Are you planning a trip by bicycle? Choose Rail & Bike and use it to travel across all of Carinthia and the Alps-Adriatic region. Discover the mountains, the lakes and the Adriatic Sea by train. An experience!
The Micotra Sprinter connects Villach and Udine twice daily – on weekends from/to Trieste – along the Alpe Adria Cycle Path. In summer, additional trains run from Villach to Tarvisio on weekends, offering a direct connection to the Trenitalia trains in Tarvisio. Bicycles can be taken on all trains.
Passengers are kindly requested to inform themselves about their planned connections in due time before departure by using the ÖBB timetable information SCOTTY or by calling the ÖBB customer service on 05-1717. Due to the alternative routing and the rail replacement service with buses, the travel time on the above-mentioned connections will increase.
The Tauern Sprinter connects Villach (departure 09:05) and the Hohe Tauern National Park (Mallnitz-Obervellach train station; arrival 10:08) or Mallnitz-Obervellach (departure 16:24) and Villach main train station (arrival 17:22) with a stop in Spittal-Millstättersee on the following days: Saturday, Sunday and holiday from April 4, 2022 and daily from July 9 to September 11, 2022.
The train is equipped with a special carriage with over 200 spaces for bikes and takes passengers from Villach to Mallnitz in about an hour – with just one stop in Spittal. Connecting trains from various Carinthian valleys and towns – Hermagor, Klagenfurt, Rosenbach, Feldkirchen, etc. – are provided. You can return to Villach from Mallnitz along the very well developed cycle paths through the Möll and Drau valleys either by bicycle or, after a hike in the National Park, again by train.
Plan your tour directly via the Carinthia Tour Portal and don’t forget to go and see the visitor centre in Mallnitz. It is time to explore and be amazed!
With this leisurely cycle tour through 3 countries we have the perfect package for this summer.
By train or by bike from Villach to Tarvisio, from there, along the old imperial railway line and the Sava cycle path via Kranjska Gora to Jesenice and then back to the Villach/Faaker See region with the new bike train. 3 countries, 2 train connections (Villach-Tarvisio and Villach-Jesenice) and one cycle path. The trains from Villach to Tarvisio (and return) leave 4x a day, those to Jesenice and back 4x at the weekends.
From Villach you can also reach Tarvisio by bike on the well-established Gail cycle path (R3). The railway connection runs virtually parallel to the cycle path and, of course, facilitates the Villach-Tarvisio connection tremendously. The train between Villach and Tarvisio offers at least 120 spaces for bikes. Along the Villach-Tarvisio route we recommend a visit to the wonderfully restored monastery ruin in Arnoldstein.
On the route from Tarvisio to Jesenice you follow the Sava cycle path. The cycle path gets its name from the longest river in Slovenia: the Sava. The broad, beautifully established cycle path is more or less flat. A detour to the Laghi di Fusine (Fusine lakes) is definitely worth your while, as is a visit to the source of the Sava at the border village of Rateče. Fans of winter sports should also not miss the detour to one of the most spectacular ski jumps in the world, in Planica. Kranjska Gora can be reached after a good hour’s cycling, lunch in one of the numerous restaurants serving excellent Slovenian specialities is an absolute must.
From Kranjska Gora the path then continues slightly downhill for the most part to Jesenice (distance: 24 km). There, it is well worth visiting the old market square, “stara Sava”, in the museum there you can see and experience how miners really lived hundreds of years ago. There is a return train to Villach 4x a day through the Karawanken tunnel. As with the connection from Villach to Tarvisio you can also cover the section from Jesenice (from Rosenbach) to Villach along the 5-star Drau cycle path via St. Jakob and Rosegg.
Gailtal Cycle Path R3 from Kötschach-Mauthen to Villach
The Gailtal Cycle Path takes its distinctive name from the River Gail and leads from Kötschach-Mauthen via Nötsch to Villach. The cycle path has a route length of 90 kilometres and is designated as R3.
Getting to the Gailtal Cycle Path is convenient and easy with the Gailtal Sprinter on the Carinthian S-Bahn train line S4 to the starting point in Hermagor. After arriving at the Hermagor train station, the well-signposted path is right nearby. From there, the route leads through the “Burgermoos”, impressive moors, to Untervellach, past Pressegger See, the ninth largest lake in Carinthia. Then the cycle path runs through an idyllic alluvial landscape to Vorderberg and further along the River Gail, through the “Schütt” landslide area at the foot of Mount Dobratsch towards Villach. This route section is especially suitable for families and recreational cyclists. The Kötschach-Mauthen-Villach route is about 90 km long.
