Hi all - my wife has a conference in early September in Graz, Austria and we are planning to tack on some cycling days in the Dolomites and Slovenia. We’d love to hit as much great road riding as possible with as few hotel transfers as possible and would love to hear your suggestions for where to stay, what to ride, and (most importantly?) where to eat. Plans are quite loose at the moment but we’re looking at Corvara in Italy and Kranjska Gora in Slovenia as places to ride out of. In terms of rides, we love 6ish hour rides with a nice cafe stop or two, which for us is 70-100km, maybe 2000m of climbing. Happy to stack days like that or do a bigger one and then an easy recovery day. Prefer local charm to luxury or chains when it comes to lodging and food. Thanks in advance!
Hi Matt, here are some rides from Kranjska Gora covering the best there is:
https://www.strava.com/activities/5615757083 - this is a must!
SI: Wurzenpass 🇸🇮🇮🇹🇦🇹 | Strava - covers a supersteep ascent and a cyclepath built on an old railway
I would also suggest to go to Bled - bautiful lake, castle and a tasty local cake, ask for Kremšnita
For Dolomites your Corvana assumption is spot on and there are plenty of bike friendly hotel options. There’s an annual event (Maratona dles Dolomites) that draws 8000+ that has established excellent cycling base.
Route-wise one of the most famous is Sella Ronda loop, which is near the higher end of your range and covers some of the most popular climbs. There are, though, roughly 15 “epic” Dolomites climbs so depending on how long you’d be there you can really flexibly choose your own adventure. They’re all close to that Corvana base and can be grouped and looped. “Epic” in Dolomites typically means climbs of 300-1000m and summits around 1500-2000m ASL, gradients in 5-10%. Gorgeous and most mortals can handle them, as opposed to the more “epic" climbs that are GC battles in the Giro that tend to be in the alps, longer and steeper.
I wouldn’t recommend as a route per se, but search Super Maratona and you’ll land on tourism site. The super is a huge loop that covers almost every climb. You could scan that for choosing your preferred options.
Hello,
You can check out the route of the cycling event that I organise in the region (we have much longer stages, but cover most of the highlights): https://www.infernoseries.com/infernodolomitesslovenia
For hotels, I can recommend Hotel Boka in Slovenia (the Vrsic and Mangart can be ridden as a loop from there), and maybe for one or two nights the B&B Hotel on the Tre Croce pass.
Best
Konstantin
While you are in Graz, riding around there especially in the Wine region to the south close to the border is also very nice!
Thank you @Marcel_Straka - much appreciated! Please do share any other routes that you recommend from the area, including Lake Bled - hopefully get there next year 
Some rides I’ve done in the past (also early September ish, perfect timing!) in the Dolomites, from Corvara/Alta Badía/Arabba area. Sella Ronda is the go-to classic route! First two links are probably too long vs your 2000m d+ target, but the other three should fit!
https://strava.app.link/n6n0JC0JJ0b
https://strava.app.link/gF1J0v4JJ0b
https://strava.app.link/QXJpcD8JJ0b
https://strava.app.link/owal6JaKJ0b
https://strava.app.link/R16EKXcKJ0b
Recommended dinner place in Arabba (which is a town I’d suggest to stay in general, good starting point and on the Sella Ronda route):
https://maps.app.goo.gl/Gpwe62j9NRiVFjGL6
Enjoy 
Fantastic! Thanks!
You could get some inspiration on website of my company, Go Bike Travel.
We have plenty of different cycling trips in Slovenia for all sorts of bikes.
Almost all our trips have a support van included.
If you have any questions, let me know.
We could also pick you up at Graz if you arrive in Austria by airplane. This is less than 2 hours away from our base in Slovenia.
I’ve done this route, very nice: https://www.strava.com/activities/5637823124
Looks like a ripper!
I spent 6 days in Slovenia last year, here’s a piece on my blog: Slovenia: small country, big rides - Switchback . We had an amazing time! Any question let me know
I think the Sella Ronda is shorter than you remember, its at the lower end of the OP’s range at 50k
If you look at the long Maratona route it lends itself to being split into 2 rides.
The medium Maratona would be at the top end of the OPs desired length at around 100k
If you do the Passo Fedaia look out for the Serrai gorge off to the side, you can ride through it and it’s stunning. September is perfect weather in the Dolomites, the only negative is how busy the roads are with traffic.
When did you go to the gorge? I thought it was still (partially) closed due to the ongoing repairs of earthquake damage.
My god, I’ve “only” been there twice, but the Corvara region in the Dolomites is out of this world.
A Disneyland, not just for cycling but for……everything. Any riding you do here will be great and you can’t really go wrong. Can get busy, but it never felt unsafe on the roads for me.
Just a few specific recommendations, all easily accessible if based in Corvara:
- Of course the Sella Ronda loop, but even if you just do parts of it, it’s beyond words.
- The easy side of Fedaia from Canazei is a nice climb, finishing on a beautiful lake looking at a huge glacier.
- Heading back to towards Corvara, in between the last section of Passo Selle, and Passo Gardena, you’re into a breathtaking, massive, natural amphitheatre with the famous vertical rock formations, greenery, views, space and scale, all the while being able to slowly roll along a 1% downhill (brand new road last June) to take it in.
- I enjoyed climbing Passo Valzarego, very pretty and quiet. Gets you to the “another planet” landscape of Passo Valparola - a short climb, then a lovely decent and valley road back towards Corvara
My biggest recommendation though, is to factor in time and readiness to stop riding at ANY point, to absorb what you’re seeing and feeling. Fully alive, deep gratitude for existing, present and truly, universally connected. And that can’t happen without the perfect challenge of the climbing.
To be fair it was a few years ago (was in the Dolomites last year but didn’t try it).
From Corvara the Sella Runde is two great rides, clockwise and anticlockwise. The same roads but completely different views. I strongly recommend doing them both. Giau is a great climb and a bit of a beast, worth a visit if the Sella feels not too hard
Thanks everyone! So much great information to start planning with.
Lots of great pointers here. Only thing I can add is if you are in the Eastern Dolomites, be sure to ride The Zoncolon from Ovaro.
We did Trek Travel’s trip to Slovenia last September and very much enjoyed their routes. Maybe not as challenging as you’re thinking of (though the “bonus” climb up to Statua di San Francisco we did on Day 5 was a tough one that was well worth it), but super scenic and many of the rides were on bike paths away from traffic:
- Day 1 - Grad Strmol to Bled | Ride | Strava
- Day 2 - Lake Bohinj and Lake Bled | Ride | Strava
- Day 3 - Mojstrana – Kranjska Gora cycling trail (SI) and Laghi Di Fusine (IT) | Ride | Strava
- Day 4 - Goriška Brda (SI), Santuario di Castelmonte (IT), & Cividale del Friuli (IT) | Ride | Strava
- Day 5 - Soča (SI) & Isonzo (IT) River loop | Ride | Strava
- Day 6 - Gredic Sunrise Ride | Ride | Strava
The Hotel Gredič in Dobrovo, Slovenia was an amazing place to stay if you enjoy wine!