Hi everyone!
next August I'm doing a bike trip across Switzerland, and I have two routes to choose. The "A" route goes over Furkapass, which sounds exciting, but I've read good stuff about route "B". My main interest are beautiful views and cool places to camp. Both routes are similar in distance and vertical gain (in total). I would appreciate any insights or recommendations, thanks a lot!
by QuitoMeister
8 Comments
A, for sure. Furka is the prettiest pass of them all, in my humble opinion
I would choose C. There are fewer lakes on this route, but there are much higher mountains, and you still have some nice lakeviews near Luzern.
If you choose “B” route I’ll suggest you a detour: Interlaken-Grindelwald-Meringen.
The Eiger valley (Jungfrau Region) is astonishig, I was there on friday:
https://preview.redd.it/po7t1eqcyy5f1.jpeg?width=1908&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=37c9dd915eea9e1623454eb45fe949daf0b8d55f
PS:Don’t camp at Grindelwald, it’s very touristic.
Honestly I don’t think you can go very wrong with either. I just finished a bike tour from Feldkirch to Lyon and we mostly followed the Lakes route, which was stunning. We had originally planned to diverge slightly and go via Furkapass and Grimselpass to Meiringen to get back on the number 9. Made it to Andermatt and my body just rebelled – we ended up doing the Gotthard as a slightly easier day instead and took a train from Airolo to Meiringen to get back on our planned route. Not sure I would totally recommend the climb up to Andermatt from Flüelen, it was very hot and there is little shade on the actual climb. Some good views but especially in the steeper part it’s a bit cramped between cars, people hiking and cyclists. In retrospect I’m proud of having done it but it was definitely type 2 fun. Maybe try to get started earlier so you can hit the climbs while it’s still cooler if you’re going to do it, especially in August. I thought the gravel bike path along Brienzersee all the way to Interlaken was amazing! I can’t speak to campsites since we credit card toured.
I would go for A. You will have the full mountain experience and there is less heavy traffic.
But I highly recommend avoiding the Axenstrasse along the Urnersee, it is probably the deadliest road fod cyclists in Switzerland. Maybe it is even closed for bicycles due to safety concerns. But there is a bicycle shuttle, or alternatively you could take a course ship (bikes are allowed on board) or take the detour via Klausenpass and Glarus.
Passing through Toun and Lucerne was fairtail
I would follow A until Arth or Brunnen, but then definitely B.
A is pretty boring along the Rhône (certainly not in absolute terms , but compared to B)
I’ve done more or less all of both of these routes. Both have positives and negatives.
However, route A spends A LOT of time in the Rhone and Rhein valleys. These are nice enough, but the route lacks variety.
I’d suggest B — more variety (and lakes!).