Lucerne day out · Rorenhaab

213 km from Lucerne

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Why this ride

213 km from Luzern to Luzern, about 3 h 40 of riding. On the way it passes Riesi, Vorder Au, Winkel and Rorenhaab. The highest point is about 1,150 m.

Roadbook

1. Lucerne start

   Lucerne is where central Switzerland likes to show off. The town sits at the end of its lake, with the Reuss river sliding out through the middle, old houses with painted gables along the quay, and mountains on every side, Pilatus to the south and the Rigi to the east. The best-known sight is the Kapellbrücke, the Chapel Bridge, a covered wooden footbridge from the fourteenth century with a stone water tower beside it, and painted panels under the roof. A fire in 1993 burned much of it, and the bridge was rebuilt, so the paintings you see are mostly reconstructions, but the shape is old. Nearby the Lion Monument, carved into a sandstone cliff in 1821, commemorates Swiss guards who died in Paris in 1792, and Mark Twain called it the saddest piece of stone in the world.

   For a motorcyclist, Lucerne is both a hub and a reward. From here the roads fan out toward the Brünig, the Susten, the Furka, the Grimsel and the Gotthard, and in the other direction toward the Entlebuch and the Emmental. The town itself is not for riding, with a dense one-way system, many bus lanes and fines that are issued without sympathy, so park in one of the garages and walk. Speed limits are strictly enforced across Switzerland, and cameras are plentiful.

   The best time is late spring or early autumn, when the light is soft and tour buses are fewer. In July and August the lakefront is full and the Alpine passes are open, with the highest ones usually closed from late autumn into early summer. Lake fog in winter can be thick, though the mountains above are often sunny. The air smells of water and woodsmoke when you arrive by the lake road in the evening.

   At a little over four hundred metres above sea level, the town has everything, with fuel stations on every approach, workshops, hotels and restaurants. Try a Luzerner Chügelipastete, the local pastry filled with veal and mushrooms, or just a coffee at the lakeside. Prices are high, and a vignette is needed on motorways, though you will rarely use them in the mountains. Walk the old town in the evening, cross both bridges, and leave the bike for a ferry ride across the lake.

2. Riesi sight

   Riesi is a stretch of shoreline at the northern end of the Hallwilersee, a long, narrow lake in the Aargau Seetal, between the villages of Seengen and Boniswil. It is a peaceful place of reeds, meadows and walking paths, and below the water and in the marshy ground lie the remains of prehistoric pile-dwelling settlements, part of the World Heritage list of such sites around the Alps.

   The Hallwilersee is one of the cleaner and calmer lakes in the Swiss Mittelland, with a ring of villages, orchards and wooded hills around it. At its northern end, just outside Seengen, stands Schloss Hallwyl, one of the most beautiful moated castles in Switzerland, built on two islands in the stream that flows out of the lake. It was the seat of the Hallwyl family for centuries, and today it is a museum that brings their history to life, from medieval knights to nineteenth-century aristocrats.

   The riding here is gentle and scenic. Roads run around both sides of the lake and into the surrounding hills, with good surfaces and moderate traffic. The routes towards the Lindenberg ridge, between the Seetal and the Freiamt, offer some nice curves and views of the Alps on clear days. This is farming country, so expect tractors, cyclists and the occasional herd of cows. Speed limits are strictly enforced, and villages often have traffic calming measures.

   The lake is a nature reserve in parts, with reed beds that shelter birds such as great crested grebes, reed warblers and kingfishers. In summer, the water is warm enough for swimming, and there are several public bathing areas around the lake. Passenger boats cross between the villages in summer, a lazy way to see the shore from the water.

   Seengen, about a kilometre away, is the nearest village with basic services, including a petrol station and restaurants. Villmergen, about five kilometres away, is the nearest town with more facilities. Lenzburg, with its imposing castle on a hill, is also nearby and worth a visit. Try a slice of Aargauer Rüeblitorte, a moist carrot cake that is a regional specialty, or local fish from the lake.

3. Vorder Au sight

   The Au peninsula pokes out into Lake Zurich like a green thumb, and at its tip, Vorder Au, the shallow water hides traces of villages built on piles thousands of years ago. It is one of the Swiss sites in the UNESCO listing of prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps, though as with most of them, the archaeology lies under the lake bed and is protected rather than displayed. What you see is a wooded little hill with a castle-like house, vineyards running down to the water, reed beds and a small harbour.

   The peninsula belongs to Wädenswil, a lively town on the left bank of the lake known for its research institutes in agriculture, horticulture and wine, and for the views across to the Pfannenstiel hills on the other side. A ferry crosses the lake between Horgen and Meilen just to the north, which is a handy way to switch shores without sitting in traffic around the city.

   The lake road along the left bank is a typical Swiss lakeshore run: busy, often slow, lined with villages, traffic lights and speed cameras. It is pleasant for the views but not for spirited riding. Head uphill instead, onto the Zimmerberg and toward the Hirzel or the Höhronen, and the roads open out into rolling farmland with forest patches, good tarmac and lovely views over the lake and to the Alps on clear days. Weekend afternoons bring plenty of cyclists and motorbikes, so a quiet morning is better.

