Italy: Stelvio Pass, Ötzi and Tre Cime Di Lavaredo
Our motorhome adventure in Italy’s Northern region of South Tyrol has at times been quite difficult, stressful and challenging even; particularly on Brian, having to manoeuvre our bulky motorhome via countless narrow, twisty and high mountain passes, with hairpin after hairpin, and oncoming traffic making it no easy task.
This region is often reported as being very different from the rest of Italy and we can now better understand why it has gained such a reputation. Even the language has not been what we had expected. We have been more likely to hear people speaking German than Italian here. The architecture is also quite different, with Alpine chalets giving a vibe of Bavaria or Swiss Alps, and we have even spotted a few men wearing lederhosen.
After leaving Lake Como, we travelled through the Valtellina’s vine-covered hillsides until we reached Bormio, situated at an altitude of 1,225m and right next to Italy’s largest national park ‘ Parco Nazionale Dello Stelvio’ ,which contains many glaciers including one of Europe’s largest, the Ghiacciaio dei Forni. Bormio is a magnet for people who flock here to hike the many well marked trails and use the good mountain huts.
There is also year round skiing on offer. But we were only here for one night, so we stayed at the friendly, although quite steep to get to Camping Piazzi Valdisotto (N46.41546, E10.35330). We left early the following day for a challenging drive over the Stelvio Pass.
Stelvio Pass
This epic mountain road has some incredible views over snow capped mountains and glaciers, as well as the challenging sheer wall of zig-zagging hairpin bends, offering a dizzying and unforgettable journey.
Epic scenery…but can anyone explain this road sign?
Just a stone’s throw from the border with Switzerland, the Stelvio Pass sits at an elevation of 2,757 m (9,045 ft) making it the highest paved mountain pass in the Eastern Alps.
With over 70 hairpin turns (although we did not have time to count them all since our concentration was on trying to avoid going over the edge) this road is not for the faint hearted, particularly when driving a 7m motorhome through a very narrow road and hoping that we would not be meeting any other large vehicles coming from the opposite direction…which of course we did.
From Bormio we drove on the SS 38 gaining height via a series of switchbacks and zigzagging our way up to the highest point, from there we started descending via some even more scarily tight hairpin bends all the way to the pretty Alpine town of Trafoi. Although we can’t describe this challenging road as delightful, there are plenty of people that would describe it as one of the best drives in the world. We are yet to be convinced… although we might agree once our fragile nerves have had time to settle down a little.
We drove on the SS 38 gaining height via a series of switchbacks up to the highest point.
Here at the highest point we started descending these steep hairpin bends, all the way down to Trafoi. I am smiling, but only because I am not doing the driving.
Apparently every year, the pass is closed to motor vehicles on one day in late August when thousands of cyclists will be riding…or shall we say struggling up hill together with a few brave runners who will be racing to the top of the Stelvio Pass.
This road is also often on the route of the Giro d’Italia, making it even more desirable for cyclists who are keen to replicate a very challenging route. Hats off to the cyclists, since this road is no easy ride.
It is also very popular with Bikers, who would love the thrill of racing up on a motorbike, but will possibly be disappointed since going fast will most certainly not be on the cards, particularly when they will be meeting many slow vehicles like us, who will be slowing everyone else down to a crawling speed.
We did also spot a few fast cars such as Ferraris and Lamborghinis, but I think they would also be disappointed with the lack of racing opportunities here.
We would recommend for anyone driving, cycling or running up the Stelvio Pass to only do it during good weather ( the pass is closed in the winter, so check before setting off) and also try to set off as early as possible, since it will be a lot busier later on in the day.
It was a great relief when we finally arrived in pretty Merano and our home for the night. The campsite was located on the top of a hill overlooking the town below, surrounded by vineyards, orchards and olive trees (Shneeburghof Camping N46.67608, E11.16706).
Most of the other vans were German or Swiss and the local language mostly German. All the signage were also in German first, before Italian and then English. The reception spoke good English and they had a really lovely restaurant on site with staff that spoke some English, but the menu was either in German or Italian.
Merano
Surrounded by mountains it is a very elegant town. Once upon a time it was a hot destination for its Thermal Spas and therapeutic traditions. The Terme Merano has since the old days been redeveloped and looks very sleek and modern now.
Pretty Merano, surrounded by mountains.
Can you see the waiter, behind Brian wearing lederhosen?
