Premiere Hotels*
Accommodations may vary based on departure date. Any difference from what is listed below can be found by clicking on your desired date on the View Scheduled Dates or Private Dates tabs.
Waldhotel Doldenhorn
Kandersteg (1 night)
* Casual Hotel
A family-run alpine retreat surrounded by verdant forests and soaring snowcapped mountains. A Relais & Châteaux member. (pool, spa)
Romantik Hotel Schweizerhof
Grindelwald (2 nights)
Catch stunning views of Eiger's north face from this luxurious chalet-style hotel. (pool, spa)
Grandhotel Giessbach
Giessbach (2 nights)
Elegance and old-world charm reign at this turreted beauty in a picturesque setting by Lake Brienz and the Giessbach Falls. (pool)
This Trip Is Rated Levels 2-4
Every Backroads trip is designed to appeal to a wide variety of interests and fitness levels. We know your pace may vary from one day to the next—and your traveling companion's may differ somewhat from yours. So we present a range of mileage options, and each day you decide exactly what and how much you want to do.
Daily Route Options (drag to see full )
| Daily Route Options |
| 1 |
Walking/Hiking |
|
|
5 |
400 |
6 |
1000 |
7 |
1500 |
|
|
| 2 |
Biking |
13* |
400 |
26 |
500 |
41 |
1600 |
|
|
|
|
| 3 |
Walking/Hiking |
|
|
6 |
500 |
|
|
10 |
2100 |
|
|
| 4 |
Walking/Hiking |
|
|
3 |
800 |
6 |
2200 |
8 |
3200 |
|
|
| 5 |
Biking |
|
|
16* |
1000 |
28 |
1800 |
|
|
|
|
| Kayaking |
on Lake Brienz (1.5 Hours) |
| 6 |
Walking/Hiking |
|
|
4 |
300 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Note:
To make for the most comfortable ride to this particular trip, we've outfitted our titanium road bike with slightly wider tires. You'll appreciate this on those stretches of the route with hard-packed dirt (approximately 5% dirt and 95% paved).
The walking and hiking terrain on this trip includes a mix of dirt paths and paved and gravel roads. Most of our hikes take place at elevations of 4,000–7,000 feet, which can make the routes feel more challenging than the mileage may suggest. The biking routes vary from level to rolling with a few steeper climbs. Most of our rides are on car-free bike paths; the Backroads support van will intersect with the routes at strategic points.
* Includes shuttle.
Learn more about how we determine our activity level and fully support a range of abilities and interests.
Please note that our distance and elevation figures come from Ride with GPS. Other sources (such as Map My Ride and Garmin devices) may give differing elevation figures due to different GPS and mapping technologies. Readings from a Garmin or a smart phone are influenced by other factors such as air pressure.
Meals
All breakfasts, 4 lunches, 4 dinners
Available Bike Options
The key to a stellar day’s ride is a bike that’s perfectly in tune with your cycling style… Backroads has you covered with the best bike fleet in the world! Read on for your available bike options for this trip.
Backroads Titanium Bikes (Included in your trip price)
Our custom-built titanium bikes are specially designed for you—and we offer different models for varied terrain so your bike is ideally suited to the region. Our custom-made bikes are included in your trip price.
Touring Bike (Included)
Burley Kazoo trailer bike (Included in your trip price)
The Burley Kazoo trailer bike, for children up to 85 pounds, attaches to an adult bike with your child providing some of the pedal power for a real team effort! It's ideal for kids who may be comfortable pedaling around the neighborhood but aren't yet ready for bike touring.
Burley Cub trailer (Included)
Burley Cub trailer (Included in your trip price)
The Burley Cub trailer, for one or two children 60 pounds and under, is sturdy carrier that attaches to our bikes. It provides a comfortable and safe ride in the spacious interior with inner pockets for snacks and drinks, a reclining seat with a secure five point padded harness system and an adjustable sunscreen.
Burley Cub trailer
Also Included
- Expertise and services of our experienced Trip Leaders
- Snacks and beverages between meals
- Additional guides and experts from the region on many trips
- Van shuttles to support a variety of route options
- Comprehensive Travel Planner with detailed pre-trip information
- Private guided tours at museums, historic sites, wineries and other select attractions as noted in the Travel Planner
- All gratuities at hotels and restaurants
- Special events, including wine tastings and other select attractions as mentioned in the Travel Planner
- On biking and multi-adventure trips, use of fully equipped Backroads titanium bike plus helmet and accessories
- Trailercycles, carriers, and kid-sized helmets for Family Trips
- Equipment and experienced guides for kayaking, rafting, snorkeling, sailing and canoeing as described
- Park and other entry fees
- Fares for trains, ferries and other modes of travel as listed in the Travel Planner
- Select coach transfers
- Baggage transfers and porterage
Get the Straight Talk about This Trip
We want to make sure you're on the right trip and that you have the best experience possible. Every Backroads trip is unique and this one is no exception.
