: Breakfast Dinner Transfer to Venice; fly to London. After breakfast we transfer to Venice and catch our flight to London. Meals included: Breakfast Day 8 End Dobbiaco. After breakfast our trip ends in Dobbiaco. Meals included: Breakfast
Dolomites, Lake Garda & Venice Ride 83 reviews Ride through the beautiful Italian Dolomites to the Venice Lagoon Cycling Suitable for: Age 16+ Activity level: Moderate 8 Days from CHF1’819 Guided (Excl. Flights) View More Details
Hotel Tschurtschenthaler - 3 Star 7 nights 3-star family-run hotel with en suite rooms. Situated in the centre of Dobbiaco, the 3-star Hotel Tschurtschenthaler is an attractive building, traditionally styled but with the advantages of a small indoor heated swimming pool, a sauna, and a beauty treatment room where you can enjoy massages (treatments not included - on request basis). After dinner you can relax in the lounge or go through to the bar for a drink with the locals. Single, double and twin-bedded rooms all have hairdryers, shower, WC and are comfortably furnished. Please note the hotel has Wi-Fi access but does not accept credit cards. Single rooms can be arranged throughout for a supplement (subject to availability). Please reserve at time of booking.
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Reviewed July 2019 Martin Bundy Trip: Cycling in the Dolomites Fantastic Holiday - Great Rides & Stunning Views A brilliant holiday, centre based in Dobbiaco, north eastern Italy. Being so close to Austria (14Km) a very strong Austrian influence with as much, if not more German spoken than Italian, this was a surprise! Beautiful mountain scenery and views with picture-postcard Tyrolian style buildings on each and every cycle ride. Apple Strudel at the Messenwirt restaurant at Valdora di Sopra is an absolute must eat! What was the most inspirational moment of your trip? The stunning beauty and splendour of the mountains took my breath away! Apple Strudel and Ice Cream! The hotel staff and vast majority of shopkeepers being able to converse in German, Italian or English with ease, putting me to shame - next time I will make more effort to learn the local language(s) better! Dual named towns, an Italian name and a German name, Dobbiaco (Italian) is also Toblach (German). The predominatley spoken langauage in an area won in the which name comes first battle, some places German was first, others Italian. A fascinating part of the world. What did you think of your group leader? Our group leader was extremely polite, knowledgeable and fluent in Italian. A very pleasent young man, and easy to get along with. Do you have any advice for potential travellers? If you already cycle regularly, and can cope with a 20 mile ride without difficulty, then you probably have a high enough level of fitness. If you are not at this level, then it is highly advisable to follow a preparation plan, such as that suggested by Exodus, it will make the holiday far more enjoyable if you are fit enough. Is there anything else you would like to add? The Hotel Tschurtschenthaler in Dobbiaco, where we stayed, did an excellent continental buffet style breakfast AND a very good five ( yes 5 ) course evening meal, vegetarian options available. However, tea and coffee making facities are not available in the rooms.
Reviewed July 2019 Corinne Bundy Trip: Cycling in the Dolomites Excellent holiday This centre based guiding holiday was excellent - it gave us wonderful cycling in fantastic scenary with a chance to relax at the hotel which was very accommodating with great food. What was the most inspirational moment of your trip? The cycling in general, in such a fantastic part of the world. What did you think of your group leader? I cannot fault our leader David Shuttle - he was excellent. Is there anything else you would like to add? Thank you so much Exodus for such a good holiday - from initial contact with the firm to return home from a thoroughly enjoyed holiday.
Reviewed June 2019 Glenda Cornwell Trip: Cycling in the Dolomites Stunning scenery even better than expected Just back from this trip. I was looking forward to cycling though this amazing place and it was even more awesome than I could have hoped. Absolutely jaw dropping scenery and totally set up for cycling. So many cycle paths mostly removed from the roads. The tour is very well organised meaning that the big elevation is taken care of by being transported up and cycling down (not all down though!), allowing much time to drink in the scenery. What was the most inspirational moment of your trip? The mountains and lakes What did you think of your group leader? Two lovely leaders who showed great knowledge, inspiration, and kindness. Felt well and truly looked after. Thanks Jon and David. Keep doing what you love and inspire all of us to come back - I am certainly going to! Do you have any advice for potential travellers? Just a couple of points that may help: Firstly if you like a good ole English cuppa, then take a travel kettle for your hotel room, along with a decent sized cup! And some tea bags of course! Secondly, although I like off road cycling, there are quite a few gravel paths, although mostly it is quite hard packed gravel and easy enough to cycle on. I enjoyed the different surfaces. Is there anything else you would like to add? I would recommend this trip and thought it provided a great balance of cycling and time to explore places without being rushed off to the next place or living too much by your watch. The free day is a nice refreshing opportunity to do a different activity which was made a pleasant change (although I chose to ride!).
