hello all!
i read through the informative posts about biking in switzerland (many thanks to chris_w!)
i visited a few years ago while backpacking in europe and fell in love with this beautiful country. now i'm returning to tackle the landscape on 2 wheels instead of 2 feet!

i'll be in the country from aug 24 until sept 3; i'll be renting a bike for the entire time and travelling solo. i don't have much (or any) experience with distance biking, and i don't have my route planned out yet. if anybody is interested in helping me out and keeping me company during these dates, please let me know!

i expect to stay in hostels and pensions; i could bring a tent with me, but from what i have read, it seems that camping in the wild is discouraged. plus i'd want to travel as light as possible.

i've been biking in and around philadelphia for a few years, mostly dodging cabs and inhaling fumes, but also exploring some wonderful state parks. i'll be spending the month of august in amsterdam, getting some more experience with long-distance biking in a flat terrain. i've also been marathon training, so i'd say i'm in pretty good shape. i'd like to tackle some really difficult climbs for the awesome panoramic views and downhill speedways, but i'll work up to that over the course of the 10 days.

i just wanted to post this up before it got too late; if anybody is planning a tour between aug 24 and sept 3, and you don't mind having a tag-along, please let me know!

i can't wait!
-Brian

It might help if you gave an outline of the regions that you might ride through. Wild camping is not as easy in Switzerland as in other countries, but it is certainly possible. However, not taking the camping gear makes the load much smaller and lighter.

I won't be around at that time, but if you need any advice as to which roads to use in SW Switzerland, then let me know.

Have fun!

hello!
I want to check in again. I'm doing the trip solo and don't have much experience but i'm really excited about it! So please, if you have a minute, let me know what you think of my itinerary: alternate routes, what to eliminate, is this too much or too little, etc. any advice would be supremely helpful.

i'm flying into basel and out from zurich. i have a large backpack that i want to put into storage (for hiking in turkey afterwards) so i can pick it up in zurich on the way out.

I will mostly stick to the highway #9 lakes route in reverse. I'm most concerned about safety and getting lost, so i'm sticking to main roads as much as possible. i would the challenge of alpine climbing somewhere along the way, but not at the expense of time or safety. i want to visit lichteinstein, but i saved that til the end in case of emergency, delays, etc.

my plan is as follows:
Aug 24: arrive basel, pick up last-minute supplies, maps.
Aug 25: train to Zurich, fly to Geneva
Aug 26: bike Geneva to Lausanne
Aug 27: bike Lausanne to Montreux to Bulle
Aug 28: bike Bulle to Spiez (skip Gstaad)
Aug 29: rest, go to interlaken and go hang-gliding
Aug 30: bike Interlaken to Sarnen
Aug 31: bike Sarnen to Zug
Sept 1: train from Zug to Valduz with bike, explore city
Sept 2: train from Valduz back to Zurich, return bike
Sept 3: flight departs 14:30

if anybody is around and wants to join, i would love to have a companion! I'll be mostly staying in cheap hostels or couchsurfing.
any other advice for additional resources on bike touring are appreciated. i'm nervous! but really excited!
ok, time is money at the internet cafe. thanks for reading!

There is a great climb to Malbun ski station from Vaduz. Check the bike routes post sticky, I think I provided a description. Looking at your route, there are tons of options for throwing a mountain climb. And really there is not much to do in Vaduz for more than 2 hours. And riding in Liechestein is teh awesome. Smoothest roads in the world better than Switzerland even.

What do you mean by safety? And frankly it is pretty hard to get lost in CH. there are bike route signs everywhere. I had to re-develop a knack for reading cue sheets when I back to NY.

I would suggest that you ride out of Zurich on the 24. or 25., it would free up one day.

A very nice ride could be:
Zurich to Rapperswil, In Rapperswil you would take the 9 til it crosses the 4 and then take the 4 as far east as Appenzell.

From Appenzell you go to Oberriet where you will find the 35, which takes you through a tiny bit of Austria and "WHOLE" Lichtenstein. Once in Sargans you take the 9 along the Walensee to Ziegelbrücke.

