# X-Post Switzerland



## mattbikeboy (Jun 8, 2004)

Bike Trip to Switzerland
I'm considering a trip to Nuechatel Sitzerland this summer first two weeks in July. I do plan on swinging over to France and Germany to see some parts of Le Tour. I'll be there 10 days or so without my wife or kids --so I'm planning on riding daily (alot).

My questions are:

1. Any riders in the MTBR forums from the area?
2. Should I take my mountain bike or road bike (was originally only considering the road bike since its lighter and faster)?
3. Would it be better to ship my bike ahead of time or fly with it? (I'll be staying at my old college roommate's home and I'll rent or buy a hard shell case).
4. Are there great rides in the area (road or mountain) to sway me either way?

thanks,
Matt


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## Uzzi (Oct 28, 2003)

I'm not from the Neuchattel area, but here are some links I just found.

http://www.neuchateltourisme.ch/f/sports-loisirs/?add_id=6&tb=touren&fid=34
http://www.neuchateltourisme.ch/f/sports-loisirs/?add_id=16&tb=touren&fid=34
http://www.neuchateltourisme.ch/f/sports-loisirs/?add_id=17&tb=touren&fid=34
http://www.neuchateltourisme.ch/f/sports-loisirs/?add_id=18&tb=touren&fid=34

or maybe this www:

http://www.guidevtt.com/index_en.htm

Best is to go to local bikeshops and ask around.......the official routes look a little boring to me.

However Neuchatel is about an hours drive from Montreux if you would like to try some trails in my backyard send me a PM by the time you're ready to go. We have some great trails here.


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## SwissOne (Mar 11, 2005)

heiho 

I'm from Bern.. i think you shoul take your MTB with you... if you take it in the plane with you, it will coast about 100 -110 dolla dolla 
I did this in fall, when i was at the interbike in vegas!

Yeah.. i think a lil trip to france will be great fun! Try to go to portes du soleil..it's much more impressive than the france part around neuchatel... portes du soleil is more around geneva.. about 1.5 hours by car from neuchatel.. 

If you have some more questions, just ask


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## fullsuspfuture (May 20, 2004)

*Yes there is riding around Neuchatel and Switzerland*

Hi,
Here is some info:

1. Any riders in the MTBR forums from the area?
Yes

2. Should I take my mountain bike or road bike (was originally only considering the road bike since its lighter and faster)?
It depends if you prefer to mountain bike or road bike - there is a lot of riding for both - I see a lot of road racers around, but don't know the details - I mostly mountain bike or occasionally do tourism biking - follow official cyclotourism to bike between towns.

3. Would it be better to ship my bike ahead of time or fly with it? (I'll be staying at my old college roommate's home and I'll rent or buy a hard shell case).
The cheapest if you get an airline that somehow flies your bike for free, sometimes this happens if it is one of your two checked bags, is in a small enough box, the airline is nice enough. Usually I've had to pay about $70-100 dollars each way. I think sending it ahead of time by post/fedex/dhl is much more expensive. You can rent cyclotourism bikes at most train stations, but if you are serious about your mountain bike to do real singletrack, you probably should bring yours.

4. Are there great rides in the area (road or mountain) to sway me either way?
If you include places in Switzerland 1/2hr to 3 hours away by car or train there is a phenomenal amount of riding. And of course Neuchatel has got riding too. To set expectations right, you have to understand that a mountain bike ride is much more 'mixed' here than other places I've rode in the US. Instead of 10 miles of non-stop singletrack, here a 10 mile ride might have a bunch of fire road, farm roads, riding across fields, singletrack, hike a bike, etc. And of course there are a bunch of rides with more singletrack than average (how about a 6000ft mostly singletrack downhill? - ok that is in the Valais, not in Neuchatel, but doable as a day or weekend trip. how about 10km of mostly singletrack (medium difficulty) along the doubs river border with France (40 minutes drive from Neuchatel). Also not much advertised yet there is a freeride/technical downhill course next to the Neuchatel funicular - about a 1500ft elevation effort free train ride - but way too technical for my interest/skills - but there are fire road and other singletracks in the forest - but just beware of ticks in the Neuchatel forest (and take precautions), like many other places in the world they exist and some have got diseases...)

