For those living in the Vicenza, Italy area looking for an easy, interesting bike adventure, the route from Vicenza to Thiene could be your new favorite bicycle trip. Clocking in at just under fifteen miles one-way, most of the route is on bike lanes or country roads that don’t see much traffic. But the fun part? You’ve got options! If you’re tired or the weather turns, you can catch the train back to Vicenza either from Dueville or Thiene. Today, we did the latter after a delicious lunch at Osteria dal Conte in Thiene. Verdict? Highly recommended!

Route from Vicenza to Theine via Dueville

This bicycle route takes you from bustling downtown Vicenza, then along a bike path that runs parallel to the trainline. From there, a patchwork of trails and quiet roads leads you into Dueville before stretching another seven-ish miles to Thiene.

While we used Google Map’s bicycle route layer for directions, we veered off in Dueville. Here’s our rough itinerary:

We dodged humans and traffic down Corso Palladio, then crossed the Angel Bridge, then took the third exit from the roundabout onto Via IV Novembre. From there, we cycled straight through a few roundabouts. The road became Borga Scroffa and later Viale Triest and then SR53. We continued until intersecting railroad tracks, and turned left just before the tracks onto Strada Scuole Anconetta which very quickly leads to a bicycle route that parallels the train tracks for several miles. Despite the mildly industrial vibe given by the rail line here, it was still pretty with fields of young wheat spreading green to the horizon.

We came to the end of the bike path and then followed a patchwork of roads (most had a bike lane). Google maps lead the way.

When we reached Dueville, we encountered the map below and decided to deviate from Google’s instructions as the map indicated a potentially better path.

At this sign, we continued straight, which eventually lead us into a tiny country road with fields spread on each side and the mountains on the horizon. Our deviated route eventually linked back up with Google’s prescribed route. We passed a few stately villas, some crumbling farm homes and tiny canals. It was beautiful.

As we approached Thiene, the town glowed pastel in the distance, bordered by with the Asiago Plateau on the horizon.

Family vineyards and clever canal-dam systems provide lots of photo opportunities!

We continued along Google’s route into Thiene. Once we spotted the main church (Duomo), we put away our map and just cycled around and made it into the old town center.

Enjoying a Fabulous Italian Lunch at an Old-School Osteria in Thiene, Italy

Thiene is a bit sleepy on a Sunday afternoon, but its medieval character can’t help but charm.

And if you arrive hungry, I can’t say enough good things about our most recent feast at Osteria dal Conte in the city center. Open until 3:00 PM on Sundays (for lunch), we arrived a little after 2:00, in our decidedly not Sunday-best, somewhat sweaty and without a reservation. Despite the crowd inside, the extremely friendly host found us a table where we enjoyed a delicious meal before rushing off to grab the 3:20 train back to Vicenza.

Taking Your Bike on the Regional Train from Thiene to Vicenza

Catching the train with one’s bicycle has now become so much easier. It used to be that one had to go to the station and either buy the special bike ticket from an attendant or from one of the kiosks … that may or may not be functioning properly. If you have the Trainline app (which Sam and I use all the time), you can now purchase your train ticket AND your bike ticket on the app. Simple! Trainline shows you the train schedule, too, so it’s a handy way to maintain time management on a bike trip.

Thiene’s schedule is a bit finnicky as the Regional train back to Vicenza is not nearly as frequent as other areas, but they are roughly spaced out every two hours until around 8:20 PM (on Sundays).

Tips for Taking Bicycles on Trains

Tips for Taking Bicycles on Trains

Regional trains are your best bet for ensuring there is a car allotted for bicycles. Unless you have a fold-up bike, you need to buy a ticket for your bike (it’s about 4 Euros), and you obviously need to make sure the train in question actually takes bikes. Many do not, but Regional trains (the ones that stop in the smaller towns) usually do. Look for a logo of a bike on one of the train cars. That’s the train car you need to bring you bike into. Sometimes, as in this case, there isn’t really anywhere to park your bike, so just improvise as best as you can. Allora!

Safety and Difficulty

This cycling route is great for adults, but a minority portion of the route is on roads with cars, so I wouldn’t recommend this one for the kiddos. That said, it was extremely peaceful and the traffic was on the low end. Great for adults, maybe not so much for younger kids.

The bicycle route from Vicenza to Thiene is mostly flat. There is a slight incline on the last section into Thiene (very slight), and there is one overpass over the A31 on Via Ca Magre that was a bit of a strain on our Dutch bikes, but if you are on regular street or gravel bikes, it likely will be nothing.

Go forth and cycle!