The Dolomites (West-East): Part 2 The Val di Cembra

Published on:  | Last updated: 29 March 2017

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Distances
Stenico - Molveno 20 kms
Molveno - Andalo 5 kms
Andalo - Lavis 30 kms
Lavis - Molina di Fiemme 40 kms

The route loops round the Brenta Dolomites to the Lago di Molveno. The lake with its backdrop of the Brenta Dolomites would be on my list of contenders for the most beautiful of the Italian mountain lakes. Molveno (and Andalo a few kilometres further on) are both fairly upmarket ski resorts. They’re OK, but there’s perhaps a little too much alpine fakery.

From Andalo its pretty much downhill all the way to the Adige valley. There’s a fairly scary-looking junction here but it’s possible to avoid it simply going through Mezzolombardo and Nave San Rocco. A short stretch of cycleway takes you into Lavis.

From Lavis the SS612 takes you through the Val di Cembra winegrowing district. Terraced vineyards cascade for hundreds of metres down the valley side. There are a couple of tunnels on the way up but these can be avoided.

The Ciclovia delle Dolomiti starts at Molina di Fiemme a little after the Lago di Stramezzino. If you have time climb up to Cavalese.

Options

The Val Rendena cycleway forms part of the signed Dolomiti BrentaBike. The DBB cycleway offers an altern­ative route along the other side of the lake, which looks like it would be well worth checking out if you have time.

You could also head south from Tione di Trento to the Lago d’Idro and the Lago di Ledro and on to the Lago di Garda. There’s a spectacular descent on the old Strada del Ponale down into Riva del Garda - the road turns into a fairly rough gravelly path near the bottom so you might need to push your bike for a bit, however the descent is so good it’s worth consid­ering. From Riva you could then climb via the Lago di Tenno and rejoin the route at the Lago di Molveno. See the guide to this variant here.

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More information

Places to stay

Hotels and B&Bs

Find and book places to stay with Booking.com

Booking.com pages for places on this section of the route:

About these links

If you use these links to book accom­mod­ation Booking.com will pay me a small part of their commission. This helps support the costs of producing this site.

I use Booking.com to find and book places to stay when there are no campsites in the area. The large majority of hotels and many hostels are now on ‘Booking’. I like it because it means that I can get almost-instant confirm­ation. The rating system is also a reliable guide to the quality of the accommodation.

I’ve never had a problem finding places to keep my bike —even if it’s a cupboard or store room. I always use the ‘special requests’ field on the booking form to tell the hotel that I’m travelling with a bike, which gives them the oppor­tunity to let me know if there’s a problem.

Many properties offer free cancel­lation but it’s a good idea to check the condi­tions as these vary from property to property.

Campsites

There are campsites at the Lago di Molveno (the Camping Spiaggia and at Andalo (Camping Andalo).

  Map of campsites along the route:  Dolomites-WE-campsites-map-show map in overlay    |    Dolomites-WE-campsites-map-show map in new window 

Transport and services

Trains

There’s a rail station near Mezzocorona and Mezzolombardo and another at Lavis.

Articles in this series

Get in touch

Please get in touch if you find any errors in the information, or if there’s anything, good or bad, that you’d want other cyclists to know.

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