Timmelsjoch and Jaufenpass by Motorcycle: The Ötztal to South Tyrol Loop

The Timmelsjoch and the Jaufenpass are the two passes that every rider staying in the Ötztal or the Passeier valley ends up doing, and they work best together. The Timmelsjoch carries you over the main Alpine ridge from Austria into South Tyrol; the Jaufen takes you east over a lower but far bendier ridge to Sterzing. Add the old Brenner road and the Inn valley and you have a loop of around 240 kilometres that crosses the border twice and never feels like a transit day.

Planning the loop

The natural base is the upper Ötztal: Sölden, Obergurgl or Hochgurgl put you at the foot of the Timmelsjoch, so you can be through the toll station as soon as it opens. Riders coming from the south often base in St. Leonhard in Passeier or Meran instead and ride the loop the other way round. Either works. Clockwise from the Ötztal gives you the Timmelsjoch climb in the morning, lunch in the Passeier valley, the Jaufen in the early afternoon and an easy run home through the Inn valley.

Allow a full day. The distance is modest, but the Italian side of the Timmelsjoch and both sides of the Jaufen are slow, technical roads, and you will stop for photos more than you think.

The route, section by section

Sölden to the Timmelsjoch (about 30km). From Sölden the valley road climbs past Zwieselstein, where the road splits for Obergurgl. Keep right for Hochgurgl and the toll station, where you pay for the High Alpine Road. Beside the toll booth sits Top Mountain Crosspoint, a big glass building with a motorcycle museum, and it is worth an hour on a wet morning. Above it the road is wide and well engineered, with long open bends across bare high pasture to the pass at 2,474 metres on the border. The summit has a museum pavilion perched over the drop, and on a clear day you look straight down into South Tyrol.

Timmelsjoch to St. Leonhard in Passeier (about 30km). The character changes the moment you cross into Italy. The SS44bis drops down a much steeper slope in a string of tight hairpins, then threads through a series of short rock tunnels, several of them unlit and rough-floored. Take sunglasses off before the first one. Below Schönau and Rabenstein the road eases, and you roll down through Moos in Passeier into St. Leonhard, the valley's main village. It is the obvious place for a coffee and to fill up.

St. Leonhard over the Jaufenpass to Sterzing (about 40km). The SS44 leaves St. Leonhard eastward and starts climbing at once. The western side is wooded, steep and full of hairpins; higher up it breaks out into open meadow with the Texel group behind you. The pass at 2,094 metres has a hut, a car park and a lot of bikes on a sunny weekend. The eastern descent to Sterzing (Vipiteno) is the bit riders talk about: a long sequence of linked bends along a hillside that you can see unfolding below you, with a good surface and mostly decent sightlines. It is also popular with cars and campervans, so ride it at your own pace rather than the pace of whoever is behind you.

Sterzing over the Brenner to Innsbruck (about 50km). From Sterzing take the old Brenner road (SS12 in Italy, B182 in Austria) rather than the motorway. It runs alongside the A22 and A13 but is free, quieter and more interesting, climbing gently to the Brenner Pass at about 1,370 metres and dropping through Steinach and Matrei to Innsbruck. The motorway needs a toll or vignette; the old road needs neither.

Innsbruck back to Sölden (about 90km). Head west up the Inn valley to Ötztal-Bahnhof, then turn south into the Ötztal. The valley road through Oetz, Umhausen and Längenfeld is wide and fast, with a few climbs between the valley steps. It is the least exciting part of the day, but it gets you home with daylight to spare.

Tolls, hours and rules

The Timmelsjoch High Alpine Road is a private toll road on the Austrian side, with a motorcycle rate for single and return crossings. The toll station has fixed daily opening hours and the road is closed outside them, so check the times on the operator's site (timmelsjoch.com) before planning an early or late crossing. The Jaufenpass is toll-free.

Austria's motorways need a vignette or digital vignette for motorcycles, and the Brenner motorway has an extra section toll; Italian motorways charge at the toll plaza. Using the old Brenner road avoids both. If you add the Hahntennjoch or the Lechtal roads to a Tyrol trip, Tyrol bans motorcycles with a stationary noise figure above 95 dB(A), as given on the registration papers, on a list of roads in the Reutte district each summer season. Check your papers and the Land Tirol page on the motorcycle ban before you go.

When to go

The Timmelsjoch is a seasonal road. It usually opens between late May and mid-June and closes in October, depending on snow, and it can close at short notice in bad weather at any time of year. The Jaufen is kept open longer, but it too can close in snow or storms. July to September is the dependable window. Check pass status on the Timmelsjoch operator's site and South Tyrol's provincial traffic information service on the morning you ride.

Temperatures at the Timmelsjoch summit are often 15 degrees colder than in Meran, and cloud can sit on the pass when the valleys are clear. Pack a warm layer even on a hot day.

The roads

The Austrian side of the Timmelsjoch is a model mountain road. The Italian side is narrower, steeper and rougher, with rockfall nets, tunnels and hairpins tight enough that a big touring bike needs full lock. The Jaufen has a good surface but a lot of traffic in July and August, plus cyclists on both ramps. Watch for cattle on the high sections of both passes and for gravel at the tunnel mouths. There is no fuel on either pass: fill up in Sölden, St. Leonhard or Sterzing.

Where to stay

Sölden, Obergurgl and Längenfeld in the Ötztal are the easiest bases on the Austrian side; see our biker hotels in Tyrol. On the Italian side, St. Leonhard and Moos in Passeier, Meran and Sterzing all suit the loop; browse biker-friendly places to stay in Northern Italy. From Meran it is a short ride west to the Stelvio and the Gavia, covered in our Stelvio and Dolomites guide, and east to the Sella Ronda. Heading further east, the Grossglockner is a day away.