Alpe Gigiai
Description
The tour begins with the long asphalt ascent up to San Bartolomeo. Almost 1000 meters of altitude difference are covered on this route until it then continues on a gravel road - steep and rough in places - up to Alpe di Mezzo and finally on to Alpe Gigiai. Here the 1430-metre ascent is complete! The descent begins with a well-maintained mountain trail over to Alpe Prato and Alpe Zocca. Now it's time for the singletrail descent down to Lake Como. This is very varied - from flowy and fun to rough and tricky. In places the trail is well maintained, in others it could do with some care. However, the descent is worthwhile and ends right in the center of Gera Lario.
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Details of the tour
24 km
1430 m
1430 m
204 above sea level
1628 above sea level
1 day
Gera Lario
Gera Lario
1607
well suited
More information
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User comments (6)
About the author: Thomas Giger
Note: This content has been automatically translated from German. Please report any incorrect translations.
I did this route on May 16, 2026. It used to be a nice ride, but now it’s only rideable as far as Montalto. Beyond that, it’s completely over—no path in sight, just overgrown vegetation, leaves, and debris all the way to the intersection with the road, which is quite a distance. You have to ride a different route from Montalto onward—the old path simply doesn’t exist anymore.
Once upon a time there was a trail... Once maintained, once walked - a trail full of promise. But those days are long gone. The ascent is demanding: it stretches endlessly upwards, steep, rough, merciless. And then - the high trail! A truly majestic moment, a ribbon along the mountain that makes the heart beat faster. But what follows is pure disillusionment: from Alpe Prato, the trail loses itself in nothingness. Overgrown, decaying, blocked - as if nature had reclaimed it. You wander, stumble and search in vain for a path. A decision is needed here: either this trail is revived with love and dedication - or it has to be abandoned with a heavy heart. Because in its current state, the tour is not worth the time.
I tried to combine the tour from Alpe Zocca to Trezzone with the Monti di Vercana tour. The trail is marked red in the SingleTrailMap. The trail starts as a beautiful, towel-wide forest path, then becomes increasingly narrow and exposed. After crossing the stream, the path becomes increasingly difficult to find and you have to fight your way through man-high ferns. So absolutely not recommended!
Ridden on 08.06.22.
As fzimmermann already wrote, the indicated trail from Montalto is no longer recommended. Hard to find and totally overgrown on loose ground. But there is an alternative from Montagna. Start a few hundred meters below. S2 until you come back to the indicated route.
The upper part to Alpe Prato is rough and lacks a bit of flow.
Still recommended overall.
Trail from Montalto no longer maintained and sometimes hard to find, rideable again from the junction with the road
We rented e-MTBs in Gera Lario for this tour. The ascent is of course much easier and the last part, with the steep and rocky climbs, is really fun. The descent would not be very difficult with normal bikes, but the weight of the e-MTB is noticeable there. Nevertheless, it was a great tour and is doable for good riders, even with an e-MTB.