My other half and I are off on our first bike trip together this April, she got into riding in a big way two years ago and we found cheap flights to Turin over the easter hols while the kids are with their Dad. Obviously it’s a bit early season to be heading to the alps and these two destinations came up as year round options. Skills wise i’m fine dropping into to almost anything but she’s only done UK trail centers, a few reds at BPW and one afternoon of red and blues at the Le Tour bike park in Cham.

If the weather was going to be warm enough Lake Garda has an aesthetic appeal and I think better for long days out in the saddle? Plus more around for non bike days like via ferrata.

Finale looks great and in photos the trails look a bit more accessible but most write-ups suggest the terrain is pretty challenging. It appears to be somewhere that’s setup like a big bike park where you do lots of shuttles each day but again I’m not sure.

Could anyone weigh in on either regarding weather and or trails? Historical average temps for both locations appear to vary wildly. Would like to avoid snow if possible but I understand we’re rolling the dice rain wise in April.

Open to other suggestions location wise within 4 hours of Turin.

Thanks

I’ve been to Lake Garda in the winter before and you can still ride up to around 1200m before hitting snow.

I’ve been to Finale in Feb and snow has stopped play higher up.

Very different places to ride. Garda is more natural and techy plus for the most part you’ll be pedalling up. Trails in the south are generally not so steep compared to those in the north.

Finale generally is more flow and speed. Lots of uplifts year round. The trails around S. Bernadino and Le Manie are the only places you’ll not find lots of uplift for, but they are the more natural, tech trails.

Neither location would be a bad choice.

Been finale a few times,and once with girlfriend and her mate who both novice riders.they loved it,I used free ride finale when they had a day off the bikes as could do more techy stuff.But when riding with them used fabrizio at mtbitaly.eu as he just catered a full day of riding[nato base to beach)to our needs so nothing mental just nice single track all day with a guide.Think it was around 180 euros between 3 of us for all day with one uplift.

I’ve been to Finale loads, probably my favourite place to ride.

Although I haven’t been to BPW for about 18 months (so don’t know if it’s got a load of new stuff) I would rate Finale as being much harder and more technical than BPW. Trails such as Cacciatore, Madonna, little champery and cavatappi are definitely a step up.

From what I hear of Lake Guarda it’s supposed to be excellent and I’ve heard it’s not as steep as Finale. Maybe that’s the trails to the south as mentioned by alpin above.

Trails around Riva and Torbole are generally stepper. The majority of the trails around the area are due to soldiers making paths to carry cannons up to the prominent peaks.

There is a lot of trails in Finale which are fine for reasonably competent riders, Rollercoaster, Andrassa, Cave, Briga, several from Base Nato, the run back form Orco etc, etc. Not sure how the big storm affected a lot of them but I am sure the trails are back up and running.

An uplift a day with lots of exploring is good fun, or if you don’t fancy the climbing then €10/uplift is money well spent.

Was in Finale in April 2yrs back and the weather was great, was there in May last year and got rained on every day !

Trail wise you’ll be fine, as above there’s some quite challenging stuff but most of the trails the fun comes from riding them as fast as you dare !

I’ve never been to Garda so can’t compare but Finale has lots of nice bars and restaurants and a beach (which I’ve never set foot on 🙂 )

Not been to Finale (although its on the list)

You may find Garda riding quite technical from what you have said. There are guides (Riva in the North of the lake seems to have most and is the most popular biking town).

One suggestion could be to stay in Malcesine (about half way up) – there is a cable car to get up to 6000 feet and waymarked trails to get back down! – the 601 is excellent

Bike shops in Malcesine and Riva