Touring - Camping (and cycling) in Switzerland

Has anyone here done any camping in Switzerland ... especially near Geneva? What about cycling?

I live in Switzerland and have cycled four of the nine national routes (http://www.cycling-in-switzerland.ch/). I've camped on a few occasions here, but never while on a cycling tour. When cycling I opt for the Schlaf im Stroh (http://www.abenteuer-stroh.ch/en/) accommodations that have, with one exception, always been exceptional. It costs about CHF 25.- a night and includes breakfast.

Unfortunately, I can't tell you anything about the Geneva area. I live on the other side.

We rode from France to Interlaken (one of my favorite places) and cycled to Munich.
Cycling in Switzerland is awesome, make sure to get their national cycling map. There are several routes to choose from.
The bicycle routes sometimes follow a very loose gravel, %15 hills. Low, low gear. Several times we were riding so slow that my computer did not register, it turned itself off! (It stops at 3,7 km/hour).
There are not a lot of campsites and the Swiss do not like free campers. If you want to free camp, be ready to get in some serios stealth mode (no light at night, away from houses and roads etc).
The countryside is great, try to get away from the cities as much as you can.
Tailwinds,
G.

*** Lost In Switzerland *** (http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/1390) Nancy and I spent the better part of a month touring around the Swiss Alps with no reservations. We camped a few times. There are 360 images in our journal, mostly taken from the road.

I'll stress what gizem310 has hit upon; there are some sections of each national bike route that you'd be best off having wide tires for and very low gearing. For instance, we found ourselves climbing an unpaved (and rocky) forested road that maintained 10% grade. We also came across grades of up to 20% on another paved road on one of the cycling routes.

We haven't been over to Geneva and are saving that for our next tour of this wonderful country. Budget a little extra for your elevated intake of pastries. :beer:

Gravel roads are out for me ... I would need paved. What I'm sort of thinking of doing is taking a train from Paris to Geneva and going from there.

I did the same sort of ride. Although I did not start in Paris, I did go from Paris pretty much straight east to Switzerland and then in Zurich headed south to the Milan area through Lugano and the Italian Lake district.

I had camping stuff, but found no where to camp, so pretty much stayed in cheap hostels. This is what I would recommend, it is not like the US where here there is plenty of open space to just get out of the way a pitch a tent. It would be like trying to camp in the suburbs of a major city...

I think I once camped near the French shore of Lake Geneva very close to Geneva. I've camped in some other parts of Switzerland, particularly the Bernese Oberland in central Switzerland. High-quality campgrounds, not surprisingly. I stayed in more hostels than campgrounds in Switzerland, however.

Overall, I really enjoyed biking in Switzerland, including biking up some of the passes. One little-known canton which I liked a lot was Appenzell. The bucolic landscape there is just gorgeous. For passes, I especially like Graubunden canton in eastern Switzerland. One of my favorite rides anywhere is going up the Grosse Scheidegg from Grindelwald. You climb just across from the north face of the Eiger. The road and scenery are superb, and it's not too difficult.

What I'm sort of thinking of doing is taking a train from Paris to Geneva and going from there.
If you know when you're going to travel, you can buy your ticket online at www.sncf.com and save yourself a lot of money if you buy it sufficiently in advance. You can print out the ticket yourself. It works the way plane tickets tend to work these days, i.e. non-refundable, non-changeable. Also, most trains between the 2 cities are the high-speed TGV and I don't know whether it's a TGV which takes non-folding bikes. The SNCF website should have that information, however. BTW, most people (including myself) find Geneva to be a pretty dull place. Alternatively, you could take an SNCF train to a place like Pontarlier in the Jura mountains in eastern France, very close to the Swiss border. I did that once myself, and the Jura is a pretty region to bike through. Or, take a train to Alsace in NE France and enjoy some nice biking there while heading south to the Swiss border. You should be able to get a cheap ticket in advance online for non-TGV destinations, too. The slower (but still pretty fast) trains in France are more likely to be bike-friendly. Note, TGV service to Alsace began recently, so there are probably fewer regular trains from Paris running now, but there will still be some.

