Flew to Rome, cycled home to Munich — 1,173km solo bikepacking across Italy and the Alps in 9 days

Bit of an impulsive one. I originally wanted to do a short Easter bikepacking trip to northern Italy, started looking at night trains to Bologna or Verona — and noticed the Nightjet goes all the way to Rome. One thought led to another and I ended up booking a flight, boxing my bike, and flying one-way to Roma-Fiumicino. The plan: cycle home.

First solo bikepacking trip. 9 days, ~1,200km, 11,644m of climbing. Here's how it went.

📍 The Itinerary

✨ Highlights

I journaled and but some quotes here.

The Via Francigena (Days 2–3) — The only two days I planned beforehand ride wise. It's a pilgrimage route from Canterbury to Rome. Many hikers coming from opposite direction, beautiful paths, calm, immersed in Italian country side, thermal springs at Bagni San Filippo, and the most beautiful cypress lane riding I've ever done. Highly recommend routing through it if you're doing central Italy.

"I screamed from joy a couple of times on the descents from the Tuscan hills. It felt amazing."

The Apennine crossing (Day 5) — 12km, 950 vertical meters, completely alone on the road. Put on my hype playlist and basically screamed my way to the top. The evening descent into Emilia Romagna through dark stone villages and river valleys in golden light was some of the best riding of the trip (Eurovelo route 7).

First Alps sighting (Day 6) — I was suffering through the flat, boring Po Valley when I looked left and saw them. Their shape on the horizon. Knowing that behind those mountains was home, and I'd cycled here from Rome. Great moment for myself.

Day 7 tailwind — After 6 days of headwinds, hills and the saddle sores from the day before, the wind finally flipped. Flew up the Adige valley at 35km/h on a loaded bike. I took was hyped and danced on the bike.

I never planned my campsites ahead:

"It felt like pure freedom — being mobile, flexible, always able to find a place to sleep. That's what I love so much about bikepacking."

The final (Day 9) — Crossing the Brenner in the morning, rain from Innsbruck onwards, soaked feet, saddle pain, 175km on the clock. Then the Isar forest trails in complete darkness, music in my ears, limited vision. And suddenly — the Großhesseloher Bridge, 2km from home. I turned off my music and rode the last stretch in silence.

🛠️ Gear Notes

Flew one-way with the bike in a cardboard box (first time — easier than expected). Running a mixed gravel/road setup. The Via Francigena sections are very doable on any gravel setup. Got one flat tyre in 9 days. The saddle situation deteriorated badly by Day 7 — I'd bring chamois cream from day one if I did this again. Sleeping bag rated to 4°C completely fine — one night near 0° at the Brenner trucker stop was cozy.

Navigation with Komoot — mostly great, occasionally sends you into fields. Cross-check anything that looks like a shortcut.