The Val Venosta valley (Vinschgau) is the wide and beautiful valley of the Adige river, it starts at the Passo Resia pass and ends shortly before the basin of Merano.

Its unique landscape is characterized by a mix of picturesque roughness and graceful unspoilt nature.
The landscape of the area has many contrasts, on the one side of the valley picturesque dry hills go up to the rocky mountains of the Alpine divide and on the other valley side dense spruce forests dominate.
The area is a very popular holiday destination with many hotels, especially in the lower part of the valley.

The valley is climatically favoured by the low amount of rainfall and the mild temperatures. The upper part of the valley is dominated by the characteristic grass landscape of the "Malser Haide".

The modern Val Venosta valley railway "Vinschgerbahn" that goes from Merano to Malles has become a very popular means of transport and is accessible for people with mobility restrictions. The railway takes you to many starting points for hiking or cycling.
The train allows bicycles on board and also offers a bike rental.

The holiday area Val Venosta offers many recreational and sporting activities the whole year round.
The ski resorts Laces, Solda - Trafoi, Watles, Belpiano and Maseben have a lot to offer skiers, snowboarders and cross country skiers with the unique mountain scenery around the Stelvio national park.

In summer the well marked paths and trails are ideal for the whole family, whereas mountaineers from the entire world climb the 3.905 m high Ortles peak, it is the highest mountain of the German speaking area.

A pioneer human performance was the construction of the 49,2 km long Stelvio high Alpine road that goes up to the Stelvio pass of 2.763 m height.
The 82 hair-pin bends go into the bordering Bormio.
The Stelvio pass road is part of the route of the Giro d’Italia cycle race. Motorbikers say the road is one of the nicest in the entire Alpine area.

The Val Venosta valley has many castles, churches and findings of primeval times.
The so called “Waale”, old irrigation canals, are also typical for the area.
They were constructed to irrigate the arid fields.
Along these irrigation canals, paths were made for their maintenance.
Today these canals have mostly lost their function for irrigation, but the beautiful and easy paths along the canals, the ”Waalwege“ have been maintained.

In the Val Venosta valley many traditions have been kept, for example in the upper part of the valley a pagan tradition, the so called “Scheibenschlagen” (disc beating), is carried out on the first fasting Sunday.
Big straw fires are set alight and burning wooden discs are thrown down the hills into the valley with the help of wooden sticks.
This is done to chase away the winter and herald spring.

Stelvio has a traditional St. Nicholas parade (Klasen), St. Nicholas and four angels give children sweets, they are followed by shouting figures carrying birches.