Day's ride from Lausanne, Switzerland

Lee Frost

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Me and Mrs F are off to France on the GSA for a week in June with my stepson in tow - it'll be his first proper road trip on his first 'big' bike (if you can call a Yam MT07 big!)
I got some great advice on routes in the France section and we're pretty much sorted except for, the plan is to ride to Lausanne in Switzerland a few days into the trip then spend a day riding in Switzerland before exiting back into France (to Colmar).

Any suggestions on a route for that day? I haven't been to Switzerland in over 30 years!
I did think Lausanne-Montreux-Interlaken-Lucerne, taking route 11 from Aigle to Spiez rather than going via Bern, but that's looking at a map and thinking it's probably a more interesting route!

Or we could do something completely different. I just want us to have a nice scenic ride on that day, covering maybe 200 miles, and end up somewhere that's about 200 miles from Colmar for the next day's ride.

Any suggestions will be appreciated :thumb2
 
Unless you're going to sit on motorways all the way (remember, that's £32 per bike for the Swiss ones) then Colmar to Lausanne is a decent day's ride - up the Col de la Schuluct to join the Route des Cretes, over to the Col du Ballon, across the Doubs and into the Swiss Jura past Yvredon Les Bains or Vallorbe. Very nice.

Route 11 between Villars and Thunnersee is the Col de la Croix and the Col du Pillon - I rode them in September and they're perfectly good roads, but not as scenic or perfectly surfaced as the average mind-blowing Swiss pass. Avoiding the motorway at the end of it (unless you've paid your £32) involves a tiresome, time-wasting detour. From Interlaken you can take route 6 around the north side of the lake - pretty views, rather dull riding - and then the toll-free route 4. Avoiding the toll motorway at the other end to get to Lucerne is, again, lots of fiddly roads and villages. Not exactly great riding (though if you were to route back to the north-west on route 9 - the Panoramastrasse - that's an excellent bit of road).

The question really is: why Lausanne – and why Lucerne? It is a bit like visiting England and deciding to base yourself in Bristol, then going for a ride to Sheffield. They're both big, busy cities: lots of traffic, not much in the way of great riding. Being in the valley bottoms, surrounded by Swiss industry and farmland and motorways, means they're not in the heart of the best riding.

The traditional place to head for on a first trip is Meiringen (though I always stop a bit further into the hills, at Innertkirchen). It's a similar distance but a bit slower than going to Lausanne - and you could take the Panoramastrasse to get there. Plus it could be sped up with a bit of tactical Swiss motorway, if you wanted. Once you're there, your next day's ride is one of the absolute best in Europe, the Five-Passes Loop over Susten, Furka, Neufenen, St Gottard, Furka again (it's so good it's not a hardship to ride it twice) then back to base on Grimsel. Ride it fast and there's time to go into Meiringen in the afternoon to visit Reichenbach Falls or (even better) take the cable car to the Alpentower. Get up early, ride it really fast and have a late supper, and you can do it once in each direction...
 
The traditional place to head for on a first trip is Meiringen (though I always stop a bit further into the hills, at Innertkirchen). It's a similar distance but a bit slower than going to Lausanne - and you could take the Panoramastrasse to get there. Plus it could be sped up with a bit of tactical Swiss motorway, if you wanted. Once you're there, your next day's ride is one of the absolute best in Europe, the Five-Passes Loop over Susten, Furka, Neufenen, St Gottard, Furka again (it's so good it's not a hardship to ride it twice) then back to base on Grimsel. Ride it fast and there's time to go into Meiringen in the afternoon to visit Reichenbach Falls or (even better) take the cable car to the Alpentower. Get up early, ride it really fast and have a late supper, and you can do it once in each direction...

I agree with Simon - I covered most of these areas the last two summers and they are all great roads you'll never tire of. 2015 I camped at Interlaken (good for an evening of entertainment) and rode the passes Simon mentions. Andermatt is another lovely place, over the Susten Pass, to base yourself at. It's hard to go wrong in this area. If you want to go further you could take the Oberalp Pass from Andermatt and the Alps are then your oyster, as they say!
 
