Road bike holiday in autumn: Bavarian Oberland
Alps in autumn? Yes - when they serve as a beautiful backdrop for tours at your feet! Then even the first snow on the peaks is no obstacle to fun. TOUR travel author Jörg Wenzel lives in Munich, knows the foothills of the Alps from countless trips and particularly enjoys autumn.
Late autumn is often still mild at altitudes between 500 and 700 metres, the air is clearer than in the thundery summer, and the mountains are close enough to touch - every ride seems like a short racing bike holiday in autumn. It's 50 kilometres from Munich to the edge of the Alps, with a network of small roads with mostly good surfaces in between. At first it is perfectly flat, the further south you go, the more the terrain undulates, but the differences in altitude are usually limited to just 60 to 100 metres. If you want more, you have to feel your way into the mountains, into the Eng valley in the Karwendel or the Valepp valley to Spitzingsee.
Every drive out of my front door is like a short holiday (Jörg Wenzel)
Or you can ride like the European Championship peloton to Walchensee - although I prefer to ride up the Jachenau (Jachen valley) and down the Kesselberg because of the traffic on the Kesselberg road. But you should study the weather forecast! I was once able to ride through the Valepp in mid-October when the sun was still shining in shorts and a short-sleeved jersey - the next day winter set in, with half a metre of snow in the mountains. But I was still able to do my laps in the autumnal foothills weeks later. Just like now: the sun is shining out of a Bavarian picture-book sky, mid-blue, dotted with white clouds. I have to get on my bike ...
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Beer gardens
Gasthaus Holzheu and its small, shady beer garden are located 35 kilometres south of Munich in the hamlet of Harmating. It is mainly people from the neighbouring villages who come here. Regional cuisine, homemade cakes, good coffee. (Still) an insider tip.
Stop at Sachenbach (www.sachenbacher-walchensee.de) on the quiet northern shore of Lake Walchensee serves snacks with farmhouse bread and homemade cakes; milk, butter and quark come from its own dairy kitchen. And the fantastic view of the lake and mountains is free of charge.
Info & Accommodation
Munich Tourist Office Phone 0049/(0)89/2300180
For savers: The Munich-Thalkirchen campsite (089/7231707, campingplatz-thalkirchen.de) is quietly located on the southern edge of the city on the Isar; ideal for tours to the south, yet only a few underground stops away from the city centre. It is also inexpensive: Two campers plus car only pay a little more than 20 euros per night.
Tours
Our four tours for a road bike holiday in autumn, which start from Munich, cover as wide a range of landscapes as possible: a flat one leads to Andechs Monastery, a short one to Lake Starnberg, an almost 160-kilometre tour into the mountains to Lake Walchensee and a varied one into the Mangfall valley, where 16-percent ramps await. There are also four tours in nearby Pfaffenwinkel - the train from Munich to Peißenberg, which three of the four tours pass through, takes an hour (one change).
Racing cyclist meeting
The main meeting point in Munich for rides to the south is Perlacher Forst, Säbener Platz at the north entrance. You can meet like-minded people there on weekday afternoons and early in the morning at weekends. For tours to the south-west, the "Link Geräumt" car park at Forstenrieder Park is a good starting point. The Facebook group Rennradln Munich Tour (can also be found on Strava) is the largest road cycling community in Munich, where everyone can find a suitable group - specify your average speed, the distance and whether you want to plan breaks!
Road bike holidays in autumn: Southern Tuscany
Gentle hills, pine trees as if painted, towns and villages full of culture and history: TOUR travel author Christiane Bertelsmann fell in love with southern Tuscany at first sight many years ago - and visits it again and again, especially in autumn, when the region comes to rest.
Gentle hills covered in olive trees and pines are characteristic of Tuscany, as are fields and vineyards - even in its southern part. It's my favourite place to go because it's a little quieter than in and around the tourist magnets of Florence or San Gimignano. And because Monte Amiata, a 1738 metre high former volcano with green slopes, almost forces racing cyclists to climb to its summit. The Amiata is a lava dome that rises clearly visible from the hills as the highest point in the region. Hot springs nearby still bear witness to its volcanic origins.