Terrain & Shuttles
For the best riding in Switzerland, we've chosen a combination of small, quiet roads and some unpaved bike paths with stretches of limited van support. Our bikes are equipped with slightly wider tires to accommodate the paths and trail surfaces.
Why Travel with Backroads in Switzerland
An Exclusive Stay at a Magnificent Hotel
Backroads is the only active travel company that arranges exclusive stays at Grandhotel Geissbach, a stunning retreat set by a thundering waterfall on a hillside overlooking Lake Brienz. Accessed by a private funicular railway, the castle-inspired hotel is like a portal back into the Golden Age of European travel – and the perfect luxury home base after a day of multi-adventures in the surrounding mountains, lakes and valleys.
Get the Most Out of Each Day
Coordinating multiple activities throughout a single day can be tricky, but with Backroads you'll never know it. When you explore Switzerland with us, you switch activities seamlessly without missing a beat. We invented the multi-adventure concept, and we're constantly adding new dimensions and fine-tuning the experience to make it even more enjoyable.
Everyone at Their Own Pace
We design and support our Switzerland trips to suit mixed abilities and varied interests—so you can set your own pace, then change things up as the day unfolds. And all guests are free to do the same, traveling together or apart, with no one cramping anyone else's style. Which sounds easy in theory, but it's hard to pull off. Here's more on how we do it.
More Leaders to Support You
On our Switzerland trips we have an extra leader supporting you along the road and trail—for a total of three, compared to the industry standard two. So we can be in more places at once, giving personal attention to guests traveling at their own pace. Here's more on our Trip Leaders.
We Live in the Neighborhood
Our Trip Leaders in Switzerland live in the area and are deeply engaged in their communities, giving them unique inside knowledge they're happy to share in making your experience that much richer. They'll introduce you to people, customs and parts of town you'd likely never encounter on your own—and teach you a few local phrases to help break the ice.
We Invented the Multi-Adventure Trip
After more than 30 years of creating Backroads Multi-Adventures, our trip designers know how to blend the perfect balance of biking and hiking with other activities to showcase the best of a region. And then they arrange the seamless transitions that would be so hard to orchestrate on your own—adding dimensions to your trip that are exciting, inspiring and just plain fun.
Signature Backroads Picnics
Guests rave about our picnic spreads. Enjoy a welcome break in a scenic spot, or a quick refuel stop if you don't want to lose momentum. And because we have two vans, one can host lunch while the other is out providing support along the route.
Experts with Secrets to Share
In choosing the ideal experts to enrich your travel experience, we look for people with a wealth of local knowledge, but also the ability to convey their insights in English. Too often travelers find themselves smiling politely, not quite understanding what they're being told. Our experts share intriguing facts, anecdotes and inside stories that stay with you forever.
Your Trip Will Run. Period.
Under our Book with Confidence policy, your Backroads trip will run even for one or two people (or a family of three or four), subject to a nominal extra fee. Or transfer to another trip, and we'll give you a credit. It's all part of our trademark commitment to treating guests with integrity, transparency and total accountability. Read all the details.
The Best Leaders in Switzerland
Backroads has the best-qualified people to lead your trip in Switzerland, and our guests back that up, rating our Trip Leaders an average of 9.75 out of 10 for all-around quality of performance. Get the facts (and no fluff) on how we recruit and develop the very best people for your trip.
We've Set the Standard
For nearly four decades we've worked to earn and maintain our right to call Backroads the world's #1 active travel company. In pursuing that vision on behalf of our guests, we believe we've set the standard for our industry—captured in the Backroads Quality Guide, which clearly sets out the benchmarks of excellence, choice and support that we live by
Our Cultural Roots Run Deep
Thanks to our extensive connections in Switzerland, Backroads takes you off the beaten track and deep into the region's culture in ways that traditional travel can never hope to do. We know the people and their customs, the legacy of art and architecture, the complex history and politic—and if we're not sure, our amazing local experts can fill in the blanks.
