Munich-Venice Cycle Route

The Tyrolean heart of the Munich-Venice long-distance cycle route: from the Achenpass on the Bavarian border over the turquoise Achensee, down steep gravel hairpins into the Inn valley and along the Inn Cycle Path through Schwaz and Hall to Innsbruck - then the great transalpine climb up the Wipptal to the Brenner. 111 km holding the route's single major crossing of the Alps, from the city of the Golden Roof to the pass summit at the Italian border.

Munich-Venice is the classic transalpine tour for touring bikes: some 560 km from the Isar over the Alps to the lagoon, strung together from existing cycle paths (the Isar, Inn, Eisacktal and Pustertal routes). Unlike the high-alpine mountain-bike variant, the official paved route crosses the Alps at their most bike-friendly point - the Brenner. The Tyrolean section described here is its mountainous core. It takes over the route from Bavaria at the Achenpass, drops to the Achensee, Tyrol's largest lake between the Karwendel and Rofan ranges, and follows the traffic-free eastern shore to Eben. Beyond it the spectacular plunge begins: gravel hairpins losing about 430 m down to Wiesing and Jenbach on the river Inn, where the old Achensee steam cog railway starts its climb. On the well-built Inn Cycle Path the route rolls almost flat up-valley past Schwaz with its famous silver mine and the salt town of Hall to Innsbruck. From the Tyrolean capital with its Golden Roof, Hofkirche and Bergisel the real work starts: steeply up out of the Inn valley into the Wipptal, past the Europabrücke soaring high above the Sill gorge, in constant up and down through Matrei and Steinach am Brenner, and finally the closing climb over Gries to the pass summit at the Brenner - the highest point and the crossing into South Tyrol.