Olang: Dolomite panoramas, trails and local history

Olang combines farm gardens and Dolomite panoramas. The village lies in the heart of Fanes-Sennes-Prags Nature Park. You can choose from a range of focuses for your stay: walking trails and a cycling route, family-friendly sections, more challenging hiking destinations and local history. Some specific points of interest are in Mitterolang, while others relate to Olang as a whole.

Walking trails and hiking destinations

The Stone Mile in Olang is a varied themed trail and walking route with informative stops. The route is mostly flat or has only gentle inclines. Wide, easy-to-walk sections are suitable for strollers and wheelchairs. This means the trail combines a themed experience with a mostly gentle route profile; the stated suitability applies to the wide, easy-to-walk sections.

Olang also has relaxing panoramic trails in the village, and guided alpine pasture tours are available. For more challenging hiking destinations, there is the distinctive Dolomite peak Piz da Peres. These different descriptions offer clear guidance: a themed trail and walking route, panoramic trails in the village, guided alpine pasture tours and a more challenging hiking destination each represent a different way to experience Olang.

Cycling route, tour and walk

The Puster Valley Cycle Path runs through Mitterolang and is 105 km long in total. This length refers to the entire cycle path, not just the section in the village. The tour “From Olang to Staller Sattel” has a different starting point and destination: it begins in the centre of Mitterolang and runs through the whole Antholz Valley, passing villages, meadows and forests, as far as Lake Antholz. This distinction matters when planning: the cycle path is a route that runs through Mitterolang, while the other tour is described by its start in the village centre and its destination at the lake.

A family-friendly walking trail from Niederolang to Mitterolang runs through Mühlbach, is suitable for strollers and has a playground along the way. In Mitterolang, a public playground has slides, seesaws and space to build sandcastles. There is a public drinking-water fountain at Floriani Square. As well as the route connecting the two villages, you will find specific places to visit in the village, without conflating the information about the trail with that about the playground.

Local history and tradition

The Peter Sigmayr monument stands in the centre of Mitterolang and commemorates the hero of Olang from 1809/10. Another way to explore the area’s history is the Lipper Sawmill. Located in Oberolang, in the area around Valdaora di Mezzo, it is an easily accessible Venetian sawmill dating from the 19th century. It was last operated in 1958; in 2011 it was restored and put back into operation. It is considered the last surviving Venetian sawmill and a unique testament to the history of the Puster Valley timber industry.

The traditional festival in Valdaora di Mezzo also offers a date to plan around: it takes place on the weekend after the feast of Saint Giles and usually falls on the first weekend of September. Shepherds and hunters invoke Saint Giles, who is regarded as the patron saint of livestock and is venerated against the plague. If you would like to plan your visit around the festival, check the exact dates in advance.

Discover more destinations: San Martin de Tor, Issing, Mühlwald, Prettau, Rasen-Antholz, Bruneck, Enneberg, Casere-Knappenegg

Back to the regional travel overview: Puster Valley.