Welcome to the Dolomites UNESCO World Heritage - welcome to the most legendary pass roads of the pale mountains! As the variety and choice of pass roads here in the Puster Valley is enormous we have compiled our absolute Top 5 Passes Hit List for you as a first point of reference and a small overview of the possibilities that open up for you here. You can have it all, there are breathtaking and imposing panoramas and moderate but also aggressive pass roads. Of course, we make no claim to completeness: our pass road potpourri would also provide enough material for a top 10 list! But we haven't made it that easy for ourselves.
So, we proudly present our Top 5 Passes Chart Show:
Start the cross-border parade circuit directly from Olang through the wild and romantic Antholz Valley. The border between Italy and Austria lies directly at the top of the Stallersattel pass - and at the southwesternmost tip of the Hohe Tauern National Park. The pass road is single-lane (two-way traffic light regulation) and wonderfully winding past Lake Antholz up to 2,052 m - with wonderful views of the 3,000-metre peaks of the Rieserferner Group, which separate the Puster Valley from the Ziller Valley. It connects the South Tyrolean Antholz Valley with the East Tyrolean Defereggen Valley, passing through a deep valley incision guarded by the imposing mountain ranges of the Defreggen Mountains, the Schober, Larsörling and Rieserferner Groups. Via the west ramp from the Puster Valley, a total of 23 km and 1,065 metres in altitude have to be mastered, and via the east ramp, it's about 34 km and 1,235 metres in altitude down to Huben in Austria.
The tour to the Furkel Pass starts directly from Olang - and offers a direct entry into the legendary Kronplatz tour. In just 11.9 km you reach the Furkel Pass at 1,789 m from Olang. The Furkel saddle is thus the shortest and least congested connection between the eastern Puster Valley and the Badia valley.
After a rapid descent we reach St. Vigil. In the midst of the Ladin cultural region, an espresso stop is definitely in order. Afterwards, the Kronplatz tour leads on low-traffic roads to the idyllic place of pilgrimage Maria Saalen and finally via Bruneck and the Puster Valley cycle path back to Olang.
A mountain treat in the surroundings of the legendary Sella Ronda. During the First World War, the mountain ranges around the Falzarego Pass were the scene of fierce mountain warfare between Austria and Italy. A monument on the top of the mountain pass, which is littered with rocks, still bears witness to these battles. At 2,105 m, the wind can be really strong - but the fantastic view of the surrounding mountain world of the Dolomites makes up for all that: in the west, the glaciated Marmolata - and thus the highest mountain in the Dolomites - can be seen, and in the south, Monte Averau (2,649 m) rises in the Nuvolau Group as well as the five jagged peaks of the Cinque Torri.
Together with the Pordoi ridge, the Falzarego forms the main west-east route through the Dolomites. As the easternmost high point of the Great Dolomite Road, it also connects Arabba with Canazei.
The Sella Pass at 2,244 m is an absolute highlight of the region and one of the most beautiful tours in the Dolomites. As part of the quartet of passes of the Sella Ronda circuit, which also includes the Gardena Pass, the Pordoi Pass and the Campolongo, the pass is the highest of the Dolomite circuit with its 2,244 m, enclosed by imposing 3,000-metre peaks: the karstic peaks of the Sella group in the east and the Sassolungo in the west. It is considered the link between the Gardena Valley and the Fassa Valley. The Sella Ronda circuit (medium difficulty / 58 km and almost 1,800 m in altitude) is known to every cyclist around the globe and is one of the most popular tours in the Alps. In short: an absolute must – the most beautiful time are the early morning hours.
1,809 m, 14 km, almost 600 metres of altitude, 17 bends, up to 14% gradient - and a star of the art scene: the Passo Tre Croci. The Austrian painter Oskar Kokoschka immortalised it in 1913 in his oil painting "Tre Croci - Dolomite Landscape". The pass road leads above the tree line into an almost surreal mountain world and connects Toblach in the Puster Valley with Cortina d'Ampezzo. Among all the peaks, its most prominent peak is the 3,221 m high Cristallo. The often lonely and exposed "The Chamois Track", the well-known long-distance hiking trail Alpine Path of the Dolomites no. 3, also leads directly over the pass summit, where relics from the First World War can still be found.