Reviewed September 2018 S J Trip: Cycling in the Dolomites Cycling the Dolomites This was a wonderful trip, with many great, long downhills trails through gorgeous green foothills of the mountains. There were a number of ups too, which a few of us had anticipated with e-bikes, but only the weaker cyclists found these challenging. There was quite a bit of gravel to cycle, both downhill and up, which I personally love, but a number of the group didn't. The hotel was luxurious, with us all having very large suites to stay in, two bathrooms each and a 4 or 5 course meal each night. The waiters were also very accommodating and would adjust menus to suit the vegetarian's etc.. The jacuzzi and pool were great, with co-op and bakery around the corner. Probably less cycling than other trips I have cycled on, but much more space to relax or wander along the river. What was the most inspirational moment of your trip? Wonderful downhill cycling where you could really let go and see into the distance that you were safe. What did you think of your group leader? The group leader was very safety conscious, great with the bikes and bike checks, great at cycling to and fro to keep an eye on everyone but less great with the pastoral caring for group members. He could also do with just a little checking out of things like numbers and distances of mountain walking routes for days off, bus and train times etc... He could have picked up individual maps and time tables from the very local tourist information and just one page of A4 could have covered questions he must get asked every tour, ie nobody wants to be charged 100 Euros for not validating a train ticket which a stranger told us about. Jon is a young man, but has a middle aged age group who are at an age of being interested in hearing about Italy/Austria, the local impact of the World War, the name of the red hare that we saw (which incidentally is a Belgian Hare not a rabbit) introducing sights along the coach routes etc...but he made no efforts to fill us in or find out when we asked. A little bit of effort on this front, would make a big difference to his overall impression to us middle aged cyclists. I would see this as feedback to other young tour leaders I have had on these group cycling holidays. Is there anything else you would like to add? No
Reviewed July 2018 Arianna Jakositz Trip: Cycling in the Dolomites Cycling In The Dolomites My husband and I booked this trip in search of an active vacation with very little planning on our part, and we were far from disappointed. Being our first Exodus trip and our first group cycling trip, we weren’t sure what to expect but didn’t end up worn-out or challenged by any of the rides so all was well there (for reference, we live at a slightly higher altitude and regularly commute via bike). Aside from that, the scenery was BEAUTIFUL. Both of us frequently commented that the mountains and valleys didn’t seem real — how could something so exquisite exist? To top it all off, everyone we encountered was ridiculously nice, Hotel Adler was spectacular, and the dinners each night were delicious (and incredibly filling). It ended up being far more of a pleasant, much-needed reprieve from day-to-day life than we expected it to be. What was the most inspirational moment of your trip? The ride on day 2 had us stopping and admiring the scenery a lot, but our hiking around Helm (reached by gondola from Sesto/Sexten) definitely yielded the most breathtaking views. Get above the tree line, it’s worth it! What did you think of your group leader? Jon did a great job keeping us all together... and “rescuing” us when we strayed off path accidentally. He rotated between sticking with those of us at the front of the group on rides and those of us at the back, which kept everything feeling cohesive. Jon also was a friendly and funny guy to spend the week with. Do you have any advice for potential travellers? Maybe don’t opt for an e-bike on this trip? Quite a few rides were on rockier terrain than I expected and it seemed difficult to navigate (especially going downhill) for the one person on an e-bike in our group. We had standard hybrid bikes that even to me didn’t feel like the right sort of bike at times... but maybe I’m just used to riding on asphalt and cement and I can’t be helped there. Is there anything else you would like to add? Those church bells ring every 15 minutes in Villabassa/Niederdorf. We slept right through them, but others... not so much.
