Ulm → Salerno: Apennines & Amalfi, 12 Days

It starts at the Ulm East Seligweiler service area. Past Lake Constance at Bregenz and through Chur in Switzerland, you cross the Italian border at Bellinzona. Northeast of Genoa you leave the Po Plain and reach the first hotel in the Milan area.

Today the way runs west of Milan through Lombardy into the Emilia-Romagna region. At the foot of the Apennines near Piacenza you reach the second hotel for a well-earned rest after a long stage across the plain.

On this stage you deliberately avoid the main roads and cities and stay on the mountain back roads. In the afternoon you reach the next hotel in the Montecatini Terme area, in the middle of the Tuscan hinterland.

On the way into Umbria you pass Volterra and Siena today, both of which you explore more fully later on in the week. In the afternoon you reach the stage destination near Lake Trasimeno at Passignano.

Today the way follows Lago del Salto and passes through the Parco Nazionale d'Abruzzo in the Lazio region to the hotel in the Isernia area in Molise – a day of natural spectacle and quiet mountain roads.

In the afternoon you leave the higher ground of the Apennines and reach the next hotel right on the Gulf of Salerno – ready for the coastal day stage the following morning, with two nights in the same place.

Today brings a ride to Pompeii with a visit to the ruins, or a loop along the roughly 50-kilometre Amalfi Coast – the two can also be combined into a full day. Start and finish is the hotel near Salerno.

On the way to the next hotel the route climbs to the volcano near Naples for a short visit at the crater rim. Along the sea you then reach the hotel in Terracina on the Tyrrhenian coast in the afternoon.

After breakfast you leave the coast behind and take a wide arc around Rome back into the wild mountain country of the Apennines. Viterbo is the next destination for the coming night, north of the capital.

Today's stage passes through empty landscapes and small villages on the way to Siena and Volterra in Tuscany. A visit to the Piazza del Campo in Siena, famous the world over for the Palio, is planned into the day.

On this stage the way runs from Volterra to the Piacenza area, past Bologna and Parma through gentle hill country. In the afternoon you reach the hotel in Guardamiglio, on the northern edge of the Apennines.

You set off from the Po Plain, skirt the greater Milan area on winding back roads and reach the penultimate hotel between Como and Milan at Turate in the afternoon, just before the shared days come to an end.

After breakfast, full of new impressions from the Apennines and the Amalfi Coast, you set off for home. The shared route ends in Ulm East at the Seligweiler service area, exactly where it began.