Thanks Chaps. Simon W - I like the sound of the Panoramastrasse from Meiringen to Colmar. But that still leaves the day ride in Switzerland. I also like the sound of the 5 pass loop which we could do on our full day in Switzerland - any chance of a map link showing the route so I can work out where we'd stay the night before?
Basically, we'd probably ride from Dijon to Lausanne or wherever, stay the night, do the 5 passes loop the next day, stay a night, then do the Panoramastrasse to Colmar the day after that.
 
I have to agree with Simon. Why Lausanne - the Cities & Lakes are so busy in the season, & expensive too.

Mieringen is OK, but plays too much on the Conan-Doyle connection IMHO. We used the Hotel Alpbach, but wouldn't return. Handy for the train though, if the weather lets you down, or you want a change; not far from Interlaken.

Innerkirchen is a good choice, or we have stayed at Oberwald, south of Gletsch (where the Furka & Grimsel meet). It's a quaint old village - we used the Hotel Alpenhof, currently run by a Dutch family. Good food, garage parking for a few bikes if needed. Well placed for the passes & a real bit of old Switzerland.

We usually ride back via the Black Forest, to get a bit of B500 action, starting at Waldshut, then the French Autoroute if time is tight.
 
I also like the sound of the 5 pass loop which we could do on our full day in Switzerland - any chance of a map link showing the route so I can work out where we'd stay the night before?
Basically, we'd probably ride from Dijon to Lausanne or wherever, stay the night, do the 5 passes loop the next day, stay a night, then do the Panoramastrasse to Colmar the day after that.

Similar but different:

http://m.myswitzerland.com/en-gb/motorbike-tour-four-pass-ride.html

Simon W's route

The Five-Passes Loop over Susten, Furka, Neufenen, St Gottard, Furka again


Swiss Toutist Office Route

Innertkirchen – Grimsel – Ulrichen – Nufenen – Airolo – Gotthard – Andermatt – Wassen – Susten – Innertkirchen

Length: 158km
Duration (50km/h): 3h
 
I think you've a basically sound trip sorted.

A few folk have suggested Andermatt as a base if you're going to bash passes for a day or two and I agree.

Get a night's kip locally before bashing back to Colmar (a great place IMHO btw).

Whatever you all do you'll enjoy it and, tho' you'll be fine, so will the lad, the MT-07 is a great deal bigger than my first continental steed:rob:D
 
We took a route fromap just west of the vosges to Andermatt a few years back, cutility through the vosges, then a couple of hours motorway to bypass some clutter and then back to the good roads with Grimsell and Furka getting us to andermatt mid afternoon.
 
OP, as you are finding out, to aim for a six or seven night holiday centered on France (see your other thread) and to then plan to ride some great roads in Switzerland centered on Lausanne, is not the easiest of stunts to pull off. The jaunt is made harder because:

1. You want to ride no more than 200 / 250 miles a day

2. You want to avoid motorways

3. You want to base yourself in the Vosges / Colmar for the French part of your main holiday

4. The main Swiss "Great roads, mate" are not centered on Lausanne. That's just a simple fact of geography. Rather like the old joke, "If you want to go there, I wouldn't be starting from here" or as Simon W (he of the RiDE magazine routes, you've found useful in your parallel thread") said:

The question really is: why Lausanne – and why Lucerne? It is a bit like visiting England and deciding to base yourself in Bristol, then going for a ride to Sheffield. They're both big, busy cities: lots of traffic, not much in the way of great riding. Being in the valley bottoms, surrounded by Swiss industry and farmland and motorways, means they're not in the heart of the best riding.

Each to their own but if I wanted to have a week long (7 night) Home > France > Home holiday, centered on Colmar and the Vosges, I think I'd leave the great roads of Switzerland for another time; not least as they'll certainly still be there next year, the year after that and for all I know in another 100 years.

Alternatively, if I was determined to stay in Lausanne, I'd start to plan my own route for the full days riding rather than ask other people to do it for me. Why? Because I'd get bored with them telling me I'd made a mistake.

