CH-LI-AT-DE Bicycle Roundtrip

We did a one week bicycle roundtrip in September 2020 starting and ending in Zurich, CH. On our way, we visited Liechtenstein, Austria and Germany.

Overview:
Total Distance: 538.4 km
Ascent: 2,752 m

From my previous trips around Switzerland, you will recognize quickly that I spend most of my time hiking in the mountains. So the bicycle was a great alternative to hiking this time and I really enjoyed it. What makes it so attractive is the possibility to see more in a shorter time period, but you still can connect to local towns and people. The downside is that you are normally not alone on the cycle trails (e.g. other bikes, cars etc.)

Again, we made use of the official veloland trails while we were in Switzerland. In Germany, we followed the Bodenseeradweg. All in all, I would say that 80% of the trail was on officially dedicated bicycle trails and only 20% we needed to share with cars.

The only real altitude challenge came up during the ascent to St. Gallen – the rest was quite easy to handle and definitively made for starters like myself. I’m still getting used to the bicycle and find it quite impressive how more advanced bikers can cover thousands of altitude meters in one day.

For Switzerland, the government sponsored a new app for Android/iOS called “Swisstopo” which I can strongly recommend even for cycling. It allows you to access the official Swiss Topo Maps free of charge. The app is quite new and still limited with its features, but for basic navigation it works great.

Pictures