Cycle Tour Bike holiday The Upper Rhine

Ten days of bike holiday campingwise in July 2020 together with my two sons Alexander and Simon. After transport by car and train we bike a prologue to Andermatt near the Gotthard mountain pass across the Alps and a hike a trip to the source of the Rhine. From this Oberalp pass in a heigth of 2044 m we follow the upper course to Lake Constance and along its southern shore to Stein on the Rhine, where we end our bike holiday.

Impressive mountainous landscape in the Alps on the northern slope of the famous Gotthard pass, through the narrow gorge of Schoellenen, which for centuries was a bottleneck in the transport across the Alps. Next day we go up to the even higher Oberalp pass near the source of the Rhine. From here we cycle down the mountain valley of Surselva along the Anterior Rhine and have a look at another narrow gorge (or canyon), called Rhinaulta. Before we reach the cantonal capital of Chur the Anterior and Posterior Rhine merge to the Rhine proper. Rest day in Chur, which is said to be the oldest town of Switzerland. Afterwards the river valley broadens and flattens. A visit in the principality of Liechtenstein before the Rhine flows into Lake Constance by way of a very well controlled delta. Here we spend a night in Austria. In the following we'll go through posh Swiss villa towns along the southern coast of Lake Constance, before we reach the very well preserved medieval town of Constance on the German side. Our bike holiday ends in another beautiful old town with many colourful depicted houses, Stein on the Rhine, which is situated, where the Rhine flows out of Lake Constance again.

Transport in our own car from Denmark to Weil on the Rhine (1,117 km), where we park the car in a hotel garage. The next day we cycle a short trip (through (a bit of) France!) to Basel. Train transport to Goeschenen by SBB (four hours) with a train change at Erstfeld (57 min's.). Cycle trip (7 km) as a prologue to Andermatt, where our bike holiday will commence.

Homebound transport by train from Stein on the Rhine to Basel Bad station (two hours) and a short bike ride to our hotel in Weil on the Rhine. From here we go home by car the following day.

The bike holiday follows mainly the Swiss route no. 2 (which is well signposted), which shares its course with the European route (Eurovelo) no. 15.