We rode Little Bill (our scooter) from our campsite into town, just a short run, although the traffic was a lot busier than we had expected. There were mostly German, Austrian and Swiss tourists. I guess South Tyrol is not far for them, as well as being so easy with German being spoken more widely than Italian.
Merano used to be the Capital of Tyrol and a favourite destination to the Austrian Royals. Apparently, Sissi or rather Empress Elisabeth of Austria enjoyed summers in this region.
We had a great time having a nose around this picturesque town with a Medieval heart and sipping some delicious hot chocolate, served by our lederhosen-cladd waiter on a riverside café.
We thought about giving the Merano Thermae a try, but with the current COVID risks we decided against it. We left the following day heading for Bolzano.
Bolzano and meeting Ötzi the Ice Man
The main reason for our visit to Bolzano was to pay a visit to a very old man. The more than 5,300 years old Ötzi, also known as Ice Man, was found at 3200m up the melting glacier of Hauslabjoch Pass in 1991 by a couple who were hiking nearby. The German tourists Helmut and Erika Simon, were walking off the path between the mountain passes Hauslabjoch and Tisenjoch when they spotted his slightly uncovered body, although most of it was still covered by the ice.
At first they thought the body was of a recently deceased mountaineer, but a few days later when it was fully recovered from the mountain together with some of his possessions and investigated by archaeologists the full extent of this discovery came to light.
I took this photo of one of their displays, it gives an idea of how well his body has been preserved.
The entire Museo Archeologico dell’Alto Adige is dedicated to him and we found it simply fascinating. I remember hearing on the news about the discovery back in 1991 and even saw an interview with the couple who made the discovery.
His body is kept in a temperature controlled room and it can be viewed through a small window. Photos are not allowed in this area of the museum, therefore I took a photo of him from one of the displays. His clothes and other belongings are also on display and the findings have helped towards a better understanding of what his life and the world around him some 5,000 years ago would have been like.
Finding his preserved body was an incredible struck of luck and a very special set of circumstances. The nature of his life and the circumstances of his death have been the subject of a lot of research and many theories have been put forward about him and the lives of the Copper Age Europeans.
Ötzi is believed to have been murdered, since an arrowhead was found inside his left shoulder bone, which would have caused a fatal wound. He is the oldest known natural human mummy ever found.
It is not every day you can come face-to-face with a 5,000 years old chap.
Photo of the display next to the new Otzi, explaining about the technique used.
It was very interesting to see the Ötzi image recreated, giving him an identity. We absolutely loved the opportunity to see and learn about this incredible discovery, truly amazing. We stayed at Camping Montiggl (GPS N46.43984, E11.28186)
There are plenty of things to keep anyone occupied for few days in Bolzano since this town is the Capital of South Tyrol and has a lot to offer, but sadly we had to move on and therefore made out way to our next overnight stop… Canazei.
Canazei
Passing the gleaming turquoise-green Lago di Careza (known locally as the lake of the rainbow) we went up a series of steep switchbacks to Passo Pordoi and then descended via the 33 hairpin bends on the SR48. Even though it was only a 7 km stretch the driving was hard and slow, with plenty of shenanigans from some crazy drivers overtaking cyclists on blind bends and all sorts. We finally made it to the Alpine town of Canazei, sitting at an altitude of 1465m.
We stayed at a lovely and very friendly Camping Marmolada (GPS N46.4728, E11.7757 ) just a short walk from a cable car station. We took the opportunity to go up and do a short hike at the top of the mountain.
With most of the hard work taken care off by the cable car our hike was easy and the views fabulous.
We shared the cable car with some very keen mountain-bikers who soon disappeared downhill into the well marked trails. In the winter this town is a great ski resort, but now only the hikers and bikers are here.
Tre Cime Di Lavaredo
The pink tinged granite Dolomites are a sight to behold and it is what makes these mountain range quite distinct from the Alps. The jagged peaks are also incredibly impressive.
We stayed overnight at a paid off-grid car park (costing Euro 40) next to Rifugio Auronzo (GPS N46.61246, E12.29248), surrounded by incredible views all around us. Definitely worth the charge to stay in such an incredible location.
The drive up was actually not as hard as some of the drives we had been doing on previous days, but equally steep and with many hairpin bends. But we forgot all about the difficult drive once we arrived at the top. Throughout the evening we had periods of no visibility, because of the cloud cover, but at times when we did have visitbility the views were fabulous.
