Table of contents

• MOTORRAD tour tip Austria, Switzerland, Italy Curvy Trinity in the triangle of three countries
• Tour 1: The Switzerland Round
• Info
• Tour 2: The Italy Round
• Info
• Tour 3: The Austria Round
• Info

Gerhard Eisenschink

21 pictures

Gerhard Eisenschink

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The most famous postcard motif in the region.

Gerhard Eisenschink

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The Reschensee was created in 1950 from three smaller lakes by damming, which flooded 160 houses.

Gerhard Eisenschink

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The Swiss customs exclusion area Samnaun attracts as a shopping paradise and with cheap petrol stations, it is also a very beautiful, remote mountain valley.

Gerhard Eisenschink

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Thirteen passes with heights of up to 2,757 meters await.

Gerhard Eisenschink

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In addition, there are natural mountain landscapes that are grouped around the Inn Valley as an axis.

Gerhard Eisenschink

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The mountain village high above the Inn valley between Finstermunz and Reschen passes lies on the slope of the Otztal Alps and looks out over the Silvretta and Samnaun mountains on the other side.

Gerhard Eisenschink

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Cozy pubs await, wellness or just relaxed mountain gazing and look forward to the routes of tomorrow’s tour.

Gerhard Eisenschink

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Leave Nauders north towards Landeck.

Gerhard Eisenschink

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Italy can also be reached quickly from Nauders.

Gerhard Eisenschink

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This is followed by a challenging alpine tour of the top class, which culminates with eight passes in the 2,757 meter high Stilfser Joch.

Gerhard Eisenschink

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In Austria the routes of the Lechtal Alps, in Switzerland the parade routes of the Engadine and in Italy the overcoming of the mighty Ortler mountain range.

Gerhard Eisenschink

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At the top of the Stilfser Joch – the “Alpengasthof Tibet-Hutte” with its sun terrace offers a magnificent mountain view.

Gerhard Eisenschink

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There you stay on 198 turning to the right in the direction of Reutte and curves quickly down well-developed curves into the Lech Valley – the ideal route for fast cornering.

Gerhard Eisenschink

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Follow the L198 on a very scenic, winding route via Lech to Warth.

Gerhard Eisenschink

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Now it’s a more leisurely way there, because you pass the pretty places of the Lech Valley (Holzgau, Elbigenalp, Haselgehr) again and again until you reach Elmen.

Gerhard Eisenschink

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Past the Hotel Alberg Hospiz.

Gerhard Eisenschink

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High above the Lech Valley in Lechleiten near Warth. Green alpine meadows and remote mountain roads characterize the region.

Gerhard Eisenschink

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Dense forest creates a gloomy mood.

Gerhard Eisenschink

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Eight kilometers from Nauders you are in Switzerland and in the bargain paradise of Samnaun. But then it’s off to the parade routes of the Engadine Alps.

Gerhard Eisenschink

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Italy can also be reached quickly from Nauders. This is followed by a challenging alpine tour of the top class, which culminates with eight passes in the 2,757 meter high Stilfser Joch.

Gerhard Eisenschink

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It goes up into a high valley and along a rock face in great right-left combos down to Imst. With the last stretch in the forest, one falls into Imst in the curve of luck.

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Tour tips

Motorbike tour tip Nauders / Dreilandereck

MOTORRAD tour tip Austria, Switzerland, Italy
Curvy Trinity in the triangle of three countries

Austria, Italy and Switzerland form a triangle near the mountain town of Nauders in Tyrol. But some of the most distinctive mountain ranges in the Alps also come together here and offer triple curve routes and top-class pass routes.

Gerhard Eisenschink

01/25/2021

Divine Nauders! The curves of the countries that collide here fan out in three ways. In Austria the routes of the Lechtal Alps, in Switzerland the parade routes of the Engadine and in Italy the overcoming of the mighty Ortler mountain range. Thirteen passes with heights of up to 2,757 meters await. In addition, natural mountain landscapes, which are grouped around the Inn valley as an axis. Reason enough to sit down again and again after intensive cornering and just be amazed. Or hang out in Nauders after the tour and review what you have seen. The mountain village high above the Inn valley between Finstermunz and Reschen passes lies on the slope of the Otztal Alps and looks out over the Silvretta and Samnaun mountains on the other side. Cozy pubs await, wellness or just relaxed mountain gazing and look forward to the routes of tomorrow’s tour.

