Month or so around Switzerland (Camping?)

[ActiveCampers]

Hi
After a fantastic and successful first ever cycle tour from north to south france (see http://www.doyourdream.co.uk/cycle-tour-north-to-south-france/ ) we are thinking of doing a month or so tour of Switzerland, a country we've only really skimmed with our campervan.

We'll probably use bike-express to get to/from eastern france, but from there looking for ideas/advice on route and must-do's. As ever, we'll be on hard-tail mountain bikes with road tyres, and have a tent and stuff with us.

We've found this book (Cycle touring in swtzerland) and eagerly await Mr Postman

But any advice welcome, especially when it comes to camping and "cheapish" accommodation (farm stays?)

Thanks

 

[andym]

http://www.veloland.ch/en/veloland.html

My pretty brief experience is that camping wasn't cheap in Switzerland - although as with most things a lot depends on location. eurocampings.co.uk listing is pretty helpful. tcs.ch seems to be the equivalent of the UK's Camping and Caravanning Club (OK, a cross between the AA and CCC).

The TGV Lyria services out of Paris have bike spaces (although I think they are in the process of switching to doubledecker trains which might be bad news).

 

[ActiveCampers]

Thanks. We're familiar with eurocampings and acsi from our campervaning - but don't know what other options exist, the missus found something about haylofts?!
BikeExpress was fine last time, simples, so happy to use that fortunately.
Websites looks good - thanks - will read later

 

[Onyer]

Try "Sleeping in them straw" http://www.schlaf-im-stroh.ch/en/ to reduce costs and maybe keep dry!

 

[steveindenmark]

We stayed in Murren at a hotel for 2 nights on the way to Italy. It is a traffic free town way up in the mountains with great walks and stunning views.

Top, top place to visit. For relaxing.

 

[Donger]

As a perfect central base for a few days touring, I can recommend Andermatt. It is centrally located in the Uri canton, and at the N/S/E/W crossroads of several big passes, making it somewhere you are almost bound to pass through at some time on your tour. The Oberalp Pass runs to the East, the Furka/Grimsel Passes lead (via the Rhone Glacier, which you can walk inside via a series of pedestrian tunnels) to the West, and the village is half way up the much busier St Gotthard Pass running from North to South. The village has a railway station and all facilities, and we have holidayed happily there twice in apartments. I have always wanted to go back with my bike.

There is a campsite at the base of the cable car in the village, where I remember our family staying many years ago, and which was still there as recently as about 5 years ago. I know there is some talk of the resort being re-branded as "Andermatt Swiss Alps" soon and being massively re-developed as the next big ski resort, so you may not have too many more chances to cycle there peacefully before all the developers' trucks start rolling in. It would be a shame to miss it as it is now, as the valleys and passes around there are truly stunning.

Our very favourite part of Switzerland is the Italian speaking Ticino canton to the South, and Ascona is our favourite lakeside resort there. It is noticeably sunnier and the lakes are beautiful.

 

[br5968]

We spent some time in Switzerland just before Easter this year (unfortunately touring by camper rather than bike, though we used bikes when we stopped!). We were with our 2 yo, so probably a bit more city based than you would be on bikes, but the sites we stayed at were:

- Camping Delta Locarno Pricey (even for Switzerland) but beautiful location - you can camp right on the lake's edge. Site was spotless, good facilities, and althought htey had numbered pitches, it didn't feel as regimented as the other two. I'd give the shop a swerve (bit pricey) - there's an Aldi not far away. Really liked Locarno, though only enough to do for a day or so, really.

- Camping Lido Lucerne - okay site, bit featureless. Good location though, easy and pleasnt ride round the lake to reach the centre. Right next to the (excellent) transport museum and the Lido (which wasn't open when we were there). Careful the circus isn't on next door while you're there - the encores seemed to go on all night. Good story in Andrew Syke's first book about him blowing the electrics on this site. Lucerne felt *very* wealthy, fascinating afternoon's wander round. We used it as a base for a trip up to Titlis.

- Camping Waldhort, Basel - I really liked Basel. Felt like a 'proper' city, bit grittier than the others (though that's not saying much). Site was okay, guy in charge was very friendly, it's bit of a distance from town, and a lot of permanent pitches rather than tourers. You might want to save some money by staying just over the border in France or Germany.