Grand Tour of Switzerland: Zurich to St Gallen

Scenic road chapters

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Zurich

   Zurich is the polite, prosperous kind of city that keeps its history discreet. It lies at the northern end of Lake Zurich, where the Limmat river runs out of the lake and through the old town, and it began as a Roman customs post called Turicum on the hill now known as the Lindenhof. By the sixteenth century it was a centre of the Reformation under Huldrych Zwingli, who preached at the Grossmunster, the twin-towered church that still dominates the skyline. Across the river, the Fraumunster holds stained glass windows by Marc Chagall, and the light inside on a bright morning is worth a short detour.

   Read the complete Zurich write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Zurich is where the day begins. Next is Rhine Falls.

2. 2. Rhine Falls

   The Rhine Falls, at Neuhausen near Schaffhausen, are the biggest plain waterfall in Europe, not in height, which is about twenty-three metres, but in volume, with a stream some hundred and fifty metres wide pouring over the rock in the early summer when the snow melts in the Alps. The water thunders and the spray hangs in the air, and a central rock, a stump of limestone, stands in the middle of the torrent. A walkway and a set of platforms take you almost to the foam, and the whole thing smells of wet stone and minerals.

   Read the complete Rhine Falls write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Rhine Falls comes up about 51 km into the recorded legs. Next is St Gallen.

3. 3. St Gallen

   St Gallen grew up around a hermit's cell. In the early seventh century an Irish monk called Gallus settled in a forest valley here, and a monastery grew up that became one of the great centres of learning in medieval Europe. Today the abbey district is a UNESCO site, with a baroque cathedral, an abbey library, and a plan of the cloister, a famous ninth-century drawing that shows what an ideal monastery should look like.

   Read the complete St Gallen write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   The route ends here after 137 km.