Hiking in Merano/Meran – the mountain is calling!

Experience South Tyrolean nature up close while hiking in Merano/Meran and surroundings. Enjoy the fascinating Merano/Meran mountains while hiking. Everyone can find the right tour for them in Merano and Environs: young and old guests, beginners and professionals like climbing up high. However, you can also venture on long walks and leisurely hikes in the valley. We have prepared a few tips for hikes in Lagundo/Algund and Merano/MeranLagundo/Algund.

If you start out from the parish church in Merano/Meran’s centre, you come from the Porta Passiria/Passeirer Tor onto the old Passiria/Passeirer road. The Tappeinerweg trail starts there. From now on you walk for approximately one hour. The trail leads up to the Torre Polveriera/Pulverturm and then continues flat into the Quarazze/Gratsch area. The Tappeinerweg ends there at Via Laurin/Laurinstraße, just after the Gasthaus Unterweger inn. You can admire the unique Mediterranean vegetation on this easy and not particularly long hike.

In less than ten minutes by car from Residence Josefshof, our apartment in South Tyrol, you reach Plars di Sopra/Oberplars where the Waalweg trail begins. You hike through orchards and soon see Castello Plars/Schloss Plars castle below. The trail continues through the forest and you experience a stunning view over the villages of Forst and Lagundo/Algund and a little bit later Castel Tirolo/Schloss Tirol too. The hike ends after just under 2 hours in Merano/Meran’s Quarazze/Gratsch district. You can also walk the rather narrow trail in the reverse direction.

The roughly three-hour hike leads up the local mountain of Lana, a village south of Merano/Meran. The cable car takes you up to the top station at 1,490 metres from where the trail to Monte San Vigilio/Vigiljoch begins. The trail is a bit steeper and rocky in some places but you will see: it’s worth it! Once you’re up the top you have a fascinating view over Merano and Environs. Starting out from Monte San Vigilio/Vigiljoch you come to the black lake. You can find a mountain inn there where you can stop for refreshments.

This hike in Merano/Meran is unique in Europe and one of the most beautiful circular trails in South Tyrol. At the edge of the nature park you circumnavigate the whole Texel Group in roughly 100km. You need between three and eight days to hike the whole of the Merano/Meran high altitude trail, depending on your fitness level and experience. There are accommodation and inns dotted along the hike in Merano/Meran’s mountains at regular intervals. A distinction is made between the southern and northern part of the trail. The southern version’s starting point is the village of Ulfas located at 1,369 metres in the municipality of Moso/Moos in Passiria/Passeier. The northern version starts at the 1,245-metre high Santa Caterina/Katharinaberg, a parish in the municipality of Senales/Schnals. A local hiking guide will be happy to assist you in planning your hike. Just enquire when booking your holiday in South Tyrol, we will be happy to assist you in obtaining more information about hiking in Merano/Meran.

Starting from the centre of Parcines/Partschins, a municipality in Val Venosta/Vinschgau approximately six kilometres away from Lagundo/Algund in South Tyrol, walk along the road and follow the signs to Parcines/Partschins Waalweg. A somewhat steep path leads along the Sagenweg trail to the mountain village Tablà/Tabland. Here you follow the signs to the waterfall and come to the fascinating waterfall’s viewing point.

The trail to the Quadrathöfe farms starts above Forst brewery in Lagundo/Algund. Here the hike leads steeply through the forest up to the Rastbühel inn and continues to the Quadrathöfe farms’ clearing. On the left you pass the Rio Molino/Mühltalbach river to Senn am Eggbach. From there the Marlengo/Marling high altitude trail leads back to the Rastbühel and the starting point.
The parish in the municipality of Parcines/Partschins is colloquially called “Quadrathöfe”. The name comes from the stone blocks, as marble was already mined there during the Roman period. During the hike above Lagundo/Algund near Merano/Meran you continuously pass remains of old and abandoned stone quarries.