Hardly any other capital city in Europe combines urban flair and road cycling as well as the Swiss capital of Bern. From the clock tower and the arcades of the old town, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, you cycle to the outskirts of the city in a short time and within a few kilometres are immersed in hills and fields. The Jura mountain range looms to the north-west, first in the distance, then becoming ever clearer and more angular. Lake Murten, Lake Neuchâtel and Lake Biel glisten at the foot of the mountains, above which rises the highest mountain in the Bernese Jura, the Chasseral (1,606 metres). On its flank, the ride is first a gentle sway over a scenic balcony, then the road climbs steeply. Here, local amateur cyclists engage in tough duels that end in relieved laughter at the top of the pass. From the pass, a short, rewarding detour leads to the Chasseral summit: the panorama of the Jura, lakes and Alps is magnificent, and you can look down on the diversity of the Swiss Confederation, the cantons of Bern, Vaud, Neuchâtel and Fribourg. The town of Biel/Bienne in the canton of Bern, which we recently passed through, is bilingual in German and French. After leaving the Chasseral, we land in the canton with the capital of the same name, Neuchâtel, take the boat across to Cudrefin, in the French-speaking canton of Vaud, then via the bilingual canton of Fribourg/Fribourg back to the German-speaking part of the canton of Bern. Enough of the linguistic geography! The journey continues in monolingual German in the Emmental to the east of Bern. This is not just the Emme valley, but a whole hilly region that invites you to playfully climb. The game begins immediately on the first ramps, then the terrain opens up, wide fields stretch out to the edges of the forest on the horizon. There is something idyllic about the Emmental, but also something powerful. The fields and meadows are vast, the tractors huge, the farmhouses imposing.
Tour character
No matter in which direction you leave the federal capital of Bern, you will soon be travelling through the countryside, mostly on small roads with tolerable traffic - and these lead into topographies with all kinds of surprises. Seeland, that sounds flatter than it is; the Jura hides sharper gradients in its wooded flanks than many an Alpine pass, and the dreaded steep road up to the Gurnigel is a blast.
Info on the Bern region
Journey
Rail: From Frankfurt via Basel directly to Bern, from Stuttgart and Munich via Zurich. Bicycle transport on ICE trains within Switzerland only in a bag. To take bikes across the border on other trains, you need an international bike ticket for 10 euros (parking space included). For EU guests: Half-price multi-day offers for train journeys within Switzerland at www.swisstravelsystem.com. The bike day pass on trains and postbuses is available from the equivalent of 12 euros. Details at www.sbb.ch
By car: Motorways lead from the border towns of Basel, Schaffhausen, Constance and Bregenz to Bern.
Info & Accommodation
Bern Tourism, Tourist Information: Bahnhofplatz 10a, CH-3011 Bern, phone 0041/(0)31/3281212, www.bern.com
Berne: Hotel-Restaurant Jardin, Militärstrasse 38, telephone 0041/(0)31/3330117, www.hotel-jardin.ch
Bed and breakfast from the equivalent of 72 euros.
Köniz: Camping Eichholz, Strandweg 49, telephone 0041/(0)31/9612602, www.campingeichholz.ch
Located on the banks of the Aare, thirty minutes' walk from Bern's old town. From 32 euros for two people in a tent.
Bike service
Bern: Thömus Shop Bern, Effingerstrasse 1, phone 0041/(0)31/9921144, www.thoemus.ch
Maps
"New travel map of Switzerland", 1:200,000, Hallwag-Verlag 2014; 18 euros
VCS cycle maps no. 8 "Neuchâtel - Three Lakes", no. 9 "Bern Region" and no. 10 "Emmental", all 1:60,000, Kümmerly + Frey, 26 euros each
Bike festivals
Seeland Classic: The start and finish are in Lyss and there are four routes to choose from: 21, 34, 68 and 102 kilometres with 150, 420, 840 and 1,260 metres of elevation gain. Participation costs between 34 and 75 euros.
www.berner-rundfahrt.ch
Date: Saturday, 20 May 2017
38th Emmental Tour: This tour for everyone without timekeeping offers a silver, gold and platinum version, at 100 kilometres/1,050 metres altitude, 125 km/1,600 metres altitude and 150 km/2,100 metres altitude. The entry fee including provisions is the equivalent of 23 euros.
www.rversigen.ch/emmental-rundfahrt
Date: Saturday and Sunday, 22 and 23 July 2017
7th Gurnigel-Panorama-Classic: This event offers one to three Gurnigel ascents from three valley villages, at 101 kilometres/2,055 metres altitude, 115 km/2,625 metres altitude and 146 km/3,370 metres altitude.
The motto "haste and rest" means that only the ascent times are measured. Participation, including catering, costs the equivalent of 75 euros if you register by 27 July, and 84 euros thereafter.
www.gurnigel-panorama-classic.ch
Date: Sunday, 13 August 2017
On all three occasions, cyclists share the roads with motorised traffic; even on the Gantrisch, whose marketers refer to the area as a "nature park".
Tour 1: Seeland and Jura
134 kilometres, 2,240 vertical metres, max. 12 percent gradient
The route leads through the gently undulating Seeland region to the west of Bern, where vegetables and wine are grown. After twelve kilometres, you have a view of the Jura chain to the west, with the hump of the Chasseral (1,606 m) as the highest point protruding from its elongated ridge. The 30-kilometre ascent from Biel, with more than 1,300 metres in altitude, puts many an Alpine pass in the shade. After the descent to Lac de Neuchâtel, the boat spares you the busy lakeside road. The return journey is on the main road 1, which has little traffic due to the motorway running parallel to it.
Tour 2: Climbing pleasure in the Emmental
111 kilometres, 1,900 metres in altitude, max. 14 percent gradient
The Emmental, which is still largely untouched by tourism, has a few passes in store. With Lueg (846 m), Lüderenalp (1,141 m), Hinterblapbach (1,145 m) and Moosegg (992 m), we have combined four climbs of between six and eight kilometres in length to create a magnificent loop with fantastic views over hills, meadows, fields and farms - all the way to the ice giants of the Bernese Alps.
Tour 3: Gantrisch region
82 kilometres, 1,750 metres in altitude, max. 15 percent gradient
South of Bern, small roads lead through hilly, panoramic farmland. To the south, the first rocky peaks border the horizon, the highest of which is the Gantrisch (2,175 m). At its foot, a small but up to 15 per cent steep road climbs through shady forest and sunny alpine meadows over the Gurnigel Pass (1,579 m) to the Stierenhütte (1,609 m). The route then continues for 20 kilometres, mostly downhill with short counter-climbs, to Schwarzenburg, even deeper into the Schwarzwasser valley (682 m), before a final climb, 15 kilometres before the finish, leads to an altitude of just under 1,000 metres.
Downloads:
GPS data: Switzerland, Canton of Bern