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Tour 1: The Switzerland Round

Gerhard Eisenschink

Eight kilometers from Nauders you are in Switzerland and in the bargain paradise of Samnaun. But then it’s off to the parade routes of the Engadine Alps.

Leave Nauders in the direction of Mals / Meran, but on the southern outskirts turn right in the direction of St. Moritz. The road descends wonderfully curvy into the Inn Valley to Martina, where you already cross the border into Switzerland and turn right along the Inn towards Landeck. After five kilometers, turn left up the old road to Samnaun. A winding route, carved into steep cliffs, awaits, with its unlit, narrow tunnels reminiscent of the bygone times of early Alpine roads.

Anyone who has made enough of the duty-free bargains and cheap petrol in Samnaun can either return the same way or take the new road towards Landeck, and then turn right towards Martina / Scuol / St. Moritz. You follow the upper Inn Valley through the pretty towns of the Lower Engadine on a scenic route that is not really challenging in terms of driving technology, but which is always sportier to drive the higher you get. In Susch, turn left towards St. Moritz and come to Zernez. Stay on the right and continue towards St. Moritz. Now it’s on a high mountain route, framed by three thousand meter peaks, through the Upper Engadin.

If you want additional curves, surf right up to the top of the Albula pass and back again in La Punt, otherwise the main route continues towards St. Moritz and before the ski resort after the airport in the roundabout left on the 29 towards Poschiavo / Pontresina / Bernina Pass. The 2,328 meter high Bernina is pure driving pleasure. At the top of the pass you pass the bright turquoise Lago Bianco and four kilometers afterwards turn left towards Livigno, only to cross the Italian border soon afterwards. With Livigno, Italy also offers a customs-free area, and shopping or refueling are ideal. After Livigno with its fjord-like lake towards Svizzera. At the northern end of the lake, one dives left through the Munt-la-Schera tunnel (mostly shuttle traffic every 15 minutes, tolls) through a mountain range over to Switzerland. Where you immediately turn right on the 28 to get to Mustair over the Ofen Pass. The landscape makes you think you are in Canada, this part of the Swiss National Park is so remote. The road is the only sign of civilization that you have reached after the pass on a relaxed descent. In Taufers you briefly change back to Italy / South Tyrol and turn left before Mals towards Reschenpass / Nauders.

Info

Distance: 245 kilometers, easy day tour with enough time for shopping or breaks

Gerhard Eisenschink

Region: The Switzerland circuit crosses the Lower and Upper Engadine and offers two passes, Albula (optional) and Bernina, in the real high mountains of the Engadine Alps. But typically for the triangle, it also goes through the two neighboring countries. Italy throws a scenic heavyweight into the race with Livigno and its Lago, but the Swiss route over the Ofen Pass through the deserted mountains of the Swiss National Park is unsurpassed again.

Biker meeting / break tip: That “Hotel Park Nazional Il Fuorn” dates back to the 15th century when the furnace pass got its name from the iron smelting furnaces. Today, the culinary offerings or the hotel’s panoramic terrace with a wonderful view of the pass road and the surrounding mountains illustrate how old trades such as mining and seaming have been replaced by tourism. That “Alpenrose inn” is located in Plattatschas high above the Val Mustair. You only drive five kilometers up the Umbrail from Santa Maria (see also Tour 2) and enjoy the brilliant view and local cuisine on the sun terrace.

Worth seeing: The Swiss customs exclusion area Samnaun attracts as a shopping paradise and with cheap petrol stations, it is also a very beautiful, remote mountain valley. The quaint old Samnaun road with its tunnels is a piece of Alpine road history. Mal in the Italian Upper Venosta Valley, charmed with old churches and other historical masonry, the Swiss Mustair with a cozy historical town center and the St. Johann monastery. The Reschensee was created in 1950 from three smaller lakes by damming, which flooded 160 houses. The only campanile of Alt-Graun that still protrudes from the water is the most famous postcard motif in the region. The Swiss National Park is also the oldest in the Alps and Central Europe and was founded in 1914. It encompasses very remote and natural regions north of the Ofen Pass, the visitor center is in Zernez.

