CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: planning record, not independently verified geometry.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distances and riding times are planning figures. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
A 181 km one-way ride from near Neuchâtel, about 2 h 56 of riding. It goes by way of Bern and Interlaken. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 2,000 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
For about 53 km this is Grand Tour of Switzerland, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it — expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast.
The ride follows Emmental Panorama Road for 71 km.
Check the pass is open before you commit to it.
Neuchâtel looks across its lake from a long, gentle shoreline, with the Jura mountains rising behind and, on a clear day, the Bernese Alps floating above the far side like a distant promise. The town takes its yellowish tint from the local limestone, a warm honey colour in evening light, and its centre is a tidy lattice of old lanes between the castle and the lakefront. The castle and the Collegiate church sit together on a small hill above the old town, and it was from here that the counts, and later the Prussian kings, ruled. Neuchâtel was under the Prussian crown from 1707 until a republican revolution in 1848, a curious detail that explains its odd, independent character.
Read the complete Neuchatel write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Neuchatel is where the day begins. Next is Bern.
Bern is the odd capital, one that never calls itself a capital: the Swiss federal government sits here but the official term is federal city. It is also one of the best places in the country to park a bike and walk, because the old town fills a tight loop of the Aare river, with the water running green and fast on three sides far below the bridges. UNESCO put the medieval centre on its list in 1983, and the sandstone arcades along the main streets, about six kilometres of them in total, mean you can shop in the rain without an umbrella.
Read the complete Bern write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Bern comes up about 53 km into the recorded legs. Next is Interlaken.
Interlaken means between the lakes, which is exactly where it sits: a flat strip of land on the Aare, wedged between Lake Thun and Lake Brienz, with the Bernese Oberland piled up behind. On a clear day the Jungfrau fills the end of the main avenue, and visitors line up to take pictures of that view across the green lawn of the Höhematte, where paragliders land.
Read the complete Interlaken write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 111 km into the recorded legs you reach Interlaken. Next is Lucerne.
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.
Read the complete Lucerne write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Lucerne closes the day.
Neuchatel → Bern is 53 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Bern → Interlaken is 58 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Interlaken → Lucerne is 71 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.