Road bike holiday in autumn: gain another decent amount of altitude
But even without the Amiata, it never gets boring on any tour. I rarely have as many metres of elevation gain on the clock after just a few kilometres. Only on the way to the sea, through the former marshland of the Maremma, do a few flatter sections invite you to pick up the pace. Otherwise, southern Tuscany challenges cyclists with constant ups and downs. One hill follows the next. A 100-kilometre tour can quickly add up to 1500 to more than 2000 metres in altitude.
For a nice breather, I recommend visiting the Etruscan towns of Pitigliano, Sovana and Sorano - in view of their medieval town centres, I always wonder whether time travel is possible after all. But even entering them costs drops of sweat because they are all perched high up on tuff cliffs - so it's a good thing that in autumn the temperatures only hover around 20 degrees during the day. This is one of the reasons why I particularly enjoy being in southern Tuscany at this time of year.
Then the air is clearer and fresher, most holidaymakers have left and the fields have been harvested. And I can take a dip in the hot springs in Saturnia, the freely accessible Cascate del Mulino, without being burnt by the summer sun. A dip in the round natural pools, known as sinter pools, into which 37-degree thermal water pours, is wonderfully relaxing after a few days and several thousand metres in altitude. Southern Tuscany: For me, time and time again - and I've even been learning Italian for a year now.
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La Carrareccia
The ride with vintage racers around Lago di Bolsena takes place every year in September, with routes of 54, 80, 105 and 130 kilometres.
Info: www.lacarrareccia.it
Tuscan cuisine
Il Barilotto in Santa Fiora, the starting point of four of our tours for this autumn cycling holiday, serves authentic Amiata cuisine: bistecca alla Fiorentina, a beefsteak cooked on a charcoal grill without fat or salt. Vegetarians will also find tasty alternatives, for example the ribollita stew made from white beans, bread and vegetables or panzanella, a salad with bread and tomatoes. Simply delicious!
Info & Accommodation
www.visittuscany.com (official website of the Tuscany region)
Tours
Four of our eight tours for this road bike holiday in autumn start in Santa Fiora, south of Monte Amiata, and extend from Montalcino in the north to the Etruscan town of Pitigliano in the south, where two other tours begin. In addition, two tours further inland open up the region around Lago di Bolsena. From 52 to 125 kilometres, everything is included, with climbs ranging from 1100 to 2200 metres in altitude.
Road bike holiday in autumn: Abruzzo
Abruzzo in the south of Italy is a terrain made for TOUR travel author Jörg Spaniol - he appreciates the quiet, diverse region with its magnificent landscapes, especially in autumn.
A glance at the map reveals that Abruzzo is not a summer destination: the region lies at the same latitude as Rome and the sun burns mercilessly - even 1000 metres above sea level. For me, however, autumn also has aesthetic advantages: The air is clearer than in spring, the visibility better. In addition, the colours of the dry slopes and the colourful foliage go wonderfully with this vast, lonely mountain landscape. The spectacular Campo Imperatore plateau, treeless and steppe-like at an altitude of around 1600 metres, looks even more enchanting in the autumn colours than in early summer. Two thirds of the region is covered by the Apennine mountains, which are home to three national parks: the Gran Sasso in the north, the Maiella to the south and the Abruzzo National Park in the far south. The Gran Sasso massif is also home to the highest mountain in Abruzzo, the 2912 metre-high Corno Grande.
Immerse yourself in a forgotten world
A road bike holiday in autumn in Abruzzo is like entering a forgotten world. People take their time, sitting over an espresso in the piazza in Anversa, the starting point of one of my tours. From there, I head purposefully uphill. It soon becomes so quiet that we can discuss why this route also deserves to be marked green as an attractive route on the road map. Is it more because of the jagged silhouettes of the peaks in the north or because of the elegant roads in a barren, grey-green landscape?
On the ascent to Campo Imperatore, the mountain village of Castel del Monte stands guard like a fortress on a hill. In the Hollywood film "The American", it was the remote village to which the killer played by George Clooney retreated - a plausible choice, as it gets really lonely from there in autumn. A road crosses the plateau, which is fascinating when the sun is shining, but dangerously remote when the weather threatens to change - it's almost 50 kilometres to the next village. Images of Scandinavian tundra and the Wild West come to mind. Back in Sulmona, my base for road bike tours in the region, I stop at a gelateria. A double espresso, please. Then an ice cream. Then a croissant, served with an understanding smile. Ah, Italy ...
