Via Clau­dia Augus­ta — From Füs­sen to Lake Garda

Your cycling jour­ney across the Alps beg­ins along the anci­ent rou­te of the Via Clau­dia Augus­ta, which cros­ses the Forg­gen­stau­see. After a brief inter­lude explo­ring King Ludwig’s visi­ons at his Neu­schwan­stein Cast­le, the bike path con­ti­nues past the Lech Falls in Füs­sen and fol­lows the Lech River into the Tyro­lean Alps. From Reut­te, an orga­ni­zed trans­fer takes you to Fern­stein­see Cast­le, and the bike path car­ri­es you briskly through the pic­tures­que Gurgl Val­ley into the Tyro­lean Ober­land. A trans­fer takes you up the climb to Nau­ders at the Reschen Pass. From Lake Reschen in South Tyrol, the Adi­ge Cycle Rou­te fol­lows the mean­de­ring river through lush orchards and farm­land until, near Töll—at the for­mer Roman cus­toms sta­ti­on on the Via Clau­dia Augusta—the Vinsch­gau Val­ley tran­si­ti­ons into the Burg­gra­fen­amt of Mer­ano. The viney­ards exu­de a sou­thern charm as they nest­le into the land­scape in swee­ping cur­ves around Lake Kal­tern, seam­less­ly tran­si­tio­ning from the South Tyro­lean low­lands into Tren­ti­no and inter­rupt­ed only by sta­te­ly cast­les per­ched on stee­p­ly slo­ping high pla­teaus. It’s almost just a stone’s throw from Tren­to to Riva del Gar­da, and the deep-blue waters of Lake Gar­da beck­on with its rug­ged cliffs and the deli­ca­te pink of the ole­an­der bushes.