{"id":37561,"date":"2024-07-02T10:39:31","date_gmt":"2024-07-02T08:39:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/naturetravellab.com\/niet-gecategoriseerd\/cycling-tour-of-switzerland\/"},"modified":"2026-06-25T18:18:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T16:18:09","slug":"cycling-tour-of-switzerland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/naturetravellab.com\/en\/switzerland\/cycling-tour-of-switzerland\/","title":{"rendered":"Cycling Tour of Switzerland"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Cycling Through Switzerland: A Travelogue and Useful Tips<\/h1>\n\n

Last summer, Anita cycled around Switzerland. It was a beautiful route with some tough challenges along the way. Read her account here, along with some helpful tips. <\/p>\n\n

Cycling in Switzerland<\/h2>\n\n

Every so often, we\u2019re ready for an active vacation\u2014to be somewhere else and spend the whole day outdoors, exploring the countryside. And then, at the end of each day, to feel tired but satisfied from the exertion and the day\u2019s experiences. I enjoy looking at maps, reading up on places, or hearing from friends\u2014there are so many route options in Europe. <\/p>\n\n

Since we\u2019d gone hiking a few times last year, we wanted to go on another cycling vacation this summer. I think the big advantage of cycling over hiking is that you can cover an entire country or region\u2014you can really cover some distance. <\/p>\n\n

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Cycling Through the Alps in Switzerland<\/h2>\n\n

I wanted to go to a landscape that was really different from home. To the mountains, the Alps. And then a round-trip train ticket to get off to a good start right away. From previous bike-and-train trips, I\u2019ve learned that you make things much easier for yourself if you first check carefully which routes have a direct train. If you do it the other way around\u2014choosing a random destination and getting there with several transfers\u2014the trip often becomes very demanding and also quite stressful with all that switching trains. <\/p>\n\n

Fortunately, more and more long-distance trains have been added in recent years. That\u2019s why we chose the NightJet, a direct sleeper train from Amsterdam to Basel and Zurich. If you\u2019re not bringing a bike, you can simply book this online. You can\u2019t do that with a bike (yet), so we handled that at the international ticket counter at Amsterdam Central Station. <\/p>\n\n

Navigation and Routes for Cycling in Switzerland<\/h2>\n\n

There are tons of apps and plenty of route guides. Personally, I prefer old-school route guides, such as the Bikeline series. Recently, I came across a guidebook from the publisher Recreatief Fietsen titled \u201cCycling Through Switzerland: A Tour Along Rivers and Through Mountains.\u201d It has the same oblong format as the Bikeline guidebooks from De Zwerver: Switzerland Travel Guides<\/a>. For a previous trip, we\u2019d already made a map holder where you can slide in the maps from the guidebook; we usually used 2 to 4 maps per day. As a backup, I had loaded a GPX file of the entire route into my Topo-GPS app, which came in handy when we were unsure of the way. That way, I could quickly check to make sure we weren\u2019t cycling up the wrong mountain pass. But otherwise, I prefer not to be dependent on a screen while on the road. <\/p>\n\n

Connecting 3 national cycling routes in Switzerland<\/h2>\n\n

The route described in the booklet consisted of three Swiss national cycling routes, which were linked together to form a large loop running largely along Switzerland\u2019s external borders: the Rhine Route, the Rh\u00f4ne Route, and the Jura Route. Along the way, we also passed through Germany, Austria<\/a>, Liechtenstein<\/a>, and France<\/a>, and skirted Italy<\/a>. Just like the LAW cycling routes in the Netherlands, these Swiss routes were clearly marked throughout the countryside. So in practice, we mainly followed these Swiss route signs; I kept track of our daily progress on the maps attached to the handlebars, and occasionally checked the GPS to see whether we should turn left or right at an unclear junction. <\/p>\n\n

We had given ourselves four weeks for this route. In the end, we cycled for three weeks, covering about 50 kilometers a day, and on our rest days we still had plenty of time to explore our destination or just relax with a book. So we had seven \u201crest days,\u201d and as we neared the end, we took more and more of them\u2014which worked out well. I noticed that I was getting more and more into the travel mindset, and it was also nice in the Jura to have a rest day after every day of cycling uphill. The guidebook also recommended this route\u2014clockwise\u2014so that by the time you reach the Rhine and Rh\u00f4ne, you\u2019ll be well-trained enough to tackle the Jura. <\/p>\n\n

