The plateau of Ritten is one of the great places to hike and enjoy the Alto Adige. Fresh air, sun and absolutely gorgeous fields and woods brought me right back to my own childhood. Their are tons of insects and birds here and I never got tired of hearing the constant whizzing, whining and chirping. Stress relief for one’s soul and probably one of the big reasons why so many come here to relax and enjoy life. I know we did.
Hiking Oberbozen And Ritten
Ritten is a fabulous place for hiking, with a myriad of trails for all levels, one can hike for days across this area and almost always find a place to stay, eat or hike, with proper planning of course.
Ritten Cable Car
The way up is easy, with your multi-day Alto Adige pass you can take the cable car!
A good twenty to thirty minute ride with spectacular views, the cable car can be boarded just north of the train station. It climbs the nearby mountain and then across the Ritten Plateau to Oberbozen. Here, you can either start your hike, or continue to other points of interest using the plateau’s mountain train service.
There is also an Information Center just outside the cable car entrance in Oberbozen. So if you intend to hike, purchasing a map is a very good idea, the cost at the time of this writing was €3.50.
Since we went to the Oberbozen twice we actually have a short video of descending on the cable car as well.
Maria Himmelfahrt
Our first hike was a rather easy trek to the Church of the Assumption of Mary, or Maria Himmelfahrt.
It is marked as a twenty minute hike, but we found that must be for a very fast walker. In fact, we would say that it is perhaps true of all the times that were posted (but then again, Schneckie was along). I would have preferred them to post the distance in kilometers, then try to guess how long it should take us to hike it!
Erdpyrimaden Oberbozen
One of the great geological oddities to see are the Earth Pyramids. Some of the rocks that you will see there balanced on the top of tiny pyramids of sand seem likely to have been intentionally placed, and yet it is all only a 25,000 year old geological oddity of a glacial domain and erosion. The process is somewhat shown in the chart below.
The hike to the Earth Pyramids from Oberbozen is not far, about a half an hour. However, there are several spots you can view them, which at the time can appear very confusing.
The best vantage point we found was at the very end of the Erdpyrimaden trail by the farmer’s field. I would call this the Haupt Erdpyrimaden, and have so marked it on Google Maps.
There is another lesser set of Earth Pyramids further down the trail in a wooded area. But they are not as spectacular as the previous ones. Aside from that, it is rather technical and more dangerous to get any closer to these to take any better photographs.
Hiking Down To Bozen/Bolzano
We decided after the Earth Pyramids to continue our journey on foot, instead of walking the trail another half an hour to forty minutes to Oberbozen. This turned out not only to be adventurous, but very rigorous, as in the trail actually becomes quite steep and challenges anyone’s thigh muscles to hold on.
We can attest that it does NOT take an hour and fifty minutes to hike from Oberbozen to Bolzano, it is more like two and a half hours. Anyone who has done it any quicker has cheating, using roller-blades or other devices. It was also rather warm out, forcing us to pace ourselves somewhat in order to conserve what energy we had left.
The route is rather simple, taking Trail 23 to the Earth Pyramids first, you continue along down the mountain until you hit Trail 6, and then take that the rest of the way into the city. You will exit somewhere very close to where the cable car took you up the mountain.
Restaurants
Hotel Post Victoria
Situated along the trail of the Maria Himmelfahrt is the Italian Ristorante Post Victoria.
They have good Italian food at very reasonable prices and amazing views of the Alto Adige Alps. A great was after a hike to Maria Himmelfahrt to recharge those stomach batteries with food and wine to continue your journeys.
Der Schwarze Katz
The Black Cat or Schwarze Katz was a discovery after climbing off the mountain in pain and hunger. You will find it at the end of Trail 6 coming into the North of Bolzano.
It was actually rather busy when we got there which was around one o’clock or a little afterwards. Limping and tired we sat down ready for what ever they were willing to throw at us.
