Important information at a glance
Bikers love Ruhpolding. Rides up to sunny alpine pastures, fast and furious forest trails, quiet routes through the valley plus an abundance opportunities to cool down. Fancy diving into a lake? Cooling your feet in a stream?
It’s not just the variety that makes cycling and biking around Ruhpolding so great, it’s also being close to water and in the middle of the mountains too. One classic is the tour over the Röthelmoos Alm. It’s wonderfully varied and the climbs are not too steep. Colourful blooming meadows, shady mountain forests and farmhouse balconies groaning under the weight of magnificent geraniums along the way. Before you reach the vast alpine pasture area you really have to pedal hard for a short section. There’s a reward for this in the form of a delicious cold snack either at the sunny Langerbaueralm or rustic Dandl Alm. The view over the Hörndl and Gurnwandkopf peaks is totally outstanding either way. After a short break, you free wheel easily along the course of the stream down to the 3 lakes region. All you have to decide here is whether to swim in Lake Weitsee, Mittersee or Lödensee? All three lakes can be reached directly from Ruhpolding by bike on an idyllic cycle path.
The tour to Staubbach Falls presents an impressive spectacle. You don’t necessarily need a mountain bike for this as the route is really leisurely and flat through the Fischbach valley along the cool stream all the way. Leave the bike at the end of the valley to then walk up a narrow climb with serpentine bends. You can already hear the roaring of the waterfall from afar. The water thunders roughly 200 metres down. The path runs behind the waterfall. You stay completely dry except for a few cooling drops. Staubbach Falls marks the border between Bavaria and Austria. Smugglers used to once ply their flourishing but risky trade here.
As cycling works up a thirst, a detour to Ruhpolding’s St. George’s spring is ideal. It’s famous for its superb water quality, even in the natural foods retail business. You can tap the delicious water yourself in the Maiergschwendt part of town. The spring is named after Saint George who successfully slew the dragon and can often be found in Ruhpolding as a Holy Helper.
Anyone who has cooled their tired calves from cycling in the mountain stream, lake, Kneipp facility on the Traun river or in Vita Alpina, the first indoor wave pool in the Alps, is instantly fit and well recovered for their next bike tour. And there are certainly plenty of them in Ruhpolding.
