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: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
From Yvonand it runs 219 km to Yvonand; allow about 3 h 32 of riding. It goes by way of Chenevières de Guévaux I, Vingelz / Hafen, Inkwilersee Insel and back through Vingelz / Hafen. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 950 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Scenic road chapters
Grand Tour of Switzerland
For about 33 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.
Chapter facts
Length
33 km
Named road
Grand Tour of Switzerland
Vingelz / Hafen → Inkwilersee Insel
The ride follows Vingelz / Hafen → Inkwilersee Insel for 40 km.
Chapter facts
Length
40 km
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Le Marais
At the south end of Lake Neuchâtel, below the old Roman and medieval town of Yverdon, the shore turns into a wide, flat belt of reed beds and meadow, one of the biggest areas of shoreline marsh in Switzerland. Le Marais, near the village of Yvonand, belongs to this landscape, and like many places along the lake it also belongs to the Prehistoric Pile Dwellings that UNESCO lists, because the shallows hold timbers and artefacts from villages built on stilts thousands of years ago. The remains lie under water or mud, so there is nothing to see at the spot but reeds, willows and the glinting lake, but a visit to the museum in Yverdon or Neuchâtel brings the finds to life.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Le Marais is where the day begins. Next is Chenevières de Guévaux I.
2. Chenevières de Guévaux I
Lake Murten is small, shallow and warm, framed on its north side by the vine-covered whale back of Mont Vully. Under its shallows near the Vully shore lie the remains of prehistoric pile-dwelling villages, and Chenevières de Guévaux is one of them, part of the UNESCO site of the Prehistoric Pile Dwellings around the Alps. Between the Neolithic and the Bronze Age, people built houses on timber posts along lake shores like this one. Waterlogged conditions preserved posts, tools, textiles and food remains for thousands of years, and the finds transformed what we know about early farming communities in Europe.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Chenevières de Guévaux I comes up about 36 km into the recorded legs. Next is Vingelz / Hafen.
3. Vingelz / Hafen
Biel and Bienne are the same city, one name in German and one in French, and street signs, conversations and even jokes switch between the two languages without anyone noticing. At its western edge, the lakeside district of Vingelz, with its small harbour, has given archaeologists remains of prehistoric pile dwellings in the shallow water of Lake Biel, and the site is one piece of the World Heritage property for pile dwellings around the Alps. The lake, long and narrow, lies at the foot of the Jura mountains, and its shores have been inhabited for thousands of years.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 69 km into the recorded legs you reach Vingelz / Hafen. Next is Inkwilersee Insel.
4. Inkwilersee Insel
You could ride past the Inkwilersee a dozen times without noticing it. It is a small, shallow lake tucked into a fold of farmland right on the line between the cantons of Bern and Solothurn, ringed with reeds and alders, with a tiny wooded island near its middle. That island is the reason for the label: beneath its trees and in the mud around it lie traces of prehistoric lakeside settlement, enough to earn the Inkwilersee a place among the Alpine pile-dwelling sites on the World Heritage list.