Bolzano, Italy - Kals, Austria

Everybody loved our classic hotel in the heart of Bolzano - but the day ahead of us promised not only 8 mountain passes, but also the famous Dolomites. The weather stayed dry all the way to the bottom of the first pass - and then we got the first real shower of this whole tour. No big deal, because as soon as we had reached the top of Sella pass at more than 7000 ft., the rain was replaced by the familiar blue sky. This gave us the chance to take the cable car up to the Lagazuoi peak. After lunch at 9000 ft and hundreds of fotos we had to leave the Dolomites again and returned to Austria. The Staller Sattel one-way-pass lead us back into the country where we started our tour less than a week ago. And now we are staying at a wonderful hotel at the foot of the Grossglockner - our destination for tomorrow.

Livigno, Italy - Bolzano, Italy

After our restday in Livigno, we started early in the morning!

The route for the day was very promising. 7 passes and 3 of those are some of the highest paved passes in Europe! We started with passo Eira and passo Foscagno, but after a few switchbacks the Stelvio begins! Perfect pavement, no traffic and we have fun! But before reaching the top we took the road to the Umbrailpass! After entering for some miles in Switzerland we finally start riding on the famous 48 switchbacks of the south tyrolean side of Stelvio...to get to the top was a lot of work, but even more a great fun!

Some of us though that there isn't something better than Stelvio, but the Gavia pass proved us wrong!!!

After all those high alpine passes, was the time for some curves down in the valley...first val di Sole (Sunvalley) and than val di Non with the great ice cream stop...we really needed that!

the last road of the day, the amazing Passo Mendola, took us to Bolzano!

Great passes, great group, great day!

Andermatt, Switzerland - Livigno, Italy

After the warm-up over the last two days we were now well prepared for what was ahead of us today: six serious mountain passes! The first one greeted us with a 5 mile section of cobblestones: the Tremola road over the famous Gotthard pass. We descended into the Italian speaking part of Switzerland, which makes you feel like you are in Italy, even though you are actually still in Switzerland. The next pass, the San Bernardino, took us north again, before we climbed our pass #3, the Splugen pass. On top of Splugen pass is the border to the "real" Italy, and a few miles and switchbacks later we enjoyed our first Italian Pizza - delicious! After returning to Switzerland, we crossed three more passes before we reached today's destination, Livigno: Maloja, Bernina and finally Forcola di Livigno. An incredible day, with gorgeous weather, no traffic - and unbelievable scenery!

Warth, Austria - Andermatt, Switzerland

The second riding day started from the beautiful alpine village of Warth.

The first curves take the group through a magnificent valley and up to the Furkajoch, a very narrow, but perfect road!

The air is getting warmer and the group reached the third country of the tour, Lichtenstein which is a small but beautiful state in the middle of the alps.

Without noticing the group crossed the swiss border...a delicious lunch is waiting for the group at the Walensee. The view is amazing and the sun tannend some of the guys!

Shortly after lunch the group made it to the Klausenpass...Free riding is announced and everybody has great time!

After some traffic the group finally reached the hotel in Andermatt, a beautiful alpine village at the bottom of the Gotthardpass.

Seefeld, Austria - Warth, Austria

A new tour has started this morning - a special version of the Majestic Alps tour, exclusively designed for Bob Reich and his friends from Alabama. We departed Seefeld, Austria, with perfect motorcycle weather: blue skies and temperatures around 65°F. On small mountain roads we initially headed north towards Germany. Our first stop was at the Walchensee, one of Germany's deepest lakes. After our coffee stop, a bit lower at the Kochelsee, we hit a bit of (Sunday) traffic and selected an alternative route towards our next highlight: King Ludwig's famous palace Linderhof. We had a royal lunch and spend some time in and around the palace. The scenery was gorgeous the whole day, but the afternoon photo stops at Plansee and Castle Neuschwanstein were definitely some of the best today. Eventually we followed the river Lech, which brought us to our destination high up in the Austrian Alps: Warth.