Ritten – Val Gardena – Val Badia

This tour, which crosses two of South Tyrol’s most famous valleys, Val Gardena and Val Badia, covers almost 200 kilometres through the heart of the Dolomites. Of course you start at Ritten and you can get in the mood for the tour as soon as you leave your front door: with a view over the silhouettes of the Dolomites and the winding road down towards Bolzano. Shortly before we reach the city itself, we come across the Brenner state road (SS 12), which we follow to the north. At Waidbruck we leave the SS 12 and with it the Eisacktal and turn right to Val Gardena.

Next we pass on to the Grödner road (SS 242) through the whole valley and past Ortisei, S. Cristina and Selva Gardena, from where the road quickly rises to Plan de Gralba. There we turn left onto the SS 243 towards the Gardena Pass. The section from Wolkenstein to the Gardena Pass and from there down to the Val Badia (to Kolfuschg and Corvara) is one of the most beautiful mountain roads on offer.

From Corvara we follow the SS 244, the Gardena Valley road, out of the valley to St. Lorenzen near Bruneck, the main town of the Puster Valley. There we turn left onto the Puster national road (SS 49). Driving west, we reach the entrance to the Brenner motorway (A 22) before Franzensfeste. On this road we drive south to the Bolzano and the North exit and from there back to Ritten.