APR-OCT Cycle the Valleys of the Swiss Alps
🔸 Cycle through valleys and along lakes in the Swiss Alps
🔸 Enjoy a free day in the adrenaline capital of Europe: Interlaken
🔸 Indulge in spa hotels in Swiss villages
🔸 Taste Swiss chocolate & cheese around every corner
🔸 Hike light with overnight luggage transfers throughout trip
🔸 Experience picnic lunches on Swiss mountain sides EVERY DAY
🔸 Two words: MORE COWBELL!
- Information
- Daily Itinerary
- Traveler Info
- Gallery
- Similar Tours
What's included
- Accommodations as outlined in itinerary
- Daily Luggage transport (1x luggage per person, max. 20kg)
- Ferry across Lake Thun with bike transfer
- Meals as noted on daily itinerary
- Pre-departure information to help you plan and prepare
- Route descriptions and documentation including navigation app and GPS
- SwitzerlandMobility-Plus subscription for one year
- Bike rental
- International or domestic flights and taxes
- Meals not outlined in itinerary
- Optional adventure activities in Interlaken
- Optional train ride Meiringen - Brünigpass not included (approx. CHF 5.- with half-fare card and bike)
- Personal expenses
- Services not specifically stated in the itinerary
- Transfers not outlined in itinerary
- Travel, medical and emergency insurance
- Visas or tourist taxes
- Water bottle (help us save the environment and bring your own reusable bottle or hydration system)
OVERVIEW
Switzerland is a cyclist’s DREAM. From Lake Geneva to Lake Lucerne, we will cycle approximately 150 miles through the breath-taking Swiss Alps, staying at spa hotels, indulging in fondue, and filling up on Swiss chocolate and cheese (and wine!), with a soundtrack of cowbells all along the way. The beauty of Switzerland is so all-consuming, you’ll feel as if you’ve been transported into a living painting.
- Day 1
- Day 2
- Day 3
- Day 4
- Day 5
- Day 6
- Day 7
- Day 8
Arrival in Vevey on Lake Geneva
Welcome to Switzerland! Arrival and transportation on your own to Vevey, a picturesque town on the shores of Lake Geneva, where Charlie Chaplin once lived and is still celebrated. Vevey is known for its WINE and we are staying at a SPA hotel (ahem, you might want to arrive early).
- Accommodation: Astra Hotel or similar
- Meals: n/a
Vevey to Gruyères
After breakfast you will set out on your first day of cycling through the Swiss Alps, starting with a little climb up to a valley boasting gorgeous green meadows, farmland, and of course - cows! Today you're on a mission for chocolate and cheese, as one of your first extra activities is a tour of a local CHOCOLATE factory, before arriving to your destination of Gruyères (yes, exactly like the CHEESE).
- Accommodation: Hôtel de Gruyères or similar
- Meals: B (see Meals in Traveler Info tab)
- Cycling Details: approx. distance 40 – 50 km, 600 – 855 m elevation gain and 500 – 735 m loss
Gruyères to Gstaad
Optional first order of business today: CHEESE. You may start your day with a tour of the Gruyères Cheese factory before heading out on your ride, which will insert you directly into that Postcard Switzerland you dream about. Cows, snow-capped peaks, quiet country lanes, tiny chapels, cable cars, and local traditions. The hardest part of today is actually getting anywhere, because the urge to stop for photos nearly every second is SO STRONG.
- Accommodation: Hotel Alphorn or similar
- Meals: B (see Meals in Traveler Info tab)
- Cycling Details: approx. distance 40 km, 735 m elevation gain and 410 m loss
Gstaad to Lake Thun/Interlaken
Continue your adventure through picture-perfect Switzerland today, flanked by alps and criss-crossed by local train tracks. Today's route takes you on a ferry across the gorgeous Lake Thun as you approach your destination and the adrenaline capital of Europe: Interlaken.
- Accommodation: Hotel Dorint-Essential or similar
- Meals: B (see Meals in Traveler Info tab)
- Cycling Details: approx. distance 55 km, elevation gain 740 m and 1’150 m loss
Day off at Interlaken
We built this day in because Interlaken deserves an extra day! Today is a totally free day, so if you feel like jumping off a cliff with wings, you can! If you feel like taking a cable car up to the Jungfrau for a hike and fondue on top of a mountain, you can! If you feel like hanging out at your adorable spa hotel and people watching right there on the terra firma of beautiful Interlaken town, you can! Or perhaps you want to take your bike for an extra spin. Activities on this day are entirely up to you. Tonight you stay in the same hotel to make it extra easy, so you can go do your thing.
- Accommodation: Hotel Dorint-Essential or similar
- Meals: B (see Meals in Traveler Info tab)
- Cycling Details: none
- Activity ideas: Start here!
Lake Thun/Interlaken to Lake Sarnen
Fighting the urge once again to stop every 10m for photos, you will pack up your picnic lunch and make your way along the idyllic, jaw-dropping blue lakes of the Interlaken area into a valley where Swiss fighter jets fly. An optional train ride (or you can do it by bike!) will take you up the steep Brünigpass to Obwalden: a big valley with scattered villages and more scenic lakes.
- Accommodation: Hotel Bahnhof Giswil or similar
- Meals: B (see Meals in Traveler Info tab)
- Cycling Details: approx. distance 60 km, elevation gain 1‘145m and 1‘200 m loss
Lake Sarnen to Lake Lucerne
Your last full day of cycling is a bit of a shorter distance so that you can have more time in your final destination. Your route will lead you to the beautiful valley of Lake Lucerne, with the town of Lucerne and Pilatus Peak in view. Tonight we recommend a final farewell dinner of FONDUE, because CHEESE.
