02
Jul
11 Minute Read
11 Minute Read
When originally planning for my trip to Switzerland in 2024, I was trying to focus on two, possibly three areas of the country to ride. To be honest, the region of Interlaken, while having a desire to visit, was not initially on that list.
When looking around a bit online, though, I noticed that the PJAMM website, known for listing a bunch of world data about climbs specific to cycling, had a “top 10” most scenic list of climbs of the world.
Turns out one of them could be reached from Interlaken!
It seemed a bit much to coordinate the trip around a singular ride, but this one looked like it may have been worth it. And to be honest, it was. Although not for the section(s) that PJAMM spoke most highly about.
I’ll split this up into three parts, with a bit of cross over between each. In this area, I think the three main rides / areas to focus on are:
Interlaken, as its name would suggest, sits between two beautiful lakes of Switzerland, Lake Thun (pronounced “tune” with a longer “o” sound) and Lake Brienz. Each lake has a slightly different color and has roads all along each side. Both are jaw-droppingly beautiful.
When traveling to a new place, fresh off the plane, it’s a good idea to get started quickly but with a smaller, less intense ride. Something that allows you to shake out the legs, overcome your jet lag, and make sure that your bike is in proper working order after traveling with it.
Speaking of which, don’t forget to stop in at Yellow Velo! The guy running the shop just bought it a couple years ago and specializes in classic styling and vintage bikes. He was incredibly helpful to us when we needed to get one of our bikes spruced up, was open on Sunday, and had a lot of really interesting stuff in the shop. They have an instagram page you can follow, too!
Since the roads around the lakes are scenic and have relatively low traffic, they’re a perfect way to get familiar with the region. On our first day, for example, we took a ride eastward along the south side of Lake Brienz.
This was actually a route that we formulated the night prior, with the intention of figuring things out a bit as we went. Turns out that the bike path along the lake this direction was amazingly beautiful and had more climbing than we expected! While the weather was not as clear as we had hoped, it had cooled down with some recent rain and the roads were in great condition.
We also unintentionally came across the Giessbach waterfall after walking our bikes through a dirt area that the bike path just kind of dumps you out on.
Honestly, this part was one of the highlights of the entire trip! Particularly because it just came out of nowhere and no one in my group expected it at all. We even walked up a bunch of wet rocks in our cycling shoes and cleats to get a better view of the falls and the Giessbach Hotel below.
Welcome to Switzerland!
The rest of the day was great, too, don’t get me wrong, but this was just…unexpectedly beautiful. It’s definitely worth incorporating into a Switzerland ride schedule.
We continued eastward, down an incredible, fast descent into the valley east and slightly south of the lake, then found ourselves getting food at a food hall we found in Hofstetten. The day was constantly threatening to rain on us, but luckily it never became an actual issue.
The road on the north side of the lake is far faster moving compared to the south side, but much flatter and faster for bikes. Occasionally a small town or village will appear and 30kph signs will definitely warn you to slow your pace a bit. We enjoyed this section as well, since we got into a paceline and really went for it!
(Thanks for my buddy Dino for providing that video of us!)
Once back in Interlaken, we also opted to add a bit of extra credit to the ride, which is what you see as the “out and back” in the route above. This goes up to the Restaurant Luegibrüggli, and it’s a really steady climb that rewards you with some great views looking back over the valley that Interlaken is in.
We saw a lot of vans traveling through here (to Beatenberg, apparently, the road continues much further past the restaurant) for various wind surfing companies, so definitely expect some traffic through here. The descent is definitely something to enjoy though!
If you were to think of the most quintessential image of Switzerland, you basically would be picturing Lauterbrunnen. It’s known as the “valley of 72 waterfalls”, which is mind boggling to me as someone who grew up in a fairly arid climate.
Luckily, too, it’s quite reachable from Interlaken! There are tons of transit options to get there, and it’s quite a popular destination for people visiting Switzerland. Following a somewhat high trafficked road, it’s only about 10-15km up a mild climb, and once you’re there, it’s just stunning.
Now on this particular day, we experienced more rain than we did anywhere else on the trip. It still wasn’t as bad as it could have been, but it certainly made for a wet excursion, while also providing a really unique view into what Switzerland is like outside of the travel magazines. In fact, I kind of liked my experience there more because of this.
Perhaps I’m just making the most of my experience there (not a bad thing to do, I’ll add!), but I can always appreciate things differently when something about the region is just slightly not quite normal or perfect.
On this particular day, we went up to the valley and then traveled as far back as we could on our road bikes. It’s an out-and-back experience, unless you’re hiking, because the road through there just stops. There’s a hydroelectric power plant in the back, along with a small community that was utilizing a lot of manure that day for something (it didn’t smell so nicely).
But seriously, looking back on the valley way out past the crowds that we biked through was just fantastic. Looking up at the mountains all around you, you see the same stream of water go further and further up, often disappearing into the cloud above it. And there are just so many of them.
If you end up ripping downhill back into town like we did, make sure not to accidentally veer into the tunnel like we did! We were fine, of course, but we definitely felt like we weren’t supposed to be in there, and there were signs that we missed along the way (oops).