A dreamy place to stay overnight by motorhome.
We woke up to gorgeous sunshine and a cloud cover down in the valley below.
Our aim was to do one of the iconic hikes and therefore we set off early the next morning and luckily the sun was shining for us. The hike was relatively easy and mostly flat, but the terrain was quite tricky in places with lots of stones and scree. Hiking shoes are a must here. There are various different trails and we chose a short 2 hr hike that was not particularly strenuous and literally just circumnavating in a loop around the colossal Tre Cime peaks.
Views over to Rifugio Auronzo
This stretch was probably the steepest part of the hike.
We hiked in a loop around the Tre Cime peaks.
The scenery was just stunning.
The trail was not busy at all and we even stopped for coffee and cakes at a perfectly located Rifugio/café half way back to our van. All the hiking trails are well marked and easy to follow, there are various Rifugio scattered around.
Coffee and cake with an incredible view.
To get to the car park at Rifugio Auronzo, follow the signs to Lake Misurina, from Cortina D’Ampezzo and join the SS48. It is about 40 minutes drive from Cortina D’Ampezzo. We did notice that there were tour buses bringing the punters up to do the many hikes. It is a popular place.
Tre Cime Di Lavaredo has been the highlight of our visit to the Dolomites and we would not hesitate to recommend to anyone who enjoys the outdoors, relatively easy hikes and magnificent views.
Sadly we only stayed one night here above the clouds and we made our way downhill soon after our hike pointing our wheels towards Vicenza, where I will be on the hunt for my Nona’s (Grand-mother) old home.
Fascinating post on an area we knew nothing about! The photos are great especially the one with you having coffee and cake. Is everyone wearing mask and being COVID safe? The waiter did not have a mask on.
Stay safe and watch those turns.
Cheers!
John and Susan, we loved this region of Italy. So completely different from the rest of Italy, even the most used language was not Italian. The Italian’s are taking COVID very seriously indeed, if you look closely the waiter is wearing a mask. Every restaurant we visited the staff wore masks, many took our temperature before we were allowed to sit down. Hand sanitizers are everywhere. We also wear our masks all the time whenever we leave our home-on-wheels, but remove it if eating or drinking. We also remove it sometimes when taking photos of ourselves, since we don’t want every photo of us to be with masks on 🙂 I am enjoying your posts on Colombia and likewise look after yourselves guys 🙂
Stunning photos, especially the banner one with you in it, Gilda! Those roads are not for the faint of heart! Visiting the mountains in any place is beautiful but quite challenging, either because of the roads, the temperature, or the hiking! That parking spot at the top with the amazing views looks awesome, but we’d be heart-pressed to pay 40 euros for it, especially because it’s without facilities. I wish one day, we’d be okay doing so, though. 🙂
Enjoy the rest of your adventures – life on the road has its ups and downs but in the end there will be no regrets and plenty of amazing photos and memories! 🙂
Liesbet, thank you. There is nothing like mountain views to make you feel like on top of the world, we love it. Even though it is like you said, hard to get to the top, temperatures are a lot lower and hiking can be challenging. The price to stay up here was as steep as those hairpin bends, but we did feel that it was worth it. We balanced out with staying at some other much cheaper places, although there are not many opportunities for off-grid camping in Italy unfortunately, or maybe we didn’t spot many. I am glad you and Mark are back on the road, I hope you will have a lovely time 🙂 I am also counting on your memoir to be out for Christmas and that would be many Christmas presents sorted for me.
Oh Gilda! That is such a nice thing to say!!! My memoir will be available by the end of November, I hope… 🙂 You made my day with your comment!!
Wow, fabulous views and a terrific few days by the sound of it. Waking up and looking out across the top of the cloud cover must have been wonderful. Keep on enjoying your adventure guys.
Thank you guys, the views from Tre Cime were fabulous, even though driving up there was not so easy. There were some really beautiful and quite easy hikes also. Likewise keep having fun in Turkey, looks like you are loving it 🙂
I remember seeing one of your pictures on FB of the pass Brian made and l was having palpitations just looking at it :-). I can understand the clapping. Such lovely spots you have here and l also find Otzi fascinating indeed. What an incredible find indeed. Natural beauties. I am loving traveling through you guys. Keep having fun.