John Hermann's bible of Alpine roads and routes to ride (see your other thread) shows only one route - circular in shape - based on Lausanne. That should tell you something. The other routes based on the city that pop up on the internet are all broadly similar to Mr Hermann's; again, that should point to there being only a limited number of decent roads in the region. If you accept that fact, you are then faced with four basic alternatives:

1. Give up the idea of Lausanne as a base

2. Stay with Lausanne but take the fastest way across Switzerland to the decent roads. That involves motorways (it's why the Swiss blasted them through the mountains of rock) and buying a vignette or not.

3. Possibly amending Colmar / Vosges as your base for your French holiday, after all it was only chosen for you by other people

4. Decide on whether you'd really rather go to Switzerland, instead of France

In short, sort yourself out. Can you have a seven night, door-to-door, French / Swiss holiday? Yes. Can you do it avoiding motorways? Yes, but you have to match up what YOU want to ride, where and how, with your plans, not OURS. Why? Because you know yourself way better than we do.

Here's a link to how to track down the very good ADAC map of roads to ride in Switzerland:

http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showth...e-touring-maps-Free-download-PDF-s-into-iBook

It's as good a place to start as anywhere but you'll have to do some work on it yourself, obviously. You have got lots of time, so you'll do it, for sure.

I'd also have a look at the Biker-Betten map, created with help from the very good German 'Alpentourer' magazine:

http://wp.bikerbetten.de

Scroll down to: Karten Download. Each of the map covers will open as a pretty good PDF. Find the Swiss one, it's the last (isn't that always the way): http://wp.bikerbetten.de/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Karte-Zentralschweiz.pdf

I don't speak a word of German but a map is a map, whether it's in Japanese or Hungarian. I found the site and others by just playing around in Google. There are lots of others, like Kurven Koenig, where you can download the PDF's and / or the GPS routes. Yes, they are often 'In foreign' but you really can't break them, so play around. It's free and they can't touch you for it.

Here, by way of example is the Kurven Koenig site:

http://kurvenkoenig.de/motorrad/touren.html

Scroll down just a touch to Schweiz and click on it:

http://kurvenkoenig.de/motorrad/schweiz.html

Now click on the regions and then click on the various regions' 10 or so routes. You'll work it out, I'm sure. You want the GPS routes, too? Easy! Join their forum. I guessed how to do it..... Want to go somewhere else next year? Again, easy. Just bookmark the site(s) and repeat the exercise.

Now the downside... you have to do it yourself. Simon W's RiDE routes are often different as he's taken the trouble to detail complete door-to-door tour suggestions. The other sites sometimes do create complete tours (probably not starting in the UK though, as they are German) so you have to employ some imagination to stitch the suggestions together. That's always the way. If you look at your other thread you can see that bods who live to the west of England often recommend the west of France, whilst bods like me to the east / London favour the eastern side. That's just human nature, I guess. They can all be made to work but it requires effort on someone's part. Yes, we could plot the whole of your seven day French / Swiss holiday for you but it takes time and not one of us knows you enough to do it really properly.... so do it yourself, which is fun, if nothing else.




Me? If I was looking to have a French, seven night holiday and had discovered in my other thread that lots of people had recommended the Vosges (as opposed to the French Ardennes, Normandy, the Morvan or the Loire valley) and I wanted to go to Switzerland for the day, I'd probably ride down to the Rhine Falls and back.... or if that didn't suit me, I'd start to do some work myself on MY holiday.
 
Thanks for all the time and effort you've put into your replies Wapping - I really appreciate it.
I'm not expecting anyone to plan my trip, but not knowing France (or Switzerland), I just thought I'd put the thread up for some suggestions that I could work into the route from guys that have ridden the roads - like your good self.

