Umbria Sports & Outdoors Tips by Trekki Top 5 Page for this destination

Umbria is a secret hiking + biking paradise

Given the landscape with many hills and valleys, Umbria has one of the finest hiking possibilities in Italy. Yes, of course there are the Alps in the north, but by then, these are mostly overflown with masses in summer and this often has a very much negative influence on the authenticity and serenity of the landscape. And as Umbria is not yet mass travel and hiking destination, it is definitely a much more desirable place for those who seek almost untouched nature.
From what I could see during my (road) trip, Valnerina (Parco fluviale del Nera) is one of the most fascinating ones for longer or shorter hikes. Near Assisi is famous Monte Subasio, the highest peak nearby with extended oak forests. And for the ambitious mountaineerers Monte Sibillini in Le Marche (at the eastern border of Umbria) offer any kind of alpine-like hiking (Monte Sibilla is 2175 m).

On my way to Orvieto, I drove along river Tevere, which looked gorgeous for all kind of hiking, cycling and water sports as well. It is Parco fluviale del Tevere.

The website “Parks.it” is a good start to look for more details and other parks as well. As Le Marche and Umbria are so close and many parks are at their borders, I suggest to check both:
National Parks in Umbria,
National Parks in Le Marche.

When it comes to cycling, Umbria offers tours for every level of experience. The hills and valleys are maybe more for the mountainbikers, but Valle Umbra is perfect for the ones who prefer less hills. And given a very much relaxed traffic in Umbria, cycling tours will not end in hospitals. I found that Umrian traffic is extremely “non-Italian”. No one races. You can book guided bicycle tours or bring your own (or rent one) and travel on your own.
Some possible itineraries are given on these websites:
cycling Umbria (1),
cycling Umbria (2) ,
cycling Umbria (3) ,
cycling Umbria (4) .
Or if you check the website bikemap.net, you’ll find an abundance of routes, the users did describe (if the language does not jump to English, change it in the menu top right hand side):
cycling pathes.

Update January 2009:
I just found another excellent page with biking tours in Umbria:
Bike in Umbria
This one is even better, you can chose between the "types" (easy, medium, difficult) and then pick out the routes according to a clickable map. The single routes are described with detail map, profile, sights to see and downloadable GPS profiles and detailed roadbooks. Excellent!! Avaliable in Italia, English, German and Spanish.

Theme: Hiking