If you know when you're going to travel, you can buy your ticket online at www.sncf.com and save yourself a lot of money if you buy it sufficiently in advance. You can print out the ticket yourself. It works the way plane tickets tend to work these days, i.e. non-refundable, non-changeable. Also, most trains between the 2 cities are the high-speed TGV and I don't know whether it's a TGV which takes non-folding bikes. The SNCF website should have that information, however. BTW, most people (including myself) find Geneva to be a pretty dull place. Alternatively, you could take an SNCF train to a place like Pontarlier in the Jura mountains in eastern France, very close to the Swiss border. I did that once myself, and the Jura is a pretty region to bike through. Or, take a train to Alsace in NE France and enjoy some nice biking there while heading south to the Swiss border. You should be able to get a cheap ticket in advance online for non-TGV destinations, too. The slower (but still pretty fast) trains in France are more likely to be bike-friendly. Note, TGV service to Alsace began recently, so there are probably fewer regular trains from Paris running now, but there will still be some.

This kind of made me smile. :)

Before I went to France 4 years ago, I booked a spot on a train through SNCF from Boulogne to Paris. My plan had been to take a train from Chatham to Dover, catch the ferry across, cycle to Boulogne, and then catch the train to Paris from there.

As it happened, the train out of Chatham wasn't running, and I ended up cycling much more in England than I had planned, and got to Dover quite a later than planned, and once in Calais, I had to catch the train from there ... I had no time to cycle to Boulogne. So I couldn't use that non-refundable, non-changeable ticket and therefore I lost money on it.

Interestingly, the ticket I ended up buying in Calais, was the same price as the one I bought in advance.

The TGV does take bicycles on a few of their trains. That's a new thing for them because when I was there in 2003 I don't believe they did. However, you can't count on it yet. I suspect it would only be non-peak hours, and only certain trains or stations. However the slower trains do take bicycles. I had no trouble getting my bicycle on that train from Calais to Paris, and then later had no trouble getting my bicycle on a train from Paris to Caen. I think I'd prefer the slower trains anyway ... those fast ones alarmed me!!

This time the plan is to land in London and casually make our way to Dover and then cross to Dunkirk. From Dunkirk we'll casually make our way to Paris via some parts of Belgium and maybe with a dip into the Netherlands.

We're going to Paris to ride the Paris-Brest-Paris, and then after the PBP we'd like to rest and also see some more of Europe. I've been fascinated with Switzerland for years ... one of my great uncles is Swiss, and I love the mountains. I've always wanted to see the Alps.

So if there is anywhere in the Alps that is really nice (scenic, etc.), yet relatively inexpensive (hostels, camping) ... any suggestions?? :)

So if there is anywhere in the Alps that is really nice (scenic, etc.), yet relatively inexpensive (hostels, camping) ... any suggestions?? :)

Make sure you ride to Lauterbrunnen and stay at Camping Jungfrau (photo of entrance in my journal) for at least a couple of days. You'll know what to do when you get there.

There's lots of camping in Switzerland, it's just hard knowing where it is. The last page of my journal shows a couple of maps and a book on Camping in Switzerland. Buy that book once you get there. It's very helpful and worth it's cost and weight.

Kandersteg is a great place off the beaten path.

Overall, I really enjoyed biking in Switzerland, including biking up some of the passes. One little-known canton which I liked a lot was Appenzell. The bucolic landscape there is just gorgeous.

My backyard. :) I'm heading that way this weekend with my mountain bike.


So if there is anywhere in the Alps that is really nice (scenic, etc.), yet relatively inexpensive (hostels, camping) ... any suggestions?? :)

It's all nice, really. :) A fun challenge is the Gotthard Pass, which is part of the #3 North-South Route (http://www.myswitzerland.com/en.cfm/holidayoffers/hike_bike/offer-Activities%5FHikeBike-NationalRoute-20813.html). A few of us rode it late last June and had a blast. The scenery, especially in the southern parts, is absolutely superb. Here are photos (http://photos.schwiiz.org/index.php?folder=/2007/20070622-TourDeSchwiiz/) and a map (http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=http%3A%2F%2Ffiles.schwiiz.org%2F2007-06-TourSchwiiz.kml&ie=UTF8&z=8&om=1), if you're interested.

Try this thread here. http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?o=QzzM&doc_id=1070&v=9R Mate and I did Switzerland a couple of years ago. Give the "Schlaf im Stroh" a go, its great, best nights sleep I have had.

nine national routes (http://www.cycling-in-switzerland.ch/). I've camped on a few occasions here, but never while on a cycling tour. When cycling I opt for the Schlaf im Stroh (http://www.abenteuer-stroh.ch/en/) accommodations that have, with one exception, always been exceptional.

+1 on those suggestions!