The purpose of the trip is more about riding than sightseeing or basing ourselves in one area and doing ride outs from there. And I'm not expecting it to be a perfect trip, or to necessarily cover the best roads - more just for the experience of heading over the Channel and spending a week riding the GSA in (hopefully) decent weather. The most Mrs F has done with me on the GSA is a few days down to Devon and back and days out and we have bigger plans for the future, so this trip is a tester if you like!
At the moment we're looking at:

Day 1 - Morning crossing to Calais, ride to Reims
Day 2 - Reims to Dijon
Day 3 - Dijon to somewhere in Switzerland (I suggested Lausanne but that's because I didn't know any better!)
Day 4 - Day riding in Switzerland (maybe the 5 passes loop as it sounds fab
Day 5 - Wherever we overnight in Switzerland to Colmar
Day 6 - Colmar to Verdun
Day 7 - Verdun back to Calais

I'm happy with that itinerary, just need to look at the routes we'll take each day.
Thanks to everyone for their input :thumb2
 
That is a nice and easy plan you have. If you chuck in some motorway on day one you could get to Andermatt area in two days easily and have two days there (or 3 if you did the same coming home or shorten the home leg - we prefer easy out and blast home)

An extra day in the mountains doubles the chances of good weather or gives you two awesome days out instead of one.

We often use Verdun (Two Wheel Moorings up the road a little bit) and Reims as 1st / last night respectively.

Whatever you choose it should be a real good trip.

Grab a copy of "Motorcycle journeys through the Alps and beyond" which will be useful for this trip and many more.
 
Thanks for all the time and effort you've put into your replies Wapping - I really appreciate it.
I'm not expecting anyone to plan my trip, but not knowing France (or Switzerland), I just thought I'd put the thread up for some suggestions that I could work into the route from guys that have ridden the roads - like your good self.

The purpose of the trip is more about riding than sightseeing or basing ourselves in one area and doing ride outs from there. And I'm not expecting it to be a perfect trip, or to necessarily cover the best roads - more just for the experience of heading over the Channel and spending a week riding the GSA in (hopefully) decent weather. The most Mrs F has done with me on the GSA is a few days down to Devon and back and days out and we have bigger plans for the future, so this trip is a tester if you like!
At the moment we're looking at:

Day 1 - Morning crossing to Calais, ride to Reims
Day 2 - Reims to Dijon
Day 3 - Dijon to somewhere in Switzerland (I suggested Lausanne but that's because I didn't know any better!)
Day 4 - Day riding in Switzerland (maybe the 5 passes loop as it sounds fab
Day 5 - Wherever we overnight in Switzerland to Colmar
Day 6 - Colmar to Verdun
Day 7 - Verdun back to Calais

I'm happy with that itinerary, just need to look at the routes we'll take each day.
Thanks to everyone for their input :thumb2
looks good, for the Swiss part anywhere between Thun and Meirengen would be ideal for the passes, whilst cutting the time you need to get out of the mountains on the day you leave, Lausanne is a fair ride away. 2 days is worth working into the schedule as Rasher says, it gives you options if the weather is poor on your first day (doesn't help on the second if its still bad but then you have the chance to add an extra day elsewhere on your return)
personally I would head to the left of Colmar on the way back and look at riding through the Vosges rather than around, I am partial to this place but there are plenty of others, and if you have an extra day, you can spend it riding some of the many roads around the Vosges.
the main thing is to have fun and keep the pillion happy ;) don't be afraid to use motorways to cut your time in the seat down, and make sure the pillion has lots of music!
 
Just Like Lee Im looking a doing a similar route albeit with more time this summer. The quality and the time members put into guiding newbies using their knowlege is simply brilliant. Worth £12.00 subscription all day long
 
Thanks Chaps. Simon W - I like the sound of the Panoramastrasse from Meiringen to Colmar. But that still leaves the day ride in Switzerland. I also like the sound of the 5 pass loop which we could do on our full day in Switzerland - any chance of a map link showing the route so I can work out where we'd stay the night before?
Basically, we'd probably ride from Dijon to Lausanne or wherever, stay the night, do the 5 passes loop the next day, stay a night, then do the Panoramastrasse to Colmar the day after that.

The Google map links won't work now, because Furka is shut (and I suspect most of the others are too - certainly Neufenen).

I always stay in the Hotel Hof & Post in Innertkirchen, on the corner of Grimsel and Susten passes.

You can download a GPX file of the route - along with a full tour to get there from the UK, including using the Panoramastrasse - from www.ride.co.uk/europe2 by scrolling down to the section on Switzerland.
 


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