From Ziegelbrücke you take the 4 over the Klausenpass and either take the Ferry across the Vierwaldstättersee or you can ride around it, it is extremely beautiful (Luzern is also one of the nicest cities in CH). From Stanstad you can either take the 9 or the 4 all the way to where the people speak french.

The best part about Switzerland is that it is never far to the next train station, which means that less planning is necessary, you can just ride till the time is up and then jump on a train to Zürich.

good resources are:
www.map.search.ch (here you can look up the places I mentioned)
www.veloland.ch (All the marked bicycle routes)

thanks for the replies!
my biggest problem right now is anticipating how much distance i can cover in a day. i'm in good shape and biking through holland right now, so i anticipate about 80km/day +/-, depending on elevation.

my second biggest problem is making sure i take the fun routes, not just the highways. there's so much information that it's hard to decide. but that's one of those "good problems"!

as for safety, just that i'll be solo and i don't speak much german or french (just a few key phrases) and i don't want to be riding at night. i also don't want to waste more money than necessary on pensions or trains.

so again thanks to all for donating your time and expertise, i'll keep you updated!

Looking forward to hearing how you are getting on. Hope the weather is kind to you. Have a good ride.

I debuted into this sport earlier this season with a trip much like yours...Given your description I am pretty sure you can manage 80-100 kms. You will have decent body aches, and enjoy hot baths to soothe them, though .

I would suggest cycling in the first half of the day, until late afternoon, check in into the hostels, and then relax by taking a stroll in the evenings. That way you can enjoy the cities along the way more.

As has been said before, the road markings and train connectivity are excellent, so you will be quite safe, and locals do guide you despite the language barrier.

Berne-Zurich was the only leg I felt very scared and unsafe, but the route you have chosen seems quite right for biking. Just remember that the blue boards are usually the shortest and best routes. The green ones are freeways, and out of bounds for bikes. The red marked bike routes frequently meander too much, with some barely rideable trails, avoid them.

Wish you a safe and fun trip, and post an update once you are done

hello all,
so far so good! i was stupid and did not brrring a tent, only a sleeping bag. but the weather has been kind and i havev stayed in two hostels, and two camps.

i am in brieny right now, about to rest for a day in interlaken and do a yipline or hang-glide. afterwardsd i am taking a shortcut to montreux. i tried to climb the 12% grade to bruningspass and i failed, just walked the wole thing, bbut the ride down was magnificent! so i wil walkthe bike up 750 meters and ride down. wheeee!!!

i need to camp in gstaad and then again hopefully vevey or as close as i can get. this has been quite a ride. good lulck fto all!!
-brian

using a swiss kezboard are we?

The ride on the 9 between Interlaken and Gstaad is magnificent, you are in for a treat!

haha!
my favorite swiss keyboard words so far:
reallz
zaz


funny that the previous poster should mention the meandering red bike signs... the trip from brienz to interlaken should have been simple and straightforward along the lake, but i followed the signs *up the mountain* on my supposed day of rest. sigh. i ended up losing a sandal (therefore both of my sandals) and my headphones got caught in the wheels and broke. it was the worst day i had had so far, but i stopped to eat some blackberries and realized that those were the cheapest things i had on me. so i continued on to interlaken (wisely taking the bike trail at the entrance to interlaken ost, and not following the highway) and i just got back from hang-gliding. now i'm drunk on apple cider and writing mass emails. interlaken is even worse than people make it out to be, but watching paragliders descend from the mountains while eating supermarket rotisserie chicken (the first meat i've had in over a week) makes it tolerable.

i'd like to camp more, but for lack of rain-proof gear, i might just by a bunch of trash bags :P

happy trails everyone!

Soundy like zou are having fun to me!

Zea, the bike path not alwazs take the shortest waz possible, but thez keep zou out of traffic and usuallz I find it more appealing to go through a forrest or up an extra hill, than having cars whooshing past me.
Makes one appreciate life more though..