   Practical needs are easy. Wädenswil, about three kilometres away, has fuel, shops and plenty of cafés, and Au has a railway station and small services of its own. The area is known for its fruit and wine, and a glass of local white or a slice of cake from a lakeside café is a fine reward after a ride.

   The peninsula is lovely to walk on a summer evening, when the light turns gold, swans drift along the shore and the Alps glow at the end of the lake. Spring brings fruit blossom, autumn the colour of the vines. Park, walk to the point and look out over the water, imagining those Neolithic villages perched on their stilts where the sailing boats now drift by.

4. Winkel sight

   Under the calm surface of Lake Zurich, just off the shore at Erlenbach, lie the remains of villages that people built here more than five thousand years ago. The site called Winkel is one of the Prehistoric Pile Dwellings around the Alps, a UNESCO site of more than a hundred settlements, and here, as elsewhere on the lake, archaeologists diving in the shallow water have found wooden piles, pottery, tools and food remains preserved in the mud. There is nothing to see from the shore, only the water and the reeds, but it is fascinating to think that the people who farmed and fished here in the Neolithic chose the same sunny slope that, thousands of years later, would become known as the Gold Coast.

   The eastern shore of Lake Zurich, between Zurich and Rapperswil, gets its nickname from the evening sun that shines on it and, many would say, from the wealth of those who live there. Villages like Küsnacht, Erlenbach, Herrliberg and Meilen climb from the lake up the slopes of the Pfannenstiel, with vineyards, orchards and villas, and the views across the water to the Albis and the Alps on a clear day are wonderful. In summer, the lake is warm enough for swimming, and there are public bathing places along the shore.

   The Seestrasse along the lake is the obvious route, but it is busy, with low speed limits, many traffic lights and villages one after another, so it is better suited to a relaxed ride than a sporty one. The real fun is up the hill. The roads that climb from the lake up to the Pfannenstiel ridge and the Forch, through vineyards, orchards and woods, offer bends, views and much less traffic, and from the ridge you can continue towards the Zürcher Oberland and the hills of the Tösstal. Swiss traffic rules are strictly enforced, with speed cameras everywhere and very high fines, so keep an eye on the speed. A vignette is required for motorways.

   Erlenbach has a few cafés and shops, and Herrliberg and Küsnacht have fuel. There are restaurants with lake views along the shore, and up on the Pfannenstiel, inns with terraces serve hearty Swiss food, such as rösti and sausages. A boat trip on the lake, with the bike parked for an afternoon, is a pleasant way to enjoy the view from the water.

5. Rorenhaab turn

   The winter of 1853 to 1854 was so dry that the water in Lake Zurich fell to an unusually low level, and at Obermeilen, on the eastern shore, villagers extending their land into the lake found rows of wooden piles sticking out of the mud, along with pottery, bone tools and stone axes. The antiquarian Ferdinand Keller studied the finds and concluded that they came from prehistoric villages built on platforms over the water, and his reports launched the pile dwelling craze that swept through Europe in the nineteenth century. Rorenhaab, at Obermeilen, is that very site, and it is part of the pile dwellings around the Alps listing inscribed by UNESCO in 2011.

   Today the shore here is lined with gardens, villas and boat houses, and it takes imagination to picture the Neolithic village that once stood on the water. Meilen is one of the villages of the so-called Gold Coast, the sunny eastern shore of Lake Zurich, which gets the afternoon and evening sun and has long been a favourite place for wealthy Zurich families to live. Vineyards climb the slopes behind the villages, and the Pfannenstiel, a wooded ridge above, offers walking trails and views over the lake to the Alps.

   The Seestrasse, the lakeside road from Zurich to Rapperswil, runs through Meilen, and it is busy, with traffic lights, speed limits and plenty of cars. The roads up into the hills behind, through vineyards and villages towards the Pfannenstiel and the Zurich Oberland, are quieter and more interesting, with curves and views over the lake. A car ferry links Meilen with Horgen on the opposite shore, a handy shortcut and a pleasant break. Swiss speed limits are strictly enforced.

   Meilen has fuel and a range of shops, and Männedorf, three kilometres along the shore, has more. In summer, the public lake baths along this coast, the Seebäder, are one of the great pleasures of Zurich life, with wooden decks and clean, cool water. The vineyards above Meilen produce Räuschling and Pinot Noir, and a glass on a terrace in the evening sun is the reward the Gold Coast is named for. The car ferry to Horgen runs frequently and turns a crossing of the lake into a ten-minute break with a view of the Alps.

6. back through Winkel stop

   back through Winkel comes up 133 km in.

7. back through Vorder Au stop
8. back through Riesi stop

   back through Riesi, late in the day.

9. Lucerne finish

   The route ends here after 213 km.

Where this sits

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