Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Cycling tour: from Arth-Goldau to Altdorf

Cycling around in Switzerland is always a great experience, since everywhere you can be assured of clean conditions, fresh air and beautiful scenery... but this particular ride we took last weekend was certainly one of the nicest cycling tours in the country.

We started our ride at Arth Goldau, riding from the Lauerzer Lake in the direction of the VierwaldstaetterSee (or Lake of Luzern):

From Hiking_Cycling_Fun

After a short stop in Brunnen, we continued our route along the Lake, with the most spectacular views you can imagine...
From Hiking_Cycling_Fun
From Hiking_Cycling_Fun
... reaching the end of our apx. 40-km-long tour in Altdorf, best known as the place where, according to the legend, William Tell shot the apple from his son's head. His statue stands at the foot of an old tower covered with frescoes in the market-place:
From Hiking_Cycling_Fun

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi,
Great pictures of your ride.

I'm going to be coming through Brunnen and Altdorf next year on my bike and I have 2 questions about the route.

My online mapping program is routing me to the east of Brunnen on the way to Altdorf. I think it has something to do with a short tunnel south of Brunnen. Do you know if this tunnel is open for bikes and is it safe for bikes? Did you ride through it?

Also, I am seeing a very steep and tall climb right before Ussedorf of about 800+ feet. Do you know if that is accurate?

Thanks!!

Tod

Krisztina & Zoltan said...

Hi, Yeap the Brunnen- Altdorf is a really great route.

We would recommend riding from Zug to Altdorf, since it is easily doable in a day.

About the route: there are signs for bikers all the way (it's Switzerland after all) and the bike route runs parallel to the motorway, or there is at least a bike lane on the sides. But most of the way the bike route is separate. However, if you want to take the bike route (to avoid cars as much as possible) take a MTB.

Krisztina & Zoltan said...

and about the steep climb: yeap there are some steep climbs on the way but nothing out of ordinary (unless you're from the Netherlands...)

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the response! Nope, not Dutch, American, but actually starting the ride in Amsterdam. :)

The day we go to Altdorf will start in Lucerne and is actually the shortest ride of the trip. We could easily go up to Zug instead of the route through Weggis and Gersau. Do you think that would be better - to go through Zug?

Tod

Krisztina & Zoltan said...

If you start from Lucerne than you're better off through Weggis. I did not cycle the route from Weggis to Brunnen though. But by car it seemed ok even by bike.