Kemkem, I had to close my eyes for some of those scary hairpin bends…lol. Visiting Otzi was fascinating, I remember hearing on the news when they first found him back in 1991 and have always wanted to see him with my on eyes. The whole museum is amazing, you can see all the objects and the clothes that were found with him. This discovery has advanced the understanding we had about Copper Age people. Thank you for travelling with us Kemkem 🙂
No surprise the trail wasn’t busy, Gilda. Not the easiest place in the world to get to but so very beautiful. Such hard work as a driver who can’t stop to admire those amazing views. More fab photos for the album! 🙂 🙂
Jo, it was not an easy place for us to reach. Our motorhome can be a little bit cumbersome, and poor Brian did not get much chance to enjoy the incredible views. But the hiking was fantastic and not too hard. We also lucked out with the weather. Thank you for the compliment on our photos, I think we will be framing some of these, they are quite nice 🙂
just stunning!
Andy, thank you so much. We loved this region of Italy, the Dolomites hike was indeed stunning 🙂
Here I am with a lovely cup of tea reading and enjoying your blog. You guys must have nerves of still to drive through the narrow and winding mountain roads of South Tyrol. However, it looks spectacular indeed. Merano looks so idyllic and I bet it was a welcome surprise after your hair-raising experience. Now the ice man fascinated me. My imagination is running away with me as I find that the shape of his front lobal cortex to be different from a human skull. An alien, may be? As for the reconstructed Otzi, though very cute, looks nothing like the frozen guy or alien discovered in the ice. Canazei is also very beautiful. Everywhere seems to be void of people but it could be the time the photos were taken. Well, I hope you enjoy Vicenza and that you find your Nona’s house. That would be a wonderful experience for you, imagining your nona as a young woman in her home country. I bet at the time she had no idea what life had in store for her.
Val, how I long to have a cup of tea with you and catch up, but at least I have your wonderful company here on the blog. The drive over the Stelvio Pass was quite something, looking back now I am glad we did it, but it was not an easy drive for sure. Merano felt very relaxing, it is a town that has beautiful scenery and some very relaxing Spas, such a shame that we did not get to try them because of the current COVID situation.
The discovery of Otzi has certainly changed history and our understanding of Copper Age People. Science is still trying to uncover the mystery behind this alien-look-alike corpse found frozen in the mountains for over 5000 years. Visiting the museum was indeed mind-blowing.
South Tyrol is usually very popular, but tourist numbers have been greatly reduced, although it was still quite lively with many German, Swiss and Austrian tourists particularly in Merano and Bolzano. Thank you for following along 🙂
Wow. Just amazed by some of the geography. I wouldn’t want to be Brian doing that driving, those are crazy switchbacks on the Stelvio Pass. I’d love to explore the area, the Tre Cime peaks look absolutely stunning. Looks like a fabulous adventure.
Frank, I think Brian is still a little bit traumatized by that drive…lol. The Tre Cime di Lavaredo hike was stunning and we had the perfect day for this hike, fresh temperatures but very sunny. Also there were not many people hiking and therefore so much more pleasant. I really think you would enjoy hiking here, there are so many different trails. We chose quite a short one, just over two hours.
I adore your photographs and your experience in Italy right now Gilda.
We’ve been to those Italian mountains and let me just say that the Stelvio Pass is particularly hair-raising that when we drove up there, my hands were clenched to my seat and I don’t even drive!
Oh my poor husband and Brian both!
Re – South Tyrol, you’re absolutely right. A lot of people speak German there. In fact, most Germans consider South Tyrol to be a part of the “father-land” with a cherry on the cake, i.e. not actually on German soil, but close enough! 😀
Keep up the good work!
Victoria, thank you so much and how lovely to see your comment here. I can totally get why Germans love this region, it is so easy for them to visit and just so beautiful. So you also had your hands gripping the edge of your seat on the Stelvio Pass hahaha? I even had to close my eyes for some of the way…lol. But so worth it, for the scenery and a little bit of adrenaline. I think we also frightened the hell out of some poor bikers when they met up with our large motorhome looming around a sharp bend. But at least it all ended well and we spent sometime chilling out in Merano afterwards. I will pop over to visit your blog soon 🙂
Those switchback roads induce vertigo just looking at the photos! Oh the driving must have been stressful indeed. The scenery though in your photos absolutely stunning. It seems as though you had perfect weather the whole time. A glorious part of the world. Thank you for taking us along virtually and hope you are now safely home.