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Dining at the Albergo
On tour 3 (all tours to download) through the Maiella mountains, the Albergo Parco della Maiella in Sant'Eufemia, the only open restaurant in the area, proved to be a hit. The owner offers advice and cooks her own food, including homemade pasta. Delicious and reasonably priced.
Bathing day by the sea
After tough stages, your legs need a rest day. Our tip: until the end of October, the sea around Pescara is still warm enough for swimming - and the holidaymakers who clog up the coast in summer have long since left.
Info & accommodation
Ufficio Turistico Comunale di SulmonaPhone 0039/0864/210216
Info: www.comune.sulmona.aq.it
(there in the "Menu" under "Turismo") The municipal tourist office provides friendly assistance (also in English) in finding accommodation.
Tip
B&B Il Marchese del Grillo,
Probably the most stylish bed & breakfast in the city, in the historic centre. Double room with breakfast from 90 euros.
Tours
Three of our four tours for this road bike holiday in autumn between 80 and 130 kilometres barely break the 2000 metre altitude mark, one has 1400 metres. The highest point is beyond 2000 metres. All laps contain long, rather even climbs, often with flat sections. Only the Giro climb towards Blockhaus is significantly steeper than 10 per cent. The road surfaces are good to satisfactory. As a bonus, there is also the 150-kilometre Sunday tour of the cycle club in Sulmona, which climbs almost 1000 metres in one go in the Sirente-Velino National Park, with a view of the "Little Dolomites".
Road bike holiday in autumn: La Gomera
TOUR travel author Sven Bremer is always drawn to La Gomera - for the small but very mountainous Canary Island, his form is usually better in October than in March.
No matter what time of year - I always work up a sweat on La Gomera. It's a constant occurrence on the almost circular, volcanically formed island, which measures just 25 kilometres in diameter and whose highest peak, the Alto de Garajonay, rises 1487 metres into the sky right in the middle. If you want to ride flat on La Gomera, you can roll a few metres back and forth along the promenade in Valle Gran Rey on the west coast - that's it.
Otherwise, La Gomera is a climbing area, but one with predominantly moderate gradients. Nevertheless, a tour that is not even 80 kilometres long can easily cover 2500 metres in altitude. Temperatures on the coast rarely rise above 25 degrees in summer, unless the Calima, a hot wind from the Sahara, blows over, in which case it can reach 40 degrees. This may not bother bathers, but it's definitely too hot for me to ride a racing bike.
If the long-sleeved jerseys are already ready at home, I can still ride La Gomera short-short (Sven Bremer, TOUR travel author)
Winter also has its pitfalls: Most of the precipitation falls from November to January. For this reason, and because I don't have the form for the long climbs in spring, I love autumn. I start at the Atlantic, then head up into the evergreen laurel forests of the mountains, which are a UNESCO World Heritage Site, down to the coast and back up into the lonely mountain world, where a cockcrow breaks the silence over the mountain village and I encounter even fewer cars in autumn than usual. But above all, when the long-sleeved jerseys are already at the top of the pile at home, I can still ride short-shorts on La Gomera.
The roads are in excellent condition, the surface is smooth almost everywhere and the traffic is manageable. But be careful: in the often misty forests of the national park, it can be damp and sometimes slippery, especially when there are leaves on the road. Back in Valle Gran Rey on the west coast, safe, tired and content, I enjoy the sunset by the sea and don't even dream of long-sleeved jerseys and long trousers.
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Everyman race
Cicloturista Isla de La Gomera, every year on the first Saturday in October (100 km/2800 m). More mountainous than some Alpine tours, so you need late fitness!
Info/registration: www.facebook.com/ClubCiclistaGomera
Chickpea stew
It is not conducive to performance when you still have around 1500 metres of altitude ahead of you, on the way (on two of our GPS tours in the north-east) in the Restaurant Los Mocanes to stop off in Tamargada.
But damn tempting! The "garbanzos compuestos", a hearty chickpea stew, are a culinary revelation. Enjoy the fantastic view from the terrace and wash down your meal with a non-alcoholic "Dorada".
