Published on: 7 February 2018  | Last updated: 7 January 2020

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Distances
Fortezza Franzensfeste to Schabs (Sciaves)	5 kms
Schabs to Natz (Naz)	4 kms
Natz to Brixen (Bressanone)	6 kms
Brixen to Fortezza Franzensfeste	10 kms

Route description

Brixen to Mühlbach and Bruneck

While the main route continues toward the Pustertal, the variant of the route climbs to the Natz-Schabs Apfelhochplateau (high apple plateau). The Südtirol is a major producer of apples. The opening of the railway over the Brenner in 1867 gave access to markets north of the alps.The apple was considered to be a luxury, and apples from the area reached as far as the imperial courts of Vienna, Berlin and St Petersburg.

After the Festung Franzensfeste (Forte di Fortezza) the main route runs mainly beside the LS/SP94 road for a little under 3 kilometres. The road takes you under the Pustertaler Staatsstraße (SS49 BIs). You turn left and skirt round behind a petrol station, and a bar, before you pick up a section of road that has been closed to traffic, this, in turn, takes you to a junction with the main road where there is a crossing. The main route continues on a cycleway on the left-hand side of the main road; you need to cross over the SS49 Pustertaler Staatsstraße and pick up the road (the Peter Kemenater Straße) to Schabs. 

Turn left when you get to the church in the centre of Schabs. The road (the Viumser Straße) climbs through woodland and then through the village of Viums, passing the fire station (feuerwehr) on a bend in the road.

After Viums the route continues climbing for a little longer. As you reach the top, don’t forget to look back to admire the views of the Pustertal.

It’s then downhill all the way into Brixen.

In the centre of the Natz there’s a cross­roads with the church on one corner, and the rathaus (council offices) on the other. Natz has several places to eat and drink, as well as places to stay. The church is worth a quick look especially the altar and the sculpture of St Philomena in a glass coffin.

Continue straight on from the cross­roads, passing another fire station on the left. The descent gets steeper as you get closer to Elvas. 

The Elvasserstraße comes out onto the riverside where it turns right and comes to an end at a bridge (the Adlerbrücke). If you continue straight on, the street (the Adlerbrückengasse) takes you into the Pfarrplatz beside the Pfarrkirche Sankt Michael which in turn leads into the Domplatz in the heart of the city’s centro storico.

Brixen to Fortezza Franzensfeste

To cycleway back towards Fortezza Franzensfeste follows the riverside heading north (i.e. with the river on your right-hand side). The cycleway takes you past Brixen’s huge Acquarena swimming pool complex.

A little further on, the cycleway crosses the river and continues through a park. At the next bridge it crosses back again, but if you want to visit the Kloster Neustift then turn right and follow the cycleway that leads you pretty much the whole way to the abbey. 

The main cycleway continues past a shopping centre on the right, and the Löwenhof, and then continues to a bridge that takes you over the main Brennerstraße, the autobahn, and the railway line all in one go. Once you’re over the bridge, the easiest option is to turn left following the Bahnhofstraße, but the official cycle route follows attack through a field.

The route then takes you through the village of Vahrn and the nearby Vahrnersee. There’s a stretch of compacted-surface bike path that takes you through a nature reserve. The map shows two paths through the nature reserve. I followed what looked like the cycle route, but I may have taken the wrong path, so take whichever option seems best. Both options come out beside the entrance to the Camping Vahrner See. From here you just follow the tarmac-surfaced cycleway as it leads to the Festung Franzensfeste and the main route.

Articles in this series

• München-Venezia Overview
• München-Venezia: 1: München to Achenkirch
• München-Venezia: 2: Achenkirch to Hall-in-Tirol
• München-Venezia: 3: Hall-in-Tirol to Brenner
• München-Venezia: 4: Brenner to Fortezza Franzensfeste
• München-Venezia: 5: the PusterTal (Fortezza Franzensfeste to Toblach)
• München-Venezia: 6: the Ciclabile delle Dolomiti
• München-Venezia: 7: the Via Alemagna (Sotto Castello di Cadore to the Lago di Santa Croce)
• München-Venezia: 8: the Lago di Santa Croce to Treviso
• München-Venezia: 9: Treviso to Venezia