Cycling round Lake Geneva

Bullet1
Bullet1 Posts: 161
edited February 2016 in Tour & expedition
I'm going to a conference in Montreux in June and flying into Geneva. As such I am planning on taking my bike and cycling the 60 miles from the airport to the hotel whilst my bags go on the coach. There may also be time for an afternoon out and about round Montreux

So a few questions - I'll be on a road bike

Is the ride as good as it looks on map?
North or south of the lake or out one way back another?
Are the roads of decent quality?
Are the cycle paths decent?

Is is worth £90 in carriage fees and £30 bag hire?

Comments

  • gethinceri
    gethinceri Posts: 1,665
    It's good enough to have an annual road event on it, clockwise. It's not all flat but it's really not much of a challenge to ride around.
    You may want to ride from Montreux to Vevey and try this:
    https://www.strava.com/activities/337219711 It's a nice workout but not particularly adventurous.
    Nice bike shop in Vevey, CyclesColin. Speak to Gilles and he'll give you good route options.
  • cc78
    cc78 Posts: 599
    I've done it a couple of times, once in each direction in fact, with our local veloclub as spring base training.

    The section between Montreux and the French border is probably the nicest part of the ride as you get away from the roads and there are proper cycle paths through the woodland.

    The rest of the Swiss side is mainly on cycle lanes at the edge of fairly busy roads. You have to go through the centre of Geneva. The French side has no cycle path or lanes, just another busy road which is quite narrow in places.

    On a nice day there are some great views, but I suspect you would have more fun heading away from the lake. I don't know the area around Montreux very well although I did do a nice ride a couple of years ago through the vineyards above Lausanne (just had a look back on Strava to find it but my GPS was playing up that day so it's not there, sorry).

    Hope this helps.

Categories