- Accommodation: Hotel Seeburg or similar
- Meals: B (see Meals in Traveler Info tab)
- Cycling Details: approx. distance 35 km, elevation gain 240 m and 310 m loss
Departure from Lake Lucerne
Breakfast is included at the hotel, and this concludes your gorgeous week in the Swiss Alps.
Departure is on your own.
More about this tour
FLIGHT & TRANSPORTATION
This trip starts in Vevey, Switzerland on Lake Geneva and ends in Lucerne, Switzerland.
Nearby airports include Geneva (airport code GVA) and Zurich (airport code ZRH). You will need to take a train to and from Vevey and Lucerne on either end of the trip.
We are happy to review your potential flight schedule for you to make sure you’re getting the right times, dates, and airports!
BIKE RENTAL
We know that a bike can make or break a bike trip. We offer good-quality, smooth-running, robust touring bikes designed to ensure that you don’t have anything to worry about and that you can ride comfortably everyday. Our bikes are equipped with gel saddles for comfort, removable water-resistant saddlebags (pannier), service kit, air pump and bike lock.
You may choose between an e-bike or a touring bike upon booking. (Bike rental prices vary and therefore are separate from the trip price package).
E-BIKE (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED) $350 for the week
E-bike of the brand Flyer. Limitation of the speed to 25 km/h. Minimum age for this bike is 16 years (or 14 years with a moped license). Pannier bag for the carrier is included in the rental. One spare tube per bike, pump and tool kit are included, as well as one smartphone holder.
Equipment:
- Front and rear mudguards
- Lights and hub dynamo
- Luggage rack
- Chain guard
- Frame lock
- Side stand
Frame sizes:
- XS = 41 cm (body height < 160 cm)
- S = 45 cm (body height 160 - 170 cm)
- M = 50 cm (body height 170 - 180 cm)
- L = 55 cm (body height > 180 cm)
Specs:
- Frame: Aluminum
- Gearshift:
- built 2021: Shimano Nexus 8-speed hub gears
- built 2022: Shimano Nexus 5-speed hub gears
- Brakes: Magura HS22 (hydraulic) rim brakes
- Suspension fork: SR Suntour NEX, 63mm
- Motor: Panasonic 36V/250W mid-engine
- Battery: Panasonic Li-Ion-Mangan 15Ah/36V (540Wh)
- Operating distance: max. 100 km
- Wheel size: 28" (size XS: 26")
- Total weight capacity: max. 149 kg
TOURING BIKE $200 for the week
Touring Bike Country-Bike TdS
Touring bike of the brand Tour de Suisse. Pannier bag for the carrier is included in the rental. A spare tube per bike, pump and tool set are included, as well as a smartphone holder.
Equipment:
- Front and rear mudguards
- Lights and hub dynamo
- Luggage rack
- Chain guard
- Frame lock
- Side stand
Frame sizes:
- S = 44 cm (body height 150 - 172 cm)
- M = 50 cm (body height 172 - 186 cm)
- M = 56 cm (body height 186 - 196 cm)
Specifications:
-
- Frame: Aluminum
- Derailleur gear: Shimano Alivio 3x9-Gang
- Brakes: V-Brake Shimano Alivio
- Wheel size: 26"
Here's our best advice on bike choice if you aren't sure which to get:
- E-bikes take the stress out of the journey, they are very easy to use, we recommend them for everyone.
- Touring bikes are for those who LOVE the grind and are ready to go full beast mode, all day, everyday.
MEALS
LUNCH: 👉[Insert epic picnics on Swiss mountainsides here]. One of our favorite parts of this tour is that lunch is what and where you make it! Each morning before setting out for your ride, we recommend stopping at the local COOP so you can buy whatever you feel like eating that day. We suggest salami, baguette, cheese, chocolate, and an iced tea or juice. This will be your road snacks and picnic lunch every day. We love this because it allows you to sample as much or as little of the local flavors as you'd like.
DINNER: We find that sometimes you want to eat in your hotel and sometimes you don't. Because of this, we can offer a half-board hotel dinner plan (hotel restaurants are just as delicious as others - let us know at time of booking) if you'd like some dinners taken care of, and some on your own.
PHYSICAL FITNESS REQUIREMENT
You will bike somewhere around 150 miles throughout your trip. This is a big deal and will be a huge accomplishment. On top of biking, you will also be eating lots of chocolate and cheese, and all of this takes training!
A proficient level of physical fitness is essential for this trip, even with an e-bike. We recommend training - getting some good bike rides or long hikes and other workouts in beforehand to prepare for this amount of cycling.
It’s also a great idea to practice biking in the shoes you plan to wear, as you will be in them for a majority of the time. It’s worth being in great shape so you can recover quickly and feel your best every day on the trail, and so we can keep the group together with a good pace.
We specifically recommend nuun tablets for electrolyte replacement and hydration during the days, compression socks to wear each evening for improved blood flow and fast recovery, and emergen-C packets to start each day with a boost of energy. These are in addition to physical fitness, they do NOT replace your training. And don't worry, when the miles get you down, just turn your e-assist UP. 😉
PACKING
You will have luggage support every day, so your main luggage (1x per person max 20kg) is transferred to your next hotel while you ride. Each participant will have one pannier to pack day use items and lunch for the ride. Please keep your main baggage to one item per person.
A recommended Packing List will be provided to registered participants. Helmets can be provided if you need one (though we recommend bringing your own) - please request upon booking.
GUIDED V. SELF-GUIDED
This trip can be done with or without a guide. If you feel confident in your navigational skills (maps will be provided), then you don't need a guide -- that is, unless you understand what magic a guide can provide. We've done this trip both self-guided and guided in the past and have a wonderful guide ready to cycle alongside you should you need one. Please request a guide upon booking if that's your choice!