Sue, I felt sorry for poor Brian driving our motorhome around those sharp bends and so many switchbacks, it was exhausting for him. It took a few days for him to recover and have to do it again many times all around that mountainous region…lol. That is the thing with mountains, they are beautiful but not always easy to explore. We are home now and half way through our two weeks quarantine. England is again in lockdown, like so many other countries in Europe, we are living through such strange times with COVID cases on the rise everywhere. We will now stay home for a little while. Stay well my friend.
Stunning photos and a wonderful account of your travels in the Sud Tyrol region Gilda! It has a special place in my heart as we have visited the region a couple of times – the first time back in 2012 when we travelled by train across the Brenner Pass from our base in Innsbruck to Bolzano for a day trip. Then the second time was in 2016 when we were staying at Lake Como and took a trip up to St Moritz in Switzerland via the Valtellina. We also saw Oetzi – we had no idea the Alto Adige Museum was there before our visit though we had heard of the Ïce Man”and it proved to be one of the highlights of our day! We knew about the Sud Tyrol from history and the fact it was predominately a German speaking region. Our son in law’s grandfather came from Merano/Meran – he was born there in 1919 to a German family (it was placed into Italy after the Treaty of Versailles in 1919 and has been a sore point since then with Austrians who see it as a part of the greater Tyrol region). Owing to persecution once Mussolini had come to power, many ethnic Germans left to go north to Austria and “Great Opä” moved up to Innsbruck when he was about 18. After the war he met my son’s law’s grandmother who came from Salzburg and they emigrated out here to Western Australia. So Meran is on our wish list of places to go to and I would love to take my granddaughters there one day to discover more of their heritage (probably going to be a while before we all get there though!). The mountain roads look hair-raising! Our younger daughter, Mlle, stayed with friends who have a family home in the Valtellina near Tirano (her friend’s mum is Italian). They drove up the hairpin roads and she said it was pretty terrifying (her friend’s dad was driving). We also took the cable car up to Oberbozen from Bolzano (or Bozen in German) for lunch. It’s up in the Dolomites and takes about an hour to drive up from the city but is only a 12 minute cable car ride away. I’ve done some posts on our trips to both Bolzano and the Valtellina, which you can find under my Italian travels and Austrian Travels sections if you want to take a look. It’s a superb area to visit – thanks so much for sharing your trip here! 🙂
Rosemay, thank you. I did not realize you have such strong family history and connections to this region of Italy. Your family history is fascinating, so no wonder Merano is in your wish list and how lovely that you have been to Bolzano and that you have also loved visiting Otzi, the Ice Man. I must have a look at you blog posts on this region. This whole region is so stunning, even though driving our large motorhome over the mountain passes and some very narrow, twisty roads was quite hard, we really loved exploring this area. Before visiting this area I didn’t know a great deal about the history and how it used to belong to Austria, so it was fascinating to learn all about that. I think we will return to this region in the future, since there are still so many things we would like to do here. I hope you will make it to Meran/Merano in the near future.
Yes hope we can get there again before too long Gilda! It’s actually on my son in law’s side that we have the family connection though it’s strange how this area has always appealed to us so much. My late mum adored Austria, northern Italy and Switzerland and had a few holidays there in the late 1950s and early 1960s before she was married. Later she went back with my dad. I found photos in her albums of Cortina d’Ampezzo, which I think she visited when staying at St Anton in Austria. She loved the Italian Lakes too. The house that my daughter’s friend’s family owns is right up in the mountains overlooking the Valtellina with superb views over the valley. Her parents bought the family home so it could be kept in the family (they live here in Perth) and it’s one of those lovely old stone townhouses. We’d like to visit there too one day!
Gilda, this looks like a wonderful trip and I envy the fantastic camp sites you had. However, I do not envy driving what must have been nail-biting switchbacks to get up the mountain.
Otzi is on my bucket list, and I’m happy to hear that there’s an entire museum devoted to him. He paid the ultimate price for science and he deserves all the respect he gets. ~James
James, those mountain roads were not easy on poor Brian who was a little stressed out with so many hairpin bends. But our stay at Tre Cime di Lavaredo was really special, even though not a cheap place to overnight, it was worth it.
I am so glad Otzi is on your bucket list, you will not be disappointed. Indeed there is an entire museum dedicated to him and it is absolutely fascinating. Finding his frozen body up on the mountains was an incredible struck of luck and a very special set of circumstances for it to happen.
I really enjoyed your post of the human body preserved in the bog in Ireland, another incredible finding.