In the evening, the food is comparatively light: a freshly caught grilled sole, which barely fits on the plate but costs very little on the coast, accompanied by a salad and the inevitable "papas arrugadas" - wrinkled potatoes cooked in salt water with their skins on and served with red or green mojo (sauce).
Info & Accommodation
Spanish Tourist Office, www.spain.info/de
In addition: www.lagomera.travel/de (Website of the tourism association)
Tours
Two tours start on the west coast, in La Puntilla, two in the east, in the capital San Sebastian. The longest is 84 kilometres - only? Don't worry! 2600 metres in altitude spice up this tour. The shortest tour alone, at 59 kilometres, is "only" 1600 metres in altitude and therefore below the two thousand metre mark.
Road bike holiday in autumn: Bucklige Welt in Lower Austria
Where the Alps ebb away towards Hungary in the east, in Lower Austria lies the Bucklige Welt, a region covered with a finely woven network of side roads - the perfect place for TOUR travel author Matthias Rotter to roll out with relish at the end of the season.
The Bucklige Welt in eastern Austria has all the ingredients that make up an autumn destination for me: mild climate, no long climbs, narrow side roads where you are more likely to meet a farmer on a tractor than cars. A kind of end-of-season coasting in a landscape that looks as if someone has mixed the Allgäu and a low mountain range.
Mild temperatures
In contrast to the Allgäu, however, there are hardly any cattle pastures in the Bucklige Welt, but mainly fruit growing: apples and pears. This indicates that the temperatures at altitudes between 400 and 900 metres are pleasantly mild - right through to October. And even if it sounds like a cliché: for me, culinary delights are always part of a region. In the Bucklige Welt, it's the unique farm inns where farmers bring their produce to the table at the so-called Mostheurigen: Sausage and meat, cheese, fish or salads, apple or pear cider.
I like to take a break there on a tour during a road bike holiday in autumn. But the bar is seasonal and only open on certain dates. So always check the wine tavern dates beforehand, for example on www.mostheurige.at. Or check on the way to see if there's a bunch of brushwood dangling from the driveway; then it's open. So that you don't get the wrong impression from all this enjoyment: My tours can include a few metres of elevation gain. They are already in the name of the "world": humpy. In the Rosaliengebirge mountains, a range of hills near Wiener Neustadt, the Alps fold up one last time before the country heads towards Hungary.
I like to take a break in the farm inns where the farmers serve their produce at the Mostheurigen (Matthias Rotter, TOUR travel author)
From the east, from the lowlands, the humps bare their teeth particularly strongly. Kaiserriegel, Reitriegel, Glanznriegel: in the Bucklige Welt, chains of hills stagger one behind the other like waves on the ocean. "Zupfer" is the name given to poisonous ramps here, probably because they really tug at the calves. For example, from Schwarzenbach up to Wiesmath, where the road gets steeper with every metre until the asphalt finally rears up at 15 per cent. The climb to Forchtenstein Castle, the landmark of Burgenland, is also a tough one, but rewards cyclists with a view as far as Lake Neusiedl. Marvellous!
Don't miss it!
Farm economy in Lichtenegg
Mostheuriger Kornfell is open four times a year, the last time being the first two weeks of October 2022. It serves beef and pork products from its own farm, as well as meat-free dishes.
Krumbach Museum Village
A reconstructed farmhouse from the 16th century, next to it the building of the Bürgerspital, also from that time, in which a multimedia show and other exhibits show the life of the rural population since the 16th century.
Info: www.museum-krumbach.at
Info & Accommodation
Vienna Alps in Lower Austria Tourism, telephone 0043/(0)2622/78960,
Info: www.wieneralpen.at
Verein Bucklige Welt - Regional Development, telephone 0043/(0)2643/94111-30,
Info: www.buckligewelt.at
Tours
Our tours on this road bike holiday in autumn lead to the Semmering Pass, the Wechselgebirge mountains or the Hutwisch, one of the highest mountains in the Bucklige Welt. They are between 71 and 96 kilometres long and are peppered with 1350 to 1900 metres in altitude. There is plenty of time for sightseeing or the occasional stop at a farm pub.
