Route 9: A ride around Cortina d'Ampezzo, Dolomites

Welcome to the Dolomites - towering peaks, amazing roads and a coffee stop waiting whenever you want it. On other words, motorcycle-touring perfection.

Don’t miss the Karersee -or Lago di Carezza

The thing with the Dolomites is that you’re never alone. They’re busy. Not busy like the Italian Lakes, but there is traffic. Usually you can hop past in a corner or two, but the main passes do see plenty of tourists - in cars and camper vans, as well as on two wheels (whether in lycra or in leathers).

Thing is, it doesn’t matter. These roads aren’t busy as in “my ride was ruined by the traffic”. This is busy as in “a couple of sweet overtakes enhanced my ride”. Busy as in “about 30 bikers waves to me as they passed going downhill while I was climbing the pass”. Busy as in “this was definitely the right place to come - everyone agrees”. And of course every pass has a cafe ready to refressh thirsty visitors…

The big attraction of the Dolomites is what I’ve come to think of as The Magic Circle - a loop of four passes between Canazei and Corvara in Badia - the Sella, Gardena, Campolongo and Pordoi. Passo Pordoi is the highest pass of the Dolomotes, but the most scenic and the best to ride is… well, possibly whichever one you’re on at the time.

The thing is, those are only four of the dozens of passes around here. One route ca’t take them all in - so we have four, so we don’t miss the magical Passo di Giau and Falzarego, the flowing Valparola, the smooth Fedaia in the shadow of the Marmolada, the highest peak in the Dolomites. Or the sublime Passo Tre Croci and della Erbe. Or the Costalunga, with the amazing blue waters of Kararsee. And still there are more… How long did you say you had to ride down here?

MAPS AND DOWNLOADS FOR A RIDE AROUND CORTINA d’AMPEZZO

Map of motorcycling routes around Cortina-d'Ampezzo, Italy

Route 1 (our route): start/finish: Cortina d’Ampezzo. Distance: 150 miles. Riding time: 5.5 hours. Suggested stops: AM coffee: Passo Sella or Passo Pordoi, lunch: Passo Cibiana, PM coffee: Sega Digo
Route one map, Route one GPX file

Route 2: Distance: 170 miles. Riding time: 6 hours. Includes Passo Duran, Passo Fedia and Passo di Giau
Route two map, Route two GPX file

Route 3: Distance: 170 miles. Riding time: 6 hours. Not a figure of eight: a 12-pass cat’s cradle of amazing roads.
Route three map, Route three GPX file

Route 4: Distance: 160 miles. Riding time: 5.5 hours. Includes Passo Tre Croci, Passo della Erbe and Passo Campolongo.
Route four map, Route four GPX file

Please note: This page contains the route files for The RiDE Guide to motorcycle touring in Italy which came free with RiDE magazine in July 2015. These website page are not regularly updated, so please check all critical information before you travel. All route files are in .gpx format. Garmin and BMW users can download the main file, which contains all the routes and our recommended hotels as separate waypoints. TomTom users can download the individual routes and use the Tyre software to convert them. For many routes we also have Google Map links. However, as Google Maps will not plot routes over seasonally closed high Alpine passes (such as Stelvio) when they’re shut, these may not work for every route all year round.