Brunico stands at the centre of the Val Pusteria and changes trade with the seasons: in winter it is the gateway to the Plan de Corones, the largest ski area in the Alto Adige, and the old town fills with the wooden huts of the Christmas market; in summer the same streets are the starting point for the Dolomite paths and for the Rienza cycle path. For a motorhome it makes an easy base, with four sites all outside the pedestrian centre and linked to it on foot or by bike.
Sleeping
Stops and overnight stays
A motorhome does not go into the old town: the four sites all lie outside it, the modern serviced area on the cycle path, the market square car park, the family campsite and the cable car car park up at Riscone.
City Camping Bruneck
Via Santa Croce 1b, 39031 Brunico
the newest and most complete site, on the Rienza cycle path, 10 to 15 minutes on foot from the old town. Heated toilets with showers, sinks for washing up and a laundry. Fenced, video monitored and open 24 hours a day. There is a service point, but some report that it is not easy for every vehicle: with a 7.5 metre we had no trouble, with an overcab it is worth taking care. Farm fields lie all around: in certain periods you get the manure and the insects.
59 pitches on terraces, all with an electricity hook-up
WaterGrey waterElectricityToiletsShowerLaundry
35 euros for 24 hours (2 people, electricity and tourist tax included), 40 euros in high season (21 July to 24 August 2025); loading and emptying only, 15 euros for 30 minutes · city-camping.it
a public car park shared with cars, 10 minutes on foot from the centre, near the railway station and the pedestrian tunnel that leads straight into town. Nothing for a motorhome: no electricity, no loading or emptying of water. The rate was 7.50 euros a day and rose to 36 euros after the City Camping opened, which brought plenty of protest from motorhome travellers. The rubbish bins are often found full.
the traditional campsite, run by the same family for three generations, along the Val Pusteria main road. Hot water 24 hours a day included in the price, every pitch with an electricity hook-up. There is a small shop with fresh bread, milk, cheese, speck and basics, and a bar for breakfast and snacks. The service point is for campsite guests only. The centre is about 25 minutes on foot along the cycle path or the main road, and the road sends over a background of noise.
about 50 pitches, on sunny grass and in shaded pine wood
the apron at the foot of the cable car for the Plan de Corones, up at Riscone, nearly five kilometres from the centre of Brunico. It is paid and there is no emptying point: it is worth it for a day on the skis rather than for a long stay. In winter there are those who park in the fields below as well. From the centre, if you would rather leave the motorhome where it is, you reach it by local bus or by bike.
The old centre is almost all pedestrian and compact: from Piazza Municipio along Via Centrale up to the castle takes 15 to 20 minutes on foot
From the City Camping and the Stegener Marktplatz the centre is 10 to 15 minutes on foot, from Camping Schießstand about 25
The Val Pusteria cycle path runs through Brunico, more than 100 flat kilometres with rest areas, panoramic bridges and kiosks; the City Camping sits right on it
Regional trains leave the station for Fortezza, San Candido and Dobbiaco; the bus station is the largest in the valley and serves Tures, Aurina, Badia and the villages nearby
Tickets at the station or through the Südtirol Mobile app; with the Kronplatz Guest Pass public transport across the Alto Adige is free
For the Plan de Corones the cable car leaves from Riscone, a hamlet about 2 km from the centre, reached by local bus or by bike
Seeing
Sights
Two stops in town, the old centre and the castle, then the mountain, the open air museum at Teodone and, last, the waterfalls half an hour away. Tap a marker on the map to open its entry below.
