Punctually at 9:30 am I was at Werner's with my wife. "And where are we going now?" Werner said: "We can drive to Samnaun and then over the Arlberg Pass and Bludenz into the great Walser Valley and back to Sonthofen" "Okay, you drive ahead!"

Normally I usually drive in front, but Werner is a very good driver and I like to let him drive in front!

From Sonthofen we headed towards Hindelang and up to the Oberjoch (1178 m). At first it was still free and we could enjoy the wonderful curve combinations of this track. But that did not last long! Cyclists stopped the cars, which in turn stopped the motorcyclists, and so we continued up rather sluggishly. The Jochstraße is a wonderful road to drive, but it is signposted with an overtaking prohibition! As it is also very busy, you rarely have the pleasure of having a free stretch in front of you - but then all the more beautiful!

At the top of the pass we turned off into the Tannheimer-Tal. We had to realize that on this beautiful sunny day many others also used the weather and so we couldn't think of a fast progress at first. Through the Tannheimer-Tal we went on to the Gaichtpass (1093 m). At the beginning of the pass Werner could not resist to overtake the other motorcyclists in front of us and the cars! One after the other he left behind him and we saw him only down in Weißenbach again. From there we drove through Lechtal towards Hahntennjoch (1903 m). In the Lechtal the traffic became less and up to the pass even more. Left, right, left, right - simply a wonderful route that is very popular with motorcyclists from the surrounding area. At the top of the pass, everything was pretty much full of motorcycles and a few cars!

We did not stop at all and continued downhill to Imst. Through Imst the way led us into the Pitztal. There the small but fine road branches off in Wenns up to the Pillerhöhe (1558 m). We followed this uphill. At the top is a small viewpoint where we parked the motorcycles and enjoyed the view - by the way a small breakfast! The view up here is just great and every time I drive this way I stop and look down. The road in the valley, and all the hustle and bustle down there, are far away and you just enjoy the landscape! Upstairs we also met another group of motorcyclists who had taken a ride from the Varadero club. Others also know this beautiful route - but thank God, not everybody does yet! Downhill we had a nice view into the Kaunertal (but that's another tour) and reached Prutz. From there via Pfunds we drove up towards Samnaun. Samnaun is a duty free zone, because it belongs to Switzerland, but can only be reached from Austria. So spirits, cigarettes, perfume, sugar(!) and especially the gasoline are much cheaper there! For normal gasoline we had to pay 89 c (!!!) on this day - oh, that would be nice, if it would be like this everywhere!

A coffee break and then we went back into the valley and via Landeck up to the Arlbergpass (1793 m). If you don't pay attention here, you'll be on the highway in no time and if you don't have a vignette, you'll have a problem! So watch out and follow the main road up via St. Anton and St. Christoph to the pass summit. Then we drove further down on the same road. Over several small villages the way leads to Bludenz. There we continued in the direction of "Thüringerberg" and already we could go up towards Ragall. This road is just awesome! It is relatively narrow, but very nice to drive and quite clear. No "bad" curves and only uphill! In Ragall there is a nice view over the big Walsertal and we drove downhill. Over Sunday we went up again to the Faschinajoch (1486 m). This is also a wonderful route, which is also quite wide and therefore perfect for motorcyclists! Also here we had a short coffee break before we started the last part of the tour. The route down from Faschinajoch via Damüls to Au is also simply great! Wonderful to ride! Down to Au we decided to continue directly via Mellau and not to use the actually more beautiful route (shown in the tour sketch) via Schnepfau and Reutte. We continued via Egg to Hittisau and finally over the Riedbergpass (1408 m) back to Sonthofen.

It was a very nice day, on which riding a motorbike (apart from the heavy traffic in the Tannheimer-Tal) was really fun again!

Total length: 365 km

Tour files for download

ESamnaunArlbergpass.pdf

Sonthofen-Samnaun-Arlbergpass.kmz

SF-Samnaun-Arlberg.gpx

SF-Samnaun-Arlberg.itn

Unterkunftsempfehlung:
Italien: Hotel Cristallo (Levico Terme)