Passports: Bernina Pass 2,235 m, Forcola di Livigno 2,315 m, Ofen Pass 2,149 m, Reschen Pass 1,507 m

Tour 2: The Italy Round

Gerhard Eisenschink

Italy can also be reached quickly from Nauders. This is followed by a challenging alpine tour of the top class, which culminates with eight passes in the 2,757 meter high Stilfser Joch.

Leave Nauders in the direction of Mals / Meran to the south. The following Reschenpass is not really noticed, as it leads gently over a wide saddle. After the Italian border, great landscape cinema with the blue-green Reschensee, the drowned church tower of Alt-Graun and the Ortler massif behind it. There it goes on towards Merano and almost to Mals. At the beginning of the village right to Laatsch and Taufers, where you cross the Swiss border and pass Mustair. You leave this route, which runs parallel to Tour 1, three kilometers to Mustair in Sta. Maria, where it goes left towards Stelvio / Umbrail up the steep Umbrail pass at 2,501 meters in an impressive high mountain scenery. At the top of the pass over the border to Italy and with Bormio on the right.

In the still impressive mountain scenery, you wig down over the hairpin bends of the Stelvio-Joch west ramp to the well-known ski resort. From Bormio towards Gavia / Santa Caterina. From Santa Caterina, the Gavia route becomes very narrow and winding, its surface is often not optimal, but a challenging and inspiring mountain route. On the Gavia south ramp down to Ponte di Legno and keep right in the direction of Aprica / Sondrio. Now follows a developed stretch of road to Aprica.

After the village and crossing the Adda river, immediately right on the S 38 towards Bormio / Tirano. In Tirano left to Poschiavo and up to Passo Bernina. Immediately after the village you are in Switzerland and look forward to the ingenious curve route up the south-east ramp of the Bernina, whose north-west ramp you got to know on Tour 1: as on Tour 1 at the pass towards Livigno (right) and 20 kilometers on a familiar route . But in Livigno you now branch off to the right onto curvy new land, if you write Bormio with relish the Passo d’Eira and then the Passo di Foscagno, just as relishly tumble down the other side via Valdidentro towards Bormio and before the village left turn towards Passo di Stelvio. You are now on the west ramp of the Stilfser Joch, which you had previously traveled in the opposite direction. You will enjoy this ingenious route to the full again. At the top of the pass, however, not back over the Umbrail as on the outward journey, but staying in Italy in the direction of Bolzano / Passo di Stelvio down the 48 hairpin bends of the Stilfser-Joch-Sudrampe and via Trafoi, Prad, Schluderns, Mals and the Reschenpass back to Nauders.

Info

Route length: 340 kilometers, tight day tour with breaks

Gerhard Eisenschink

Region: The Italy Tour includes seven passes over 2,000 meters and offers real top routes in terms of both driving pleasure and landscape experience. Due to the strong dovetailing of the Italian and Swiss borders in this region, you leave Italy briefly several times without slowing down the journey through border controls.

Biker meeting / break tip: It is at the top of the Passo d’Eira “Motorbike Hotel La Tea” with its terrace ideal for hanging out and looking at the mountains. The top of the Stelvio Pass is not just a meeting place for motorcyclists, but on some days it mutates into a folk festival. A little away from the hustle and bustle on the street is the sun terrace of the “Tibet hut” as an incomparable viewing platform. There is also a lot going on on the Gavia when the young wild ones from Brescia, Bozen or Trento come up here. That takes care of physical well-being “Rifugio Bonetta”.

Worth seeing: The Italian Bormio at the foot of the Stilfser Joch has beautiful shopping streets and markets. The Naturatrafoi National Park Center in Trafoi directly on the Stilfser-Joch-Strabe underlines with exhibitions that the fascinating Ortler mountain offers more than just great motorcycle routes. From Graun am Reschensee, the remote Langtauferstal branches off to the east and invites you to a relaxed voyage of discovery. The steeple protruding from the water on Lake Reschen turned out to be the most striking photo motif in the region. The reservoir originally consisted of three smaller lakes, the other houses in the village, which have been flooded since 1950, are now invisible to passers-by under the water level.

Passports: Reschenpass 1,507 m; Umbrailpass 2.501; Stilfser Joch 2,757 m; Gaviapass 2,652 m; Bernina Pass 2,235; Forcola di Livigno 2,315 m; Passo d’Eira 2,211 m; Passo di Foscagno 2,291 m

Tour 3: The Austria Round

Gerhard Eisenschink

It goes up into a high valley and along a rock face in great right-left combinations down to Imst. With the last stretch in the forest, one falls into Imst in the curve of luck.