1
Via Centrale and the old town
Walk · free entry · 46.79560, 11.93768
the Stadtgasse, the pedestrian street that runs through the whole medieval centre, lined with buildings with crenellated gables, frescoed fronts and arched doorways. Boutiques, artisan workshops, cafés and shops of local produce follow one another: speck, cheese, black rye bread, hand painted ceramics, traditional dress. The textile trade of the town is here, with the Moessmer wool mill, which supplies names such as Prada and Armani, and the Ulbrich Textil Manufaktur. The best hours are early morning, when the shops open, and the late afternoon of the aperitivo. An hour is enough to walk it at an easy pace.
built in the thirteenth century by the Bishop of Bressanone on the hill above the town, and restored by setting wood, glass and steel against the old walls. Inside is the Messner Mountain Museum Ripa, one of the six in the circuit founded by Reinhold Messner, given over to the mountain peoples of the world: Sherpa, Inca, Tibetans, Mongols. On show are objects of daily life, working tools, ritual masks and religious testimony. A panoramic path climbs from the centre through meadows and trees, 10 to 15 minutes of walking; in winter it can be slippery.
Opening hours 10:00 to 18:00, last admission at 17:00, closed on Tuesdays; open from 7 December to 25 April and from the second Sunday in May to the first Sunday in November, closed on 24 and 25 December · 14 euros, reduced 12 for students, over 65s and groups of fifteen, 6 euros for young people from 6 to 18, 32 euros the family ticket and 18 for one adult with children, free under 6 · messner-mountain-museum.it
the mountain of 2275 metres that stands over Brunico, the leading ski area of the Alto Adige with 121 km of pistes open from late November to early April, a snowpark and mountain huts. On the summit are two museums: the Messner Mountain Museum Corones, designed by Zaha Hadid and given over to mountaineering and to the three mountains that marked Messner's life, and the Lumen museum, on mountain photography. There is also the Concordia 2000 Peace Bell, three metres across and eighteen tonnes, which rings every day at noon. In summer what remains are the paths, the nordic walking, the mountain bike tracks and an adventure park.
at Teodone, a hamlet a few kilometres from Brunico, one of the most complete open air ethnographic museums in the Alps, housed in the historic Mair am Hof residence. Rebuilt farmhouses, craft workshops, farm tools, costumes and objects from Alto Adige country life, with explanatory panels and, in certain periods, live demonstrations of old trades: working wool, making butter, baking bread. Outside there are farm animals, vegetable gardens and fields worked the way they once were. Children take to it too.
in the Valle di Tures, half an hour by car from Brunico, three successive drops of water reached by an easy path. The third is the finest: a wall of water falling into a pool shut in by rock walls. The last stretch is wet with spray and can turn slippery, so a rain jacket is needed. There and back in full takes an hour and a half or two.
the largest market in Tyrol, in the Stegona market square: three days of stalls with clothing, household goods and tools, livestock with the sellers in traditional dress, food stands, roast chestnuts and a funfair. Expect crowds, and bring a big bag.
27 Nov › 24Dec
Brunico Christmas Market
from late November to 6 January
one of the five Original Alto Adige Christmas Markets, spread between Via Bastioni, Piazza Tschurtschenthaler and Ragen di Sopra. More than 30 wooden huts with local craft work, decorations, wooden toys, ceramics, leather goods, Lebkuchen, mulled wine and hot strudel. Among the new things are the Scent Barn, the Christmas Barn with textiles from Ulbrich and Moessmer and a wooden marble run for children.
27 Nov - 24 Dec · 26 Dec - 6 Jan
28Nov
Opening of the Plan de Corones ski season
late November
the pistes open with parties, live music, tastings in the mountain huts and offers on the ski passes.
This year's dates are not out yet
Summer concerts in Piazza Municipio
from June to August
open air evenings, free of charge, from Tyrolean folk music to jazz, from rock to classical. The current programme is at the information office in Piazza Municipio.
Remember
Useful tips
It works all year: December to March for the skiing and the markets, June to September for walking, mountain biking and museums. Spring and autumn have fewer people, lower prices and the blossom or the colours of the woods
Do not try to take a motorhome into the old town: Via Centrale and the Città Alta are narrow, busy and largely pedestrian. You leave the vehicle at one of the sites and arrive on foot, by bike or by public transport
From Brunico you reach the Lago di Braies at 30 km, the Lago di Anterselva at 40 km, the castles of Tures and Welsperg, and further on the Val Badia and the Tre Cime di Lavaredo: an easy base for touring the Dolomites over several days
For groceries there are Despar, Eurospar and Lidl. For local produce, the shops on Via Centrale or the weekly market on Saturday morning in Piazza Municipio
In winter the temperature drops a long way: you need proper heating and winter tyres or chains
Canederli are not cut with a knife, they are broken with a fork. In the taverns ask for the homemade ones, hausgemacht
Brunico · part two
and then?