Reviewed July 2018 Chris Kelly Trip: Cycling in the Dolomites Amazing views clean air My second Exodus trip my first was a grade 3 this one was a grade 2 found it a bit easy but the sights were amazing What was the most inspirational moment of your trip? An amazing hotel with great food but inspirational moment was ever time you walk out of hotel and looked at your surroundings What did you think of your group leader? Jon was our group leader who done a great job but would have preferred an Italian guide Do you have any advice for potential travellers? A very easy trip for beginners no training needed
Reviewed October 2016 Kristján Friðþjófsson Trip: Cycling in the Dolomites Good trip to Bick riding from Villabassa September 10, 2016 were 7 Icelandic people went on to Italy for a bike ride. we landed in Venice in the late afternoon and welcome us took Jonatan tour guide with a smile. We drove by bus to Villabassa at the hotel Adler. In the hotel the staff took greatly with os. In the evening they offered a dinner. Next morning Jonatan had a meeting about the trip of the week, the rules and our insurance. Jonatan tour guide was a great success and he showed us how we should view the wheels at the start of the trip. These trips had Jonathan great responsibility and that we will not be lost in the path. We, the seven icelandic, give Jonatan 10 stars for his 100% guiding and give os good attitude for this bike trip. We were very happy with this trip. What was the most inspirational moment of your trip? The landscape and bike routes What did you think of your group leader? Great responsibility and that we will not be lost in the path. Do you have any advice for potential travellers? To go on this trip to Villabassa Is there anything else you would like to add? We, the seven icelandic was happy with this trip
Reviewed September 2016 Larry Dacunto Trip: Cycling in the Dolomites Disappointing We just returned from the Exodus bike trip (MED) "Dolomites Center Based Cycling" and it was disappointing compared to 18 others we have experienced in Europe and another dozen elsewhere. First and most serious is the fact that Exodus was the ONLY company we have ever experienced that did not provide, at least to every other person, any kind of written directions, map, or strip map. We were totally dependent on the tour guide and his oral instructions from time to time. Second, Exodus was the ONLY company we have experienced that did not provide, at least to every other person, a spare tube and tire levers. Again, we were totally dependent on the tour guide to repair even simple punctures. The rental bicycles were the worst we have ever experienced. They were fairly new and clean, but our 16 riders had more problems due to poor maintenance than all the other rides we have experienced put together --- several with gear issues, loose electric wire, seat quick-adjust fell off, chain ring guard fell off, many under-inflated tires, etc. Finally, Exodus plainly ripped off customers who booked thru their North American office versus their London office. The Exodus price in their printed catalogue was 899 UK ￡ which converts to less than $1400 US. The website which appears to North American customers indicated the same tour was hundreds of dollars more per person after making the exchange rate. On the good side: The hotel was excellent, though full of flies even in the dining room, and the food was particularly fine. The routes chosen were beautiful. The van support was timely but for one occassion. The tour guide worked very hard at keeping us organized and moving. Overall, this tour was a poor experience and we will not again choose Exodus nor recommend Exodus to anyone, especially those outside the UK subject to discriminatory pricing. What was the most inspirational moment of your trip? Crossing Cimabanche, an Alpine pass. What did you think of your group leader? Worked hard keeping 16 people together. Do you have any advice for potential travellers? Bring flypaper to the hotel.
Reviewed August 2016 Justine Patterson Trip: Cycling in the Dolomites Stunning Scenery This week long trip is a great cycling holiday set in a stunning part of the world. The scenery is breathtaking and we were lucky to have had warm sunny weather. Each day's ride took us in a different direction, to explore new places, towns, and revealing scenic vistas along the way. What was the most inspirational moment of your trip? On our free day some of us walked up to and around Lago di Braies which is a magical place despite its popularity. Cycling to and into Cortina d'Ampezzo with its surrounding peaks was a high point (pardon the pun!). What did you think of your group leader? Our group leader Radu was great. He approached his role with a balanced mix of fun, flexibility and organised structure. In acknowledgement of this holiday being a new offering for Exodus, he was keen to include us in the decision making during the daily rides and actively sought our feedback. Radu skilfully managed our group of 12 to make the trip a positive experience for every member. Do you have any advice for potential travellers? Although the trip is classed leisurely to moderate, the cycling and pace is very leisurely and not at all taxing. You may need to adjust your expectations, sit back and enjoy the scenery! Is there anything else you would like to add? It was good to enjoy a centre based cycling holiday, more relaxing than having to 'pack & transfer' every day. We had a good mix of interesting people in our group, not just Brits!
Reviewed July 2016 Brigitte Schneeloch Trip: Cycling in the Dolomites Dolomites Centre-based Cycling Brilliant, wonderful, exciting, awe inspiring! A most inspirational week in the Alpes. Very good planning avoiding the cycling becoming too taxing, as daily transport was arranged to supply us with very manageable cycling. We found everything as described in the tripnotes. What was the most inspirational moment of your trip? For me personally, although being a passionate cyclist, the best day was our free day which my friend and I spent walking up to the summit of Monte Helmo ( after catching the gondola lift to 2000 m ). The view from there and the buzz from the achievement was breathtaking!! I would recommend this to anybody What did you think of your group leader? Radu, with the help of Jon, made a great team. Radu was a very knowledgable and caring leader, had good communication, humour, and was always available for advice. A lovely person to be with! Is there anything else you would like to add? For me it was the best cycling trip I have had with Exodus in Europe! We were lucky weather wise!