Zug has a reputation as a place for banks, crypto start-ups and low taxes, and the first impression, with modern glass blocks beside the lake, does not argue. But keep walking toward the water and the old town appears, tight and clean, with a medieval clock tower, painted gables and arcaded lanes, all looking over the Zugersee toward the Rigi. It is a town of about twenty-three thousand people that tends to be a lot nicer than its press, and it is especially good for a meal between the mountain roads that surround it.
The riding here is the real attraction. East of town, the climb toward the Raten pass, at about 1,070 metres, runs through the green Ägerital, with the little Ägerisee glinting below, and beyond it the road drops to Biberbrugg and the Sihl. The bends are neat and rhythmic, the surface is good and the gradients friendly, a sort of finishing school for corners. Near the Ägerisee, a memorial marks Morgarten, where in 1315 a force of Swiss confederates ambushed an Austrian army, a battle that became part of the founding story of Switzerland. Cows with bells, orchards and little farm shops sit along the way.
Weather in the Pre-Alps is changeable. Mist often hangs on the lake in the morning, and in summer afternoons can bring a sharp thunderstorm, while on a clear autumn day the whole chain of the Alps from Pilatus to the Glarus peaks appears to stand along the horizon. Weekends bring cyclists and other riders, and the road can bunch up behind slow cars, so a weekday evening is more enjoyable.
As a food window, Zug is hard to beat. Lakeside restaurants serve Egli fillets and other freshwater fish, and the town's famous Kirschtorte, a cake of nut meringue layers, buttercream and local cherry brandy, is sold in every bakery. Fuel is easy to find, with several stations in town and in neighbouring Baar, about three and a half kilometres away. Parking for motorcycles is generally easy, though the old town is partly pedestrian. A coffee in the late afternoon, in the sun on the quay, is the best preparation for the ride home.