Once back in town, we wanted to get a few more miles and decided to finish out the lake loop by traveling west around Lake Thun. This time, the northern side of the lake seemed far more quiet than when we came back along the southern end of the lake.
On the northern side, the road is closer to the water and very similar to the northern side of Lake Brienz. There was a beautiful tunnel at the top of a small climb, a fun descent out of that tunnel, and then into the busy town of Thun itself.
We didn’t stop anywhere through here, really, as we had already been stopping a lot to see all the scenery of Lauterbrunnen. Thun is definitely a bustling town with a lot of cars, shops, construction, and a few roundabouts. The ride back along the south side of the lake went by quickly and there were more views of the lakes looking eastward, this time from a higher vantage point.
When riding through here, watch for road signs specific to bikes! When you get closer to Interlaken, the road turns into more of a highway. Luckily, the Swiss have made some convenient bike paths, and they’re quite pleasant, despite being next to the major road. Feel free to follow the route above if you’re not sure!
If there is ONE ride to do out of this region, it’s this one.
Now that I’ve done it, I can honestly say that with certainty.
First of all, this is not an easy day on the bike. But you’re ready for these kinds of climbs, right?
Grosse Scheidegg is the name of the mountain pass that is featured on PJAMM’s website, and the connecting route towards Grindelwald, which is another extremely Swiss town in Switzerland. Männlichen, on the other hand, is an out-and-back the climb from Grindelwald that follows the Männlichenbahn cable car route west.
The “Gross Scheidegg” starts fairly innocuously along a busy road out of Meiringen, then turns off into one of the most amazing, beautiful, and quiet roads I’ve ever ridden. It follows up past the Reichenbachfall, known for its connection to the Sherlock Holmes franchise, and continues onward through a mix of ferns, trees, rocks, along a glacier fed river, past the Hotel Rosenlaui.
Along the way you’ll experience:
Riding up 10-12% gradients.
How fun it is riding through funny plastic swinging barriers. Case in point:
How amazing a glacial river looks and sounds!
…all while constantly stopping to take pictures every few hundred meters!
Somehow, the views change drastically every time you stop, I don’t even know how to explain it.
As you get past the hotel, things start to open up, and trees give way to epic views looking up towards the Wetterhorn. It’s definitely a tough climb, but since cars basically aren’t allowed past the Chalet-Hotel Schwarzwaldalp (a second hotel along the way), it truly is a spectacular cycling experience. One that I would recommend to anyone considering cycling anywhere near this area.
And the descent down into Grindelwald. Wow. Just wow. Tight switchback turns, a meandering road, with views out of the valley that the town sits in, while being almost swallowed up by some of the most majestic mountains and waterfalls you’ve ever seen. It’s truly a sight to behold!
Just watch out for the buses that (somehow) make their way up to the top! Don’t worry, they blow their 3-note horn on the tighter turns, which sounds quite funny, like a weird trumpet reveille. I love it. Apparently there’s a whole history behind it.
If you’re doing Männlichen as well, make sure to grab some food in Grindelwald beforehand. It’s an incredibly touristy town, full of all the Swiss things, much like Lauterbrunen is. I’m not sure which one is more Swiss, but they’re both fun. Grindelwald is bigger though, as I think a lot of people have ski chalets there for the winter months.
As for the climb, I’ll be honest - the climb up Männlichen is more brutal than I thought it would be. And I don’t know if that’s because we were already tired from the rest of the ride or if it was elevation related. But you climb up a sloping face following several cable car lines, all while in view of the prolific Eiger.
It’s an amazing sight, but after discussing it with the other guys, it was not nearly as awesome of a climb as the Grosse Scheidegg was. There was enough cloud cover that day where we did not really see as much of the Eiger as I had hoped, and the road was in rough shape in a few spots, but it was definitely satisfying finally making it to the top. I think the last several kilometers average >10%.
Hilariously enough, there’s a big child playground up there inside a cow (you literally slide out on its tongue), and on the far side, you can actually look down at the Lauterbrunnen valley!
While planning the route for this day, I remember thinking that Lauterbrunnen was “close” as far as the map goes, but it wasn’t clear to me just how connected it was. I also noticed on the previous day a cable car line to Männlichen from the valley itself, which was a really fun way to see just how close things are in Switzerland, despite being often separated by a lot of vertical distance!
So despite this climb being very tough for me, I was stoked to see the top of it and look over the amazing valley that I had visited just 24 hours before.
Even if my next experience included putting on every layer I had on my person for the descent.
Basically everything from this point was downhill. And a fun downhill at that. We went back through Grindelwald, then took a different route of the valley, around a ridge that took us towards the same road that we were on when coming from Lauterbrunnen the day prior. So fun, so fast, and somehow so connected.
No idea how the Swiss managed to tame the mountains in terms of their transportation, but it’s just amazing to experience firsthand.
Considering I was on the fence with visiting the Interlaken region on this particular trip, I’m 100% glad that I did. I can fully recommend each of these routes, and it was an incredibly fun way to experience Switzerland. Even our AirBnB was fantastic!
If you’re on the fence about this area, definitely don’t pass up the opportunity. It may not have as much climbing to do as the Andermatt region, and doesn’t have the Italian charm that is the Lugano region, but it holds its own and has a uniquely Swiss identity that you really need to experience firsthand!
