Mountain biking-Dolomites

With striking geography, thousands of miles of trails and incredible views, the Dolomites range in northeast Italy is a mountain bike paradise that should be on every rider's bucket list. The Dolomites are a majestic mountain range in the Alps, formed of light-colored dolomitic limestone that erosion has carved into grotesque and impressive shapes. The Dolomites have always been popular with hikers and climbers, and as a result there are amazing trails in the mountains, from the Val Gardena valley in South Tyrol to the Ampezzo valley. What are the best trails? Sella Ronda MTB Tour is a spectacular bike tour that takes you around the beautiful Sella massif via four classic Dolomite passes — Gardena, Campolongo, Pordoi and Sella. You can do this in a day, with the help of lifts. It's more of a scenic route than a challenging mountain bike trail, but a classic in the Val Gardena area. Depending on which variant you take, it's about 50–60km and features around 4,000m of vertical drop. How to get there The closest major airports are Franz Josef Strauss in Münich  and Marco Polo in Venice. By car you reach Val Gardena easily via the Brenner highway, from south and north. From Innsbruck, it's 120km to Val Gardena, and from Milan it's 350km. You can also travel to Val Gardena by train both from Austria and Germany, and other parts of Italy. If you prefer the train, Chiusa and Ponte Gardena are the closest train stations. From there a bus service will take you to Val Gardena, but some hotels offer a pick-up service too. Where to stay I'd recommend Hotel Astor in Selva Gardena is a 3-star and bike-friendly hotel where you can stay for a reasonable price. There are many more bike hotels in the valley, but check before you book your accommodation that they can store your bike safely. Most of the bike-friendly hotels also have a bike wash and sometimes space to do mechanical work.