Leave Nauders north towards Landeck. The road immediately drops steeply into the Inn Valley over the curves and galleries of the Finstermunz Pass. You pass the Finstermunz fortress built into the rock, which has controlled this narrow stretch since the 19th century. In the Inn Valley towards Landeck on a relaxed, scenic valley stretch, where speed controls are often made. Even before Landeck, you thread into a long tunnel that leads quickly past the city. Now keep in the direction of L 16 / Bregenz and Arlbergpass, either taking the fast, motorway-like, but vignette-free L 16 / Arlberg expressway, which repeatedly blocks any view with long tunnels. Or alternatively the much smaller road through the villages of the Stanztal (Flirsch, Pettneu).

With both variants, St. Anton is the entry point to the Arlberg pass road, which is well-developed and leads up steeply in brisk, fast curves. Before Stuben stay right in the direction of Lech / Zurs in order to flow into the Flexenpass with its rock galleries. Follow the L 198 on a very scenic, winding route via Lech to Warth. There you stay on 198 turning to the right in the direction of Reutte and curves quickly down well-developed curves into the Lech Valley – the ideal route for fast cornering. Now it’s a more leisurely way there, because you repeatedly pass the pretty places of the Lech Valley (Holzgau, Elbigenalp, Haselgehr) until you reach Elmen. Shortly before the village, it goes straight up into the mountains to the Hahntennjoch with the Imst sign, a first-class pass that offers pure driving pleasure right up to the gates of Imst. Although always marked with a middle line, the Hahntennjoch is quite narrow and very curvy, with a perfect surface. It goes up into a high valley and along a rock face in great right-left combos down to Imst. With the last stretch in the forest, one falls into Imst in the curve of luck.

If you turn there at the roundabout in the direction of Landeck, you can quickly and directly reach the entrance to the Inn Valley and continue to Nauders. A nicer alternative is the small and much more curvy road via Arzl, Wenns, Kauns, which only joins the Inntal from Prutz and leads up to Nauders (in Imst at the roundabouts straight towards Pitztal / Innsbruck / Autobahn / 171 and after passing the autobahn entrance always Direction Pitztal via Arzl to Wenns, where you leave the Pitztal on the right to Piller and Flieb).

Info

Route length: 215 kilometers, easy day tour with enough time for breaks

Gerhard Eisenschink

Region: As access to the routes around the main Alpine ridge further south, Tyrol itself is worth a trip, even if its mountains with mostly slightly lower heights accompany the tours. The Inn Valley forms a tour axis between Imst and Nauders, which lies high above the valley.

Biker meeting / break tip: the “Dairy Steeg” right on the main street of the small town in the Lechtal is ideal for having a snack with a milk parlor, local cheese, ice cream and other delicacies. The restaurant “To Geierwally” in Elbigenalp is not just a restaurant, but a small museum about the folk heroine. Tyrolean food is served “Cafe driftwood” In Elmen, directly on the B 189 (600 meters after the Hahntennjoch junction), motorcyclists especially like to get stranded to chat about petrol and marvel at the stranded driftwood from the Lech. On the toll road Kaunertalstrabe offers that “Kaunergrat Nature Park House” an impressive view of the valleys and the Kaunergrat Nature Park from its viewing terrace. You will be treated to Tyrolean specialties on the “most beautiful sun terrace in Tyrol”.

Worth seeing: The Kaunertal as a side valley of the Inn Valley can be reached south of Landeck and follows it for twelve kilometers. Great views of the surrounding mountains of the Otztal Alps are worth the drive down the attractive cul-de-sac, but the highlight is at the end of the valley: the Kaunertal glacier road, which is subject to toll and leads up to 2,750 meters up to the glacier. St. Anton as one of the world’s most famous ski spots is worth a short tour of the town. In Elbigenalp, a pretty place in the Lech Valley and the seat of several carving companies and even a technical school for carving, the museum, which is already conspicuous when you drive past, is located directly on the main road “Wunderkammer”, that presents the culture and history of the Lechtal in a modern and exciting way.

Passports: Hahntennjoch 1,894 m, Finstermunzpass 1,186 m, Reschenpass 1,507 m

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