Ortano Home-Trails
Description
The mountain bike tour gets off to a challenging start: right next to the hotel complex, a singletrack leads up the south side of the bay. In the lower section, you’ll need to push your mountain bike, but the trail gets better and better after that. On an e-mountain bike, you’ll be back in the saddle pretty quickly. The longest section where you’ll need to push is about 60 meters of elevation gain. The trail leads into the Monte Arco region and joins a gravel road. Follow this road to the right until it soon turns into a smooth, rideable singletrack. Now you can either continue straight along this singletrack to a gravel road, or you can soon turn left onto a slightly rougher trail that leads to the same gravel road. Follow this gravel road to Villaggio Mezzo Ortano and switch there to the northern ridge of the bay. A gravel road rides through a former mine up to the ridge. Continue following the gravel road, which becomes significantly rougher after a short descent and eventually leads as a singletrack to the very tip of the ridge. The view of the turquoise-blue sea from up here is magnificent.
The return to Ortano now follows the “Sentiero dell’Amore.” To do this, first head down the singletrack to a high-altitude trail that runs along the cliffs directly back to the hotel complex. The mountain bike tour then comes to an end at “Ortano Beach.”
Tip: It is recommended to wear a long-sleeved jersey, as the single trails on this route are densely overgrown. Additionally, you should avoid the route after rainfall, as you will otherwise get completely soaked by the wet bushes.
Map & GPX-Track
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Details of the tour
11 km
380 m
380 m
4 above sea level
222 above sea level
1 day
Ortano
Ortano
3726
well suited
More information
More tours nearby
User comments (3)
About the author: Thomas Giger
Note: This content has been automatically translated from German. Please report any incorrect translations.
I’d say it’s really steep. Most people won’t make it, even on an e-bike. There’s nothing in the bay except the hotel. The road goes up a bit (I’ve never seen a car there). Then turn left and follow the uphill path (it’s a bit washed out since last year). Then you come to the main road for 500 meters, cross it, and have another 500 meters of road, and then you’re on your own again anyway.
But since the hotel has been under new management since 2026 and is also geared toward mountain biking, it would be a worthwhile task for the local guides to contact the locals to adjust the trail.
The hotel’s previous management wasn’t particularly bike-friendly. Years ago, I even had to turn back on the trail from Monte Fico down to the bay because I wasn’t allowed to ride across the beach. But luckily, that’s no longer an issue now that the hotel offers bike tours.
The route is just perfectly tailored to the hotel. The logical path would be a different one. But again: both the trails on Monte Arco and the final trail down from Monte Fico are great. Happy trails!
Does it make sense to push the bike uphill at the start of the trail? The direction of travel is definitely the other way around. As someone who has known Elba for years, I wouldn’t necessarily have expected anyone to be coming up the first 60 meters of elevation gain. However, if you take the normal gravel path (the second part of the first descent) to Monte Arco, there are three different trail options (looking toward Porto Azzurro), and then you can do the uphill section described at the beginning as a descent at the end. That’s definitely more fun. The final high-altitude trail described here, with the descent to the bay, is addictive. The view of the bay and the small offshore island is a dream!
The climb up the trail is definitely doable on an e-mountain bike, even though the first 60 meters of elevation gain are quite steep, even with the motor. If they were to make a few improvements to the trail here (it wouldn’t even take much), it would be a great option, because otherwise the only way to get up from the bay is by road.