San Candido is part of the Dolomites World Heritage Area in South Tyrol or Alto Adige in Italian, close to the Austrian border. It’s the starting point for the immensely popular 44km cycle path that closely follows the River Drava to Lienz, Austria. You can either bring your own bike or rent one. There are hundreds available, but even so it’s advisable to book in advance. The official starting point is from Piazza del Magistrato where you’ll also find the APT tourist information office but my husband and I started near the train station (turning left out of the train station you come across the direction sign for Lienz 100m or so ahead on the right). Follow the signs out of town and under a bridge onto a short uphill section, but don’t worry, Lienz is 500m lower than San Candido which means that most of the journey is on a light downhill gradient, you can sail along in a big gear expanding very little effort. The path initially runs above and parallel to the road to Lienz which is soon left behind as the river becomes your constant companion. As you traverse the valley you can admire the typical Tyrolean gingerbread-trimmed homes, some right by the path, and soaring dolomitic peaks.
The path attracts families with children (even toddlers who can be transported using a tow along bike trailer – available to hire), couples, groups of friends, the young and not so young and serious cyclists too. The majority of the flow is downhill towards Lienz but you frequently spot the determined faces of those coming the other way (whilst at times the downhill gradient is so slight going towards Lienz that you hardly even notice it, I’m pretty certain you can feel it in the legs in reverse).
In general though, this path is made for relaxing, enjoying being outdoors, taking in the stunning scenery in good company and making a day of it. Bring a picnic and stop at one of the picnic tables dotted along the way. You can refill your water bottle at delightful water fountains adorned by woodcarvings of alpine scenes. Of course with a variety of bars and cafes adjacent to the path you could always leave the catering to someone else for the day.
If you’re with the kids or just have a sweet tooth you can stop at the Loacker factory shop near Sillian (about 13km from San Candido) to sample and stock up on their chocolatey delights. Sillian also has an imposing hill top castle which can be clearly seen from the path and the Witchelpark which is a fun/adventure park for kids featuring the longest slide in Austria.
The entire path can be done in around 2.5-3 hours allowing for a few photo stops and a quick refreshment break, but why hurry? Coming into Lienz, the path takes you across a covered bridge and you haven’t even had to set foot in Madison County. The train from Lienz has you back to San Candido in approximately 50 minutes with dedicated carriages for the bikes.
There are many options for dinner in San Candido from pizza to more traditional Tyrolean fare such as canederli, a type of bread gnocchi/dumpling with spinach served with melted butter and parmesan, speck (a cross between bacon and ham) served in many ways, and of course for dessert there’s apple strudel.
We opted for Hotel Waldrast (restaurant open to non-residents) which is about 7km out of San Candido towards Lienz in Prato alla Drava just off the main SS49/E66. I chose this place as the website said it offered vegetarian specialties but as we did this trip during the busy Ferragosto weekend (Ferragosto is the mid-August public holiday in Italy) and had encountered a traffic jam which added 2 hours to our journey, we had dinner later than anticipated and went for the quick option; pizza. My husband ordered a standard pizza but I decided to try one with an organic spelt flour base with vegetables and a separate serving of a spicy, garlicky tomato salsa. The pizzas were good but the desserts absolutely delicious. One was a typical dessert of the region called buchtel which is a melt in the mouth kind of un-fried doughnut filled with a fruits of the forest sauce, dusted with icing sugar and served with vanilla sauce and the other was described as blueberry crostata (crostata is a typical Italian sweet similar to English jam/fruit tart). This however was different to those I’m used to in the rest of Italy as the base was not pastry but a thick layer of cake generously topped with blueberries and served with both the creamiest vanilla ice cream I’ve ever had and cream. I’d like to say we’d earned it after the bike ride, but easy as it was, we probably hadn’t – ah well, holidays aren’t for dieting anyway.
If you’re staying overnight you’ll be able to spend part of the next day visiting the pleasant town centre of San Candido with its shops, cafes and folklore museum. The Baroque St Michael’s Parish Church is worth a look for its sumptuous frescoed vault.
The real attractions of the area though are the mountains and valleys and San Candido is the starting point for some fantastic day or multi-day hikes suitable for all levels and with the Mount Baranci chair lift you can easily get up onto higher ground to start the day or save your knees coming down at the end.
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