I’ve been working on this tour (part of 44|5’s Project Trans Alps) for a year now, so I’m pretty excited (and hopefully ready) about finally running it next week. HighRoad Swiss Alps will be my first real foray into Switzerland with clients and, other than the trepidation about exchange rates and astronomical prices, I’m feeling pretty good about the whole thing.
Sometimes tours just sort of create themselves and have a certain natural coherence that makes for a good week. Nice starts and suitable finishes also help, which is certainly the case here. This is the start:
On the eastern end of Lake Geneva sits Vevey, home to Nestlé and (formerly) Charlie Chaplin. We’ll just be here long enough for a shake-out ride along the lake and into the vineyards before starting our journey west. Vevey is in the French speaking region of Switzerland.
Our next stop for two days is Spiez, just down the road from Interlaken.
You’ll notice a lake theme starting to form, I hope. Our hotel is near this port and our first night’s dinner is right on it. From Spiez (now firmly in the German-speaking area of the country) we’ll do what I’m hoping will end up being one of the best mountain loops I’ve ever done: Gross Scheidegg:
Our next destination is high-altitude Andermatt, but we have to climb a couple of mountains to get there, including Sustenpass.
From Andermatt we will ride what I hope will be an even better mountain loop than two days previously – the famous Furka / Nufenen / Gottardo trinity.
Another big passo (Oberalp) brings us into Italian-speaking Switzerland and Locarno, chic-ly situation on the glimmering shores of Lago Maggiore.
Our last 2 nights are here, with one more climb to do along the shores of the lake and dipping briefly into Italy in the process. A simple 1.5 hour transfer to Milan Malpensa Airport on our final morning brings this one to a smooth close…fingers crossed!
The Vicious Cycle 
Sounds amazing and those photos are just wow! 😍
That is a cracker of a tour Gerry. Each you go to is better than the last one no matter which direction you go. You would make Haute Route proud. Lake Geneva is often referred to as Lac Léman to the locals. Are you going to swing into Montereux to see Freddy Mercury? Your clients are in for a very special tour.
You would know much better than me, Luc! Yes, I decided to use the Anglo name for the lake…which makes me wonder what the German speakers call it…? Do you know?
And speaking of Haute Route, it starts tomorrow! Brad, who was part of our 2013 team, is giving it another crack. I don’t remember if you met any of the crew back then…
I’m picking up 3 clients in Montreux, but not hanging about. I do have a friend who has visited the FM museum, though, and it sounds great.
Genfersee = Lake Geneva in German. You can just do the FM statue without going to museum. You’ll be by Lavaux vineyards on the lake. UNESCO world heritage site. They go back to the monks of the 11th century.
That’s funny. I made our shake-out ride to go right through those vineyards (and rode it last October). Incredible views and they were harvesting grapes while I was there last year…other than the vineyards with ‘elevators’, it looks like hard work on those terraces!
Thanks for the historical note. I wasn’t aware that it was a UNESCO area.
Have a fabulous time
Merci!
Wow. Looks like a fantastic week. Good to see you expanding your area and you certainly haven’t run out of hills, have you? :}
I have demanding clients who always want something new. Good thing I like to drive!
Looks brilliant. No good for me though as I would have to have my eyes shut half the time and so would miss the views.
We circumvent this problem by taking lots of photos.
I thoroughly enjoyed the photos.