Escape with us to greener pastures, where waterfalls tumble, lakes dazzle in outrageous shades of blue, and gondolas carry your family within yodeling distance of glaciated peaks. You'll even sleep in the shadow of the Eiger's north face. And you won't quite believe what you see. An altitude-induced mirage? Just another moment of alpine bliss in Switzerland.
Day 1 Savor breathtaking alpine scenery as you commute the Swiss way: by chairlift! | Hike on a ridge above Lake Oeschinen, surrounded by limestone cliffs, snowy peaks and hanging ice | Cold beer and hot cocoa await at a traditional alpine hut.
Day 2 From flower-laden chalets to milk cows adorned with brass bells, the scenery is quintessentially Swiss as you pedal through a serene valley | Ride past turquoise Lake Thun en route to Interlaken | Hop aboard a cogwheel train bound for Grindelwald | Enjoy an alphorn serenade | Indulge in decadent fondue paired with regional wines.
Days 3-4 dmire the famed Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau towering above the emerald-green landscape | Hike from First Peak to Bachalpsee, one of Switzerland’s most beautiful lakes | Let loose on an exhilarating descent by Trotti bikes into Grindelwald Valley | Walk on the impressive north face of the Eiger Trail, one of Switzerland’s most famous trails.
Days 5-6 Bike into Meiringen Valley past countless waterfalls, including seven-tