Bike Tour: Taufers Castle Tour

Pfalzen - Greinwalden - St. Georgen - Gais - Uttenheim - Sand in Taufers - Reinbach Waterfalls - Pfalzen
Length: 22km
Time: 3 hours
Physical exertion: Easy

A silent guardian looks out over the houses, forests, and meadows of the Ahrntal and guards the gateway to the region. It is a guardian that has rested here for many centuries and gives the area a mystical touch - the medieval castle of Taufers, northeast of Sand. A focal point on this family bike tour.

On asphalt roads, field paths, and signposted cycle paths (including the Pustertal cycle path), you pass rest areas, sports zones, children's playgrounds, and can dive into refreshingly cool water in a completely natural bathing pond.

The starting point of the easily manageable bike tour is Pfalzen. From here, it goes via Greinwalden to St. Georgen, where a signposted cycle path leads through the villages of Gais and Uttenheim - through meadows, fields, and floodplains as well as along the banks of the Ahrn. Keep going, and you will reach the municipality of Sand in Taufers, located in the Rieserferner-Ahrn Nature Park - the largest nature park in South Tyrol. The panorama that awaits you here is unmatched. A spectacular mountain backdrop, with almost 80 peaks of over 3,000 meters, lined up like pearls on a necklace. A man-made natural bathing pond with sunbathing lawns and footbridges offers you the opportunity to cool down your overheated body. Thanks to its natural self-cleaning system through water plants, the lake is one of the cleanest in the whole country.

A must-visit stop on the tour is the Castle of Taufers, which rises its mighty walls between the mountains and catches the eye from afar. Does the old structure look familiar to you? That may be because Castle Taufers was the model for the recreated bloodsucker nest in Roman Polanski's film classic "Dance of the Vampires."

The first construction work took place in the 13th century - including the keep, the residential tower, and the castle chapel. The Romanesque and Gothic parts have been renovated several times. Today, about a third of the complex is publicly accessible. Visitors can admire the original furnishings as well as the library, the armory, the dungeon, and the torture chamber. For a new energy boost, a visit to the cozy knight's tavern in the castle courtyard is recommended, where the treasures of South Tyrolean cuisine are handed over to you completely without a fight, but all the more hospitably.

A little further out - in Bad Winkel, a district of Sand, the Franziskus-Weg (Francis' Way) begins. Ten meditation stations, created by various artists and referring to the Canticle of the Sun by Francis of Assisi, guide the spiritual path to the not only roaring but also exhilarating Reinbach Waterfalls. Strengthened by the energy of the roaring water, it's finally time to head back to Pfalzen.