The Monte Tamaro Bike Park is located in the Lugano-Bellinzona-Locarno triangle, easily accessible just off the A2 motorway linking Italy and Switzerland. The cable car takes you up to Alpe Foppa 1,530 meters above sea level, with picture-perfect panoramic views to greet you. It's a small bike park but offers some serious trails, notably the DH trail starting at Alpe Foppa and ending at the Piano di Mora middle station. Used annually for the iXS Downhill Race Series this is downhill mountain biking at it's best.
At the middle station there is a great little area with northshore style features designed for various levels of difficulty and for bikers with various skill sets. There are 4 drops with heights ranging from 1 to 4 meters, 10 jumps of varying heights, a wallride, a cool line with parabolic rollers and jumps, and various other little obstacles to play about on. The Freeride trail runs from the middle station down to the base, and is somewhat of an extension of the DH trail above it, with added purpose built features like the old fashioned 'bus-stop'. For XC riders there are 2 “classic routes”, simply called trail A and trail B, and route maps for these are available at the ticket office by the gondola. There is a bike wash available at both the middle and base gondola stations so you can clean up before hitting the road. And bring your own bike etc. – there are no services for bike or equipment rental at Monte Tamaro, although there is a fairly well equipped bike shop in the town if you need any essentials. A great place to stop for the day on your European road trip.
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