Biking sources of info are at:
www.bike-explorer.ch
www.alpavista.ch
www.myswitzerland.com

I've got pictures of riding in Switzerland at:
mypage.bluewin.ch/ph_arnaud/bike/swiss/swiss_singletrack.htm


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## mattbikeboy (Jun 8, 2004)

*Wow, awesome!*

Thanks,

That is i the information I was looking for. Are those guidebooks & cd available in local shops in the region or itonly available on-line?

It's looking like my mountain bike is going to Switzerland.

mc


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## fullsuspfuture (May 20, 2004)

Hi,
One bookstore in town is Payot but I don't know what they've got in stock. The local bikestores have definitely got bikes and stuff but never noticed the cds.

In Bern (40 minutes one way by car or train) is the bookstore:
www.stauffacher.ch
and there is a very good chance they've got almost everything in stock. Whenever I've visited they've always had a lot right there.
There is also the bikeshop in Bern (and other places) www.veloplus.ch that seems to have a pretty good stock of the books and cds.

cheers,


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## feu rouge (Apr 13, 2005)

My questions are:

Any riders in the MTBR forums from the area?
Yes, I live near Neuchâtel

Are there great rides in the area (road or mountain) to sway me either way?
Yes, ther're some good places to ride, You should come to La Chaux-de-Fonds, it's a city over Neuchâtel and There you can find really good trails for Mountainbike.

This Website can help you :
http://www.juraride.ch

thanks,
Matt[/QUOTE]


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## feu rouge (Apr 13, 2005)

My questions are:

Any riders in the MTBR forums from the area?
Yes, I live near Neuchâtel

Are there great rides in the area (road or mountain) to sway me either way?
Yes, ther're some good places to ride, You should come to La Chaux-de-Fonds, it's a city over Neuchâtel and There you can find really good trails for Mountainbike.

This Website can help you :
http://www.rideinjura.ch, It's in french but if you need some advices you can write on the E-mail adress.


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## mattbikeboy (Jun 8, 2004)

*It looks awesome!*

I still don't know which bike to bring. I start to think I'll bring my road bike -- then I look at your photos of mountain biking in Switzerland and I want to bring it along instead. I guess I've got a couple of months to decide.

Thanks for your input and web links.

matt


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## singlestoph (Jan 7, 2005)

another link

www.singletailmap.ch

chris from zurich


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## mattbikeboy (Jun 8, 2004)

Thanks for all the information,

We went to Neuchatel and had a great time. I was getting a little tired of all the castles that my wife took me to though.

I took my road bike and ended up doing 275km of riding while I was there. A ride around Lake Neuchatel one day and a ride to Biel another day and numerous rides around the city of Neuchatel. It was great having sunlight until 9pm.

We also went up to Munster and watched the Tour (stage 8) go by on the Col De la Schlut (sp?). We parked in the village and rode 25kms to watch the Tour go by. It was a blast -- but it looked like the attack of the midgets. I guess at 230lbs I won't be replacing Lance Armstrong at the front of the peloton next year. 

If we get the opportunity to return -- I'll bring my mountain bike. It is such a beautifull country that could definitely live there (anybody need an electric sign designer?) I have had a lack of desire to get out and ride in the desert around here since I've been home. Visiting Switzerland, France & Germany with my bike definitely spoiled me.

Matt


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## Cycleshark (Jan 21, 2004)

singlestoph said:


> another link
> 
> www.singletailmap.ch
> 
> chris from zurich


try www.singletrailmap.ch .... works much better


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## singlestoph (Jan 7, 2005)




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