Alta Via di Merano

The so-called “Alta Via di Merano”, a high alpine tour leading all around the impressive Tessa mountain group, is the hiking highlight in the region around Merano.

The almost 100 km long Alta Via di Merano was opened in the year 1985 and leads all around the Tessa mountain group, passing many farms and villages in the immediate surroundings of Merano, the Val di Senales and the Val di Passiria. In fact, every year it is gaining more and more popularity among hiking enthusiasts.

For reasons of simplicity, all trails of the Alta Via di Merano have the same number 24. Moreover, all starting points of the different stages can be reached by cable cars and/or public busses. The Alta Via di Merano is devided into a northern (from Monte San Caterina to Passo Gelato and Ulfas) and a southern part (from Ulfas to the Masi della Muta and back to Monte San Caterina). Passo Gelato at 2,898 m asl is the highest, Valclava at 790 m asl the lowest point of the hiking route, which mostly runs at an altitude between 1,300 and 1,800 m asl. In the following we present the Alta Via di Merano (clockwise), devided into 9 single stages.

According to the length of each stage and your personal physical fitness you can chose to do 1 to 3 stages per day. Moreover, right down at the bottom of this page you may find some more useful information for the preparation of your hiking adventure on the Alta Via di Merano.