Dolomites - A Mountain Bike Loop from Villnöss

A six-day mountain bike loop through the Dolomites, starting and finishing in Villnöss below the Geisler peaks. The route climbs to the Plose hut above Brixen, crosses the Würzjoch into the Gader valley, continues over the Kreuzjoch into the Prags valley, and heads via the Plätzwiese and the Passo Cimabanche to Ra Stua near Cortina. From there it crosses the Sennes plateau back to St. Vigil and Badia, and returns to Villnöss over the Forcella di San Zenon. The route originally comes from a Dolomites guidebook and is demanding throughout, with a lot of pushing on S1-S2 trails.

Total length: 197kmAccumulated height: 7.460mDuration: 6 days

We started in Weiden in Villnöss on 6 September 2026 and were back there six days later.

Take a look at this video to get an impression about this trip:

Day Trips

Day 1 - Villnöss to the Plose Hut

Length: 23kmAscent: 1.530mDescent: 360mHighest point: 2.450m

A short stage on paper, but with almost all of the day's climbing in it. From St. Magdalena the route leads through the Villnöss valley past Innerpalmschoß and Kreuztal, over the Schönjöchl and the Lüsner Scharte up to the Plose hut at around 2.450m - the highest point of the whole tour.

Day 2 - Plose Hut to St. Vigil

Length: 41kmAscent: 990mDescent: 2.200mHighest point: 2.456m

The longest stage and the one with the most descending. Back over the Lüsner Scharte, the route crosses the Würzjoch (Passo delle Erbe, 1.987m), passes the Maurerberg hut and runs down through the hamlets above the Gader valley to Zwischenwasser, before the last section to St. Vigil in Enneberg.

Day 3 - St. Vigil to Brückele

Length: 31kmAscent: 1.500mDescent: 1.200mHighest point: 2.282m

From St. Vigil the route climbs to the Kreuzjoch at 2.283m and descends into the Prags valley, past Lake Braies (Lago di Braies) and through St. Veit and Schmieden to the Gasthof Brückele.

Day 4 - Brückele to Ra Stua

Length: 28kmAscent: 860mDescent: 660mHighest point: 2.012m

The shortest day of the tour - which was lucky for us, as heavy rain was forecast. It climbs to the high pastures of the Plätzwiese (Prato Piazza) below the Dürrenstein, descends to Schluderbach, crosses the Passo Cimabanche and continues past the Ospitale to the Rifugio Malga Ra Stua.

Day 5 - Ra Stua to Badia

Length: 43kmAscent: 1.190mDescent: 1.560mHighest point: 2.139m

From Ra Stua the route climbs over the Passo Senes to the Sennes hut and crosses the plateau via Fodara Vedla to Pederü. It was the coldest day of the tour, and the first snow fell at around 2.500m in parts of South Tyrol. So we took the easy way straight down to St. Vigil and continued via St. Martin in Thurn through the villages of the Gader valley to Badia.

Day 6 - Badia to Villnöss

Length: 31kmAscent: 1.380mDescent: 1.420mHighest point: 2.301m

The final stage leads from Badia through Campill (Longiarù) and up to the Forcella di San Zenon (Kreuzjoch, 2.293m) below the Puez-Geisler group, before the descent back to St. Magdalena in Villnöss.

Our Learnings

• This is a mountain bike tour from the first day - there are no easy valley stages to warm up
• The route comes from a Dolomites guidebook and is harder than the distances suggest: expect S1-S2 trails and a fair amount of pushing
• Distance says little here. Day 1 is only 23km but climbs 1.530m to the Plose hut at around 2.450m
• Day 2 descends more than 2.200m - check your brakes before setting off
• We were moving for 3.5 to 6 hours a day, around 30 hours in total over the six days
• As a loop, the tour starts and finishes in Villnöss, which makes getting there and back simple