Ride among giants. The Italian Dolomites are jagged limestone spires, sweeping alpine meadows, and roads that feel carved for cyclists. We spend three nights in Corvara, in the heart of Alta Badia, riding the Sella Ronda and the Giau. Then we cross west into the Valtellina for four nights above Bormio, where the Stelvio, the Gavia, and the Mortirolo wait. Three climbs that have decided Giri.

Between rides, it is espresso stops with locals, long dinners, and regional wine. In Corvara you eat Tyrolean, with the passes you rode that morning framed in the window. Above Bormio, at Agriturismo Rini, everything comes off the farm: housemade cheeses, cured salumi, vegetables from the garden.

This is not a sightseeing tour with bikes attached. It is a week built around earning the view.

We open with three nights at the four star Hotel Posta Zirm in Corvara, then move west to Agriturismo Rini above Bormio, an upscale working farm where the kitchen runs on what the land produces.

We open in Corvara, in the heart of Alta Badia, with three nights at the four star Hotel Posta Zirm. This is Ladin country, where the road signs come in three languages and the limestone towers of the Sella group sit directly above the village.

The riding here is the Maratona course and everything around it. Passo Gardena, Sella, Campolongo, Valparola, and the Giau, all reachable from the hotel door with no transfers. Days are built as loops so you can add or subtract a pass depending on how the legs feel. Our support vehicle carries food, spares, and layers, and shadows the group all day.

Evenings are Tyrolean: speck, canederli, and local reds, with the passes you rode that morning framed in the window. Every rider gets a climb passport and stamps it at each summit.

Posta Zirm has been run by the same family for generations, and it shows in a way that no four star rating captures. The staff learned our names on the first night. By the third, they knew who took their espresso before the ride and who wanted a beer waiting after it. The bike storage is proper, the kitchen understands what a rider needs after five hours in the mountains, and the Sella group stands directly above the village, framed in the window while you eat. We looked at other hotels in Alta Badia. This is the one we keep coming back to.

Midweek we cross west into Lombardy and settle above Bormio at Agriturismo Rini for four nights. The scenery changes, the food changes, and the climbs get longer.

Three of the most decisive climbs in Giro history are within reach of the farm. The Stelvio and its forty-eight switchbacks, the Gavia, and the Mortirolo. These are big days, and the schedule is built to respect that, with a lighter valley ride or a rest option in the middle for anyone who wants it.

Rini is a working farm, and the kitchen runs on what it produces. Housemade cheeses, cured salumi, vegetables from the garden, and Valtellina wines from just down the valley. It is the best possible place to sit down after the Stelvio.

Our home in the Valtellina is an upscale agriturismo above Bormio: spacious, beautifully finished rooms, quiet grounds, and the mountains outside every window. What sets it apart is the kitchen. Rini is a working farm, and the food comes off the land it sits on. Cheeses made on site, salumi cured in the cellar, vegetables from the garden, and Valtellina wines from just down the valley. Dinner runs long and arrives in courses. After the Stelvio, there is no better place to sit down.

Arrival in Corvara

Arrive in Alta Badia and settle into Hotel Posta Zirm. Bikes get built and fitted, so nothing is a surprise tomorrow morning. There is time to spin the legs out, walk into the village, and get your first look at the Sella group standing directly above town. Dinner together, route briefing, and an early night.

The Sella Ronda

The classic circuit of the four passes that ring the Sella massif, ridden counterclockwise from the hotel door: Gardena, Sella, Pordoi, and Campolongo. Four summits, four descents, and back to Corvara. No transfers, no logistics, just the loop that every rider who comes here wants to say they have done.

Approx. 55 km / 1,800 m

Passo Giau, Passo Falzarego, Passo Valparola

The hardest day of the Dolomites block. The Giau is the one riders remember: relentless, exposed, and set against the most photographed skyline in the range. From the top you descend and link the Falzarego and Valparola back toward Corvara. Two options: the long loop rolls out from Posta Zirm, the short loop starts in Livinallongo, cutting the approach and going straight for the climbs. Long: approx.

110 km / 2,900 m Short: approx. 75 km / 2,300 m

Transfer to Bormio

We leave the Dolomites and cross west into Lombardy, trading limestone for the deep valleys of the Valtellina. Bikes and bags travel with the vans. We arrive at Agriturismo Rini, a working farm above Bormio, in time to settle in before dinner. The mountains change tonight, and so does the food.

Passo Gavia and the Mortirolo

The Gavia is narrow, wild, and barely feels like a road at the top. The short option climbs from the hotel to the summit and returns the same way. The long option carries over the far side, down to Ponte di Legno, then up the Mortirolo from Monno before descending to the valley floor and following the river back to Rini. Two of the Giro's most decisive climbs in one day.

Long: approx. 130 km / 3,200 m Short: approx. 50 km / 1,400 m

Passo Stelvio

The one you came for. The short option starts at the foot of the Umbrail, rolls down the valley to Prato, and climbs the north side and its forty eight numbered switchbacks to the summit, then descends to Bormio. The long option is the full circuit: up the south side from the hotel, over the top, down the Umbrail, around to Prato, and back up the north side to the summit a second time before the descent home.

Long: approx. 110 km / 3,300 m Short: approx. 60 km / 1,900 m

Lago di Cancano

A perfect last day. The Torri di Fraele switchbacks stack up the wall directly above Bormio, and the road tops out at two alpine lakes with the Ortler massif across the valley. Shorter than the days before it and by design, because the legs have earned it. Back to the farm for a long final dinner.

Approx. 45 km / 1,300 m

Departure

One last breakfast on the farm, and nobody is in a hurry to finish it. There is coffee, there are photos, and there is the slow business of exchanging numbers with people who were strangers eight days ago. Bikes get packed, bags go in the vans, and we run transfers to the airport. You will leave with tired legs, a camera roll you will spend a month sorting through, and a standing invitation to come back.

Routes are subject to change based on weather and road conditions. High passes including the Gavia and Stelvio can close on short notice, and we will always ride the best safe option available on the day.