Your Molaris Lodges holiday bucket list of activities in Mühlbach

March to May
Spring in Val Pusteria/Pustertal is the overlap season: the ski season winding down higher up, the walking season starting in the valley. The biking season opens in late March and runs through to early November. It’s a good time for ski tours such as Mt Picco della Croce/Wilde Kreuzspitze, and for the first rides out through a landscape that’s coming back to life.

After the long winter, once there’s some warmth in the sun, the colour returns and everything starts to wake up. The valley’s countless paths lead out into green country just emerging from its long sleep, the ground warms, and you can already imagine the hot days to come – while higher up there’s still enough snow for a few last descents.

Town, mountain, or saddle: you’re spoilt for choice. Go and see what the season turns up.

June to September
Summer brings 37 open mountain huts, more than 500 peaks, and paths at every level, from valley routes you can push a pram along to multi-day summit tours. Among the best-known destinations are the Fane Alm, the Rodenecker Almen, Lake Braies/Prags, and the Three Peaks. Walking, climbing, mountain biking, road cycling, paragliding, and rafting are all part of a South Tyrolean summer.

South Tyrol in summer is never the wrong choice. Whether you’re escaping the city or you simply want to look at the Dolomite peaks and the broad valleys below them, you’ve come to the right place.

There’s plenty here for the whole family: cycle routes, food and wine trails, trips to serious altitude, a swim in Lake Caldaro/Kaltern – the warmest lake in the Alps – or an afternoon doing nothing much on the shore of one of the many Alpine lakes. Summer suits everyone: children and adults, first-timers and seasoned walkers. The region has 37 mountain huts where you can stop for something to eat, try the local cooking and take in the view of more than 500 peaks. From level paths you can push a pram along to summit climbs and multi-day routes, the Mühlbach holiday area has everything you’d want from a walking holiday in South Tyrol.

October to November
Autumn is the season for Törggelen, a South Tyrolean tradition that runs from early October to late November: farm taverns open their doors and serve Schlutzkrapfen, dumplings, chestnuts and new wine. The best-loved autumn walk is the Valle Isarco/Eisacktal chestnut path, which can be done comfortably in sections.

This is the season for eating well. As the grape harvest draws to a close, South Tyrol begins Törggelen, a custom centuries old that locals call their fifth season. The autumn colours are reason enough to walk out through the vineyards, chestnut groves, woods, and mountain villages – and the walk ends, as it should, at a table. The tradition grew out of the habit of gathering in the cellar once the harvest was in, so that growers, merchants and anyone who liked a glass could taste the new vintage together. The word itself comes from torggl, from the Latin torquere, meaning the wooden press used to crush the grapes.

December to April
The Gitschberg Jochtal ski area has more than 25 pistes and 15 lifts, with views the whole way round – the Pfunders mountains, the Alps and the Dolomites. Seven more ski areas lie between 20 and 60 km away. There’s ski touring too, along with four cross-country trails, five toboggan runs and two viewing platforms, at Gitschberg and Steinermandl.

With more than 25 pistes and 15 lifts, the Mühlbach ski area also offers views right the way round – the Pfunders mountains, the Alps, the Dolomites, and the villages of Val Pusteria/Pusteria below.

If a good view is the sort of thing that stops you in your tracks, the viewing platform at Gitschberg is worth the trip. It’s a circular platform with a marked rail naming the main summits of the ranges around you. The Steinermandl platform, near the top station of the Jochtal cable car, is every bit as good.

If you’d rather explore on foot in the snow, there are some fine winter walking routes, several of which let you come back down by toboggan rather than the way you came.

Vals and Rodeneck both have excellent cross-country trails. And if you’d rather not ski or walk at all, but wouldn’t say no to a mulled wine in a mountain hut, there are four toboggan runs in the Gitschberg Jochtal area to see what you’re made of.