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Switzerland: Starting Point for Cycling in Basel<\/h2>\n\n

We started and ended in Basel, but you can start anywhere along this loop, or even switch to a different national route along the way. So we first followed the Rhine Route, which was fairly flat for a long time and wound back and forth along the German-Swiss border, passing through old towns such as Schaffhausen, Stein am Rhein, and Konstanz. After that, you ride along the shores of Lake Constance, a huge lake in the upper reaches of the Rhine. <\/p>\n\n

Cycling in Switzerland: From Lake Constance to the Alps and Lake Geneva<\/h2>\n\n

After Lake Constance, you\u2019ll see the Alps looming in the distance, and once you pass Liechtenstein, the real climb begins. Eventually, you\u2019ll climb a high pass at 2,000 meters, the Oberalp Pass. Then you\u2019ll hurtle downhill and immediately start climbing again toward the Furka Pass, which is nearly 2,500 meters high. There, next to the Rh\u00f4ne Glacier, the Rh\u00f4ne Route begins. First, a steep descent with many hairpin turns and stunning views, followed by days of gradual descent through the Rh\u00f4ne Valley, past towns like Brig, Sion, and Martigny, and then on to thesecond<\/sup> major lake along the way, Lake Geneva, also known as Lac L\u00e9man. <\/p>\n\n

Cycling on Steep Hills in the Jura<\/h2>\n\n

Montreux and Lausanne lie along the shores of that lake, and somewhere before Geneva, you suddenly turn right and head back uphill toward the Jura. Strangely enough, the Jura was much harder to cycle through than the Alps, because there are constant steep climbs of a few hundred meters, rather than one big pass that you can spend a week mentally and physically preparing for. <\/p>\n\n

Overnight Stays on a Cycling Tour of Switzerland<\/h2>\n\n

We camped almost everywhere. I really liked the Swiss campgrounds; there are plenty of them, and they\u2019re comfortable and usually in beautiful locations. At the very first campground near Rheinfelden, we saw lots of other cyclists and got some tips; one important one was to always wear a bike helmet, which I wasn\u2019t really used to doing myself. <\/p>\n\n

But you\u2019re constantly going up and down at varying speeds, and although the route was mostly on bike paths or quiet country roads, you\u2019d sometimes find yourself on a stretch of road with fast-moving traffic out of the blue; all in all, it was much safer with a helmet. A few times we didn\u2019t camp but stayed in other accommodations instead. <\/p>\n\n

Around the mountain passes, we were actually a bit worried about the thunderstorms that occur almost daily there in the summer, so we booked a hostel in Disentis (before the Oberalp Pass) and in Hospental (between the two passes). And in the final stretch of the Jura, there were almost no campgrounds left, so we found an ecolodge in St. Ursanne and a hotel in Kleinlutzel. <\/p>\n\n

Cycling in Switzerland is both a workout and a way to relax<\/h2>\n\n

When going on a bike trip, it\u2019s always a bit of a question how challenging it will be\u2014or whether it will still feel like a vacation. Of course, that depends a lot on factors like your own fitness level and the weather along the way. But you can also influence it yourself by choosing the right mix of route, duration, and pace. I know there are cyclists who ride 100 to 200 km a day and enjoy it. Personally, I like to read one or two books a week in addition to cycling and have time to explore places along the way. <\/p>\n\n

What\u2019s really great about this route is that you travel all across Switzerland and see so many different landscapes and historic towns. And that you spend a long time in the German-speaking region at first and then move into the French-speaking region later on. And because it\u2019s a loop, you really feel like you\u2019ve accomplished something wonderful. And, as the subtitle of our route guide said, you\u2019ll take a very scenic\u2014and at times rugged\u2014journey along rivers and through mountains. <\/p>\n\n

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TIPS<\/strong> for Cycling in Switzerland<\/h2>\n\n\n\n