Hi fellow cyclists,
I'm planning a cycling trip across Switzerland to Lake Geneva or along the Rhine River and could use some advice. I would love to hear your thoughts on three potential routes in mind. Here are the options:
- Basel – Zurich (First part along the Rhine River)
- Zurich – Geneva (Lakes Route)
- Bern – Innertkirche – Geneva (train from Innertkirche to Grimselpass)
I ride a Cannondale Topstone 105 gravel bike with 43mm tires. While I'm not super fit, I usually ride gravel routes on weekends with my partner, covering around 60km with 600m of ascent at an average speed of 15km/h. We are both in our mid-30s.
We're flexible with the number of days we spend on this trip. We'll be wild camping most of the time.
Here are some specific questions:
- Which route would you recommend for someone with my fitness level?
- Are there any tricky sections or areas to avoid?
- How's the weather likely to be in the first weeks of September?
Thanks!
by sgp_69
3 Comments
You really want to see all of Switzerland , hmm?
Basel to Geneva via Zurich?!?
https://cycle.travel/map/journey/625543 it’s what cycle.travel would suggest.
No, you won’t be wild camping most of the time. It’s strictly prohibited at places, which are easy to reach with bikes.
There are camping sites along the way.
We did your Zurich – Geneva route almost to the dot about 3 weeks ago, up until Interlaken (where we finished at Lauterbrunnen instead and trained back to Zurich) It is a wonderful route, varied and relatively low with traffic.
Although the area Sarnen to Brienz has some incredibly steep bits of 10-15% sustained that seem unavoidable. My girlfriend had little experience with cycling in general, but managed to survive. We did 50-60km per day with 600-1000m altitude and also hit about 15kmu average. All surfaces are gravel at most and ridable for a gravelbike no problem. A lot of it is tarmac (which might be a downside for some).
If you need tips or cool campings along the way, let me know! Wild camping will be a challenge as it is not allowed. The fines are big and the swiss are strict.