Cycling Switzerland

We looked at Swiss Budget Hotels and Minotel and decided to try the latter. Minotel (minotel.ch) is a nonprofit association of approximately 700 privately owned hotels in Europe, 95 percent of which are managed by proprietor families. Most of their hotels are three stars; all have private baths and a restaurant in the building. What sold us was that we could bike without carrying our belongings because Minotel hotels (at least in Switzerland) will deliver your luggage to the next hotel. Drop it off at the front desk by 9:30 a.m. and Minotel guarantees that it will be at your next destination by 5:30 p.m. (And for us, in every case, it was there by 5:30, often earlier.)

Our accommodations varied in charm, but all were acceptable and had friendly and helpful owners.

If you don't want to make reservations in advance, you can always choose establishments en route that have the "Cycling in Switzerland" seal of quality prominently displayed at the entrance. There you can count on "cycling friendly" service, including a safe, locked location f or your bicycle, some bicycle tools, laundry facilities or at least a place to hang your hand-washed items, and good cycling advice.

Finally, we ordered the Veloland Schweiz guidebook for route number 8 (25 Swiss francs-about $18). Currently the books are available in German and French, but the only thing you really need is their maps, and you can read maps no matter what your language. To order the guidebook, log on to cycling-in-switzerland.ch.

More pluses

It is no surprise to see beautiful flowers in Europe. But the Swiss chalets in their mountain settings with window boxes of cascading geraniums and their gardens with dinner plate-size roses got high marks from us.

The food was tastier than we expected, and the Coop or Primo grocery stores offered delicious cheese and fruit with quite decent bread for our on-the-road budget picnics. I always use ice cream as an indicator of civilization, and the Swiss didn't let me down. In the heat we encountered, there was never a day without the reward of a kugel (ball) or two of sorbet. The lemon with candied lime was our favorite.

The breakfasts, which were always included, were varied and large enough that, if you weren't burning all those calories on a bicycle, you could easily skip lunch.

Our tripWe picked up our bicycles in Meiringen, a two-hour-plus train ride from ZYrich. Meiringen boasts a famous 4,593-foot-long, 656-foot-deep gorge, cut through the rocks by the Aare. The town's other claim to fame is that Sherlock Holmes was "killed" at nearby Reichenbach Falls. The next day, we cycled to Interlaken, mostly along turquoise lakes in the shadow of rugged mountains. We changed the route a bit to avoid the highest pass of the trip, a good decision in the unprecedented heat. Despite the accommodating Swiss habit of having ice-cold water in a decorative fountain in the center of each town, we were feeling dehydrated by the time we arrived at Interlaken for a late lunch. Our hotel was two-an d-a-half miles outside of Interlaken in the skiing/hiking town of Wilderswil, where we were impressed by the number of robust older folks returning to the village after a day of hiking. Our first glimpse of the snow-capped Jungfrau with paragliders forming a colorful corps de ballet just in front was breathtaking, especially as we sweated profusely down in the snowless valley.

Before we left Wilderswil the next day, we spent the morning taking a one-hour, 6,400-foot cog railway up to the Schynige Platte overlook for a walk in an alpine meadow with a spectacular view up of the Jungfrau and Eiger mountains and down to the two lakes that Interlaken lies between. (If you have a Swiss Rail Pass, you can use it on this trip and save the $40 train fare.)

In addition to Wilderswil, our stops included:

As we look back on our seventeenth vacation on wheels, we'd give biking in Switzerland our highest rating, namely, "We'd go back in a second." And given its low cost, we can afford to do so.

Some sample accommodations Minotel Alpenblick, 3812 Interlaken-Wilderswil, 011-41/33-828-35-50. Double occupancy: $96. Minotel Elite, Bernstrasse 1-3600, Thun, 011-41/33-223-28-23. Double occupancy: $139. Minotel zur Waag , Hauptstrasse 25-5330, Zurzach, 011-41/56-249-33-30, or visit minotel.ch for other choices. Double occupancy: $121.