Monte Pravello
Description
We set off from Porto Ceresio on the road to Besano and on to Viggiù. That was the less spectacular part of the tour, but now it's time to get going. A wonderful little road takes you up towards Monte Pravello. High up there is a turn-off to the Rifugio Monte Pravello. The route is more exciting if you continue on the road for a short distance and ride into a tunnel on the right after a few meters. Here you find yourself in large bunkers from the First World War. You ride on along trenches and finally reach the original road again. Now it's time for the first descent: a super singletrail leads back to Viggiù. A little technical at first, but then increasingly flowing. Top! In Viggiù we start the ascent a second time, but this time after the bunkers up to the summit with its phenomenal view of Lago di Lugano. The summit is the start of the singletrail descent, which is not rideable for the first few meters. After a few minutes, however, the trail becomes increasingly flowy. Finally, a super flow trail leads through the dense forest. Further down, you reach the Sentiero del Fossili and follow it to the outskirts of Besano. You finally roll back to Porto Ceresio via side roads.
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Details of the tour
28 km
1250 m
1250 m
284 above sea level
1003 above sea level
1 day
Porto Ceresio
Porto Ceresio
1714
well suited
More information
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User comments (5)
About the author: Thomas Giger
Note: This content has been automatically translated from German. Please report any incorrect translations.
Monte Pravello north descent: very difficult at the top or pushing is what it says, but to describe the tour afterwards as a super flow trail through the dense forest, despite comments several years old that we unfortunately saw too late, is unworthy of a supposedly well-researched tour. After the first difficult section, this is an S1 boulder trail...an unfun destruction of altitude meters with material shredding. There are better alternatives.
I am thrilled with this mountain. I didn't do the original route but rode two brilliant descents. They are marked in black on Trailforks heading down towards Arzo.
Monte Pravello is now one of my favorite mountains. I've been up there four times since December 2021. In winter, the conditions are almost a little better. Last Friday, I finally did the northern descent. Quite ok, but it's not the best. Maybe the trail is just a bit too easy for me.
I've discovered five great descents on the sunny south side so far. All of them are very well maintained. The best thing to do afterwards is to head up to Monte San Giorgio. There are two great runs down to Capolago. One of them is absolutely world class in my opinion.
We have been big fans of ride tours for many years. We've done various trips, especially in Valais, Graubünden, Ticino and the Livigno region, and have always been the highlights of the MTB season. We have done a couple of tours in Italy in the last few weeks and were quite disappointed (Monte Paglione and Monte Pravello). In both cases, the description of the tour did not reflect reality, the GPS track was very inaccurate and the trails were in poor condition or even inaccessible!
I rode this tour two weeks ago, when the GPS track was still accurate and the trails were in good condition (by Ticino standards). The track to Mont Paglione is also accurate and many of the trails are maintained by locals. It is well known that the trail quality in Ticino is generally not quite on a par with Graubünden, Valais or Aosta.