What to do, what to taste, and where to go tomorrow.
Experiences from here
What we did starting from here, ordered by driving time.
400 g of stale bread, black rye or mixed for preference
150 g of Speck Alto Adige PGI cut into small cubes
200 ml of whole milk
3 fresh eggs
1 small onion or 1 small leek, finely chopped
30 g of butter
1 tablespoon of chopped fresh parsley
100 g or so of plain flour
salt and pepper
nutmeg, optional
meat or vegetable broth for the cooking
Method
cut the stale bread into cubes of one centimetre, put them in a large bowl, pour over the warm milk and leave it 10 or 15 minutes until the bread is soft and has taken it all up
melt the butter in a pan and soften the chopped onion, then add the speck and cook two or three minutes, stirring, without burning it
add the onion and speck to the bread, then the eggs one at a time, the parsley, the salt, the pepper and a grating of nutmeg, and work it well with your hands or a wooden spoon
adjust the texture: if the mixture is too wet add flour a little at a time, if it is too stiff a drop of milk. It has to let you shape the balls without them falling apart
cover the bowl with a cloth and leave the mixture to rest 20 or 30 minutes
wet your hands with cold water and shape firm balls the size of a tennis ball, 70 or 80 grams each
bring a large pan of meat broth or salted water to the boil, lower the canederli in and turn the heat down: they cook 15 or 20 minutes without boiling hard, and are done when they rise to the surface and stay firm outside and soft inside
serve them in hot broth, or drained and dressed with melted butter, grated parmesan and chives, or else beside sauerkraut or goulash
Distances and times by road, measured with OSRM on OpenStreetMap data.
Looking
Brunico in photographs
28 shots from our visit. Tap one to see it large.
the Christmas market huts at dusk, with the mountain still lit by the sun at the end of the streetMarcella in front of the big lit star, under the Bruneck and Brunico signsthe lit tree above the market huts, and the brazier people gather round to warm upLetizia warming her hands at the market brazier, with the little train behind herthe market at night, the lit arch at the entrance and the tree glowing whitevia Centrale at dusk, the lights along the roofs and the climber mannequins hanging from the frontthe frescoed oriel of a house on via Centrale, with its wrought iron signthe red-lit entrance of the Speck Museum shop, on via Centralebottles of mountain liqueurs in a shop window, from Kàpriol to Latte di Suoceraa window of dried fruit, spices and chocolate, with the gingerbread housethe front of the church of Santa Maria Assunta, the two bell towers and the blue clock facesthe nave of Santa Maria Assunta, the stained glass and the frescoed vaultthe lit nativity inside the high altarpiece, among the poinsettias and the candlesthe Plan de Corones slopes from above, the chairlifts and the Dolomites beyondthe signpost at the top of Plan de Corones: the museum, Perca, Valdaora, San Vigilioin the gondola above the Puster valley: Gabriele, Marcella, Matteo and Letiziahere we are, all four of us on the slope: Marcella, Gabriele, Letizia and MatteoGabriele, Matteo and Letizia on the slope, photographed by MarcellaLetizia and her instructor from the Bruneck ski school, with the Dolomites behindMarcella with her fur hood up, and the Puster valley belowthe Kronplatz ski school instructors with their torches lit, before setting offthe instructors lined up on the snow, torches resting on the ground, waitingthe lit gondolas above the torchlight descent, and the lights of Riscone belowthe snowman drawn by the drones above the slopes2026 written by the drones, with a shooting star beside itthe new year wish written by the drones above the slopethe name of the Kronplatz drawn by the drones in the new year skythe drones' red snowflake, the last figure of the show
