MenStyleFashion spent 3 full days in South Tyrol Italy as part of a press trip organised by South Tyrol Tourism. This trip took into account some of the best culinary highlights, amazing scenery, outdoor activities and luxurious accommodation of South Tyrol. The first day we explored the Alta Badia region of South Tyrol.
South Tyrol
South Tyrol is Italy’s northernmost province and it combines Alpine staidness with Italian joie-de-vivre, its mountain range the Dolomites are a UNESCO World Heritage site. Home to three languages, German, Italian and Ladin it is diverse in culture. South Tyrol is a region with huge contrasts, between Mediterranean landscape and Alpine peaks, deeply rooted traditions in remote valleys and cosmopolitan curiosity in the capital Bolzano.
Alta Badia also know as the Ladin Valley is a ski region in winter and a cyclist and hikers mecca in summer. In this area the Dolomites are magnificent and as part of spending a day here we have to explore the mountain range with some hikes and some cycling plus enjoy some of local Ladin and Tyrolean food on the way.
Stay – Rosa Alpina Hotel – San Cassiano
The first night of the Luxury trip in South Tyrol was at the Rosa Alpina hotel in San Cassiano. This hotel has a classic South Tyrolean look and offers a five star service. It houses the St Hubertus restaurant where 2 star Michelin chef Norbert Niederkofler applied his trade for the last 20 years. You can read my review of this restaurant here. The service at the Rosa Alpina is warm and welcoming all the time. When I visited it was full of cyclists enjoying the local scenery and also enjoying great service and food. The rooms in the hotel are traditionally decorated with lots of wood, you certainly feel you are in the mountains. The Rosa Alpina hotel also has an indoor pool, gym, spa and multiple sauna sections, giving you time to relax or work out.
Details
Website: www.rosalpina.it
Address: Strada Micurà De Ru, 20, 39030 San Cassiano in Badia BZ, Italy
Phone: +39 0471 849500
Explore – Hiking Piz Boè – Corvara
After a 20 minute drive form San Cassiano I arrived in Corvara where I took a cable car to the Piz Boè. At the top of this cable car at 2224 meters is the beautiful located Piz Boè Alpine Lounge from where you have breath taking views towards the Sassongher mountain. I recommend anyone to have a drink or bite to eat here and just soak up the amazing scenery around you.
Taking the cable car to Piz Boe. View towards the Sassongher. MenStyleFashion visited South Tyrol in Italy. A special thanks to @visitsouthtyrol for the visit. #LuxuryTravel #LuxuryLife #SouthTyrol #MSFLuxury #VisitItaly #VisitSouthTyrol #BeautifulDestinations #Italy #Mountainviews #AltaBadia #PizBoe #Sassongher #Corvara #VisitCorvara #VisitAltaBadia #exploreyourway #dolomites #magicdolomites #unescoworldheritage #summerinaltabadia #luxsouthtyrol
A photo posted by MSF_Luxury (@msf_luxury) on
Jul 16, 2016 at 2:47pm PDT
View from The Piz Boe Alpine Lounge
After enjoying the amazing views it was time for a gentle hike down through some lovely fields of Alpine flowers towards the Crep de Munt mountain hut (2000 m) to have my first culinary lunch break of the day. After all food is an important part of a luxury experience.
Eat – Ütia Crëp de Munt
The Crëp de Munt mountain hut was this year part of Peaks of Gastronomy initiative whereby 10 mountain huts across Italy offer a dish created by a regional star chef. This years motto was the Tour Of Italian flavours which would take in 10 different mountain stages of the 2016 Giro Italia bike race. Local one Michelin Star Chef Nicola Laera from La Stua De Michil restaurant created the following dish for this mountain hut: Venison tartare, celeriac, hazelnuts, goat’s cheese and pain d’epices. I was keen to try it out. However before I got to this dish it was first time for a refreshing Hugo cocktail which is a combination of local elder-flower syrup, Prosecco, mineral water and some mint leaves.
Details
Website: www.crepdemunt.it/en/
Address: Str. Pé de Corvara, 30, 39033 Corvara In Badia BZ, Italy
Phone: +39 349 084 2885
Explore – e-Biking Col Alt – Corvara
With all that lovely food and some wine it was time for some exercise again and I continued the hike down the Piz Boè all the way down to Corvara. After that it was time to go up to the Col Alt (1980 m) with another cable car. On top of this mountain there was an electric mountain bike sharing point. The mountain bikes are part of the E-MBT Sharing service which runs throughout the Movimënt parks in Alta Badia. There are six E-MTB points in Alta Badia: three up in the Movimënt parks (Piz La Ila, Piz Sorega and Col Alt) and three down at the Tourist Association Offices (Corvara, La Villa, La Val). The deal is very good with prices starting at €14 for a 2 hour rental, this was enough time to cycle to my next food stop and down to Corvara.
If you have never done any serious mountain biking like me, this is an excellent way of riding some mountain tracks. The electric motor will assist with the pedaling, I had it set to strong which really helps when you want to go uphill and I find the more I burn off this gives me new appetite for the next eating adventure. With the electric mountain bikes we took a track towards the Piz Arlara mountain hut, where again a culinary delight would be consumed, life is tough sometimes.
The E-MTB sharing point at Col Alt
Eat – Ütia Piz Arlana
It was only a short ride of 15 minutes on the Mountain bike before I got to the Piz Arlana mountain hut. This Moutain hut which has been run by the Vittur family for the past 38 years offers Tyrolean and Mediterranean cuisine. It has breath taking views over The Dolomites. I had some local dessert with ice and to my surprise I looked up and noticed grand pa Vittur, who was holding the accordion. He looked at us, smiled and the mountain atmosphere of music began. Apparently he does this almost daily, it certainly added to the mountain atmosphere and made it all very special and personal to us as a whole group.
View from the Piz Arlara mountain hut
Details
Website: www.pizarlara.it/en/
Address: Piz Arlara – Loc. Pré Ciablun 39033 Corvara in Badia (BZ) – Südtirol – Italy
Phone: +39 0471 83 66 33
After the dessert break at Piz Arlara I cycled down to Corvara to drop off the electric mountain bike. I had an amazing active day whilst enjoying incredibly good local food. Alta Badia in South Tyrol is a fantastic location if you love the outdoors, especially with the dramatic scenery of the Dolomites around you. What is very unique about this tour is that even in such a remote local mountain area these huts that are only accessible via a hike or a bike ride can offer such a high standard of food. Therefore you don’t have to be a hardcore hiker to experience such a rare holiday. I would highly recommend venturing here, welcome to the world of luxury hiking in style.
Alta Badia in summer: hikers, bikers and foodies welcome.
South Tyrol
This article was part of a press trip to South Tyrol in Italy. The trip was sponsored by South Tyrol Tourism. For more information about South Tyrol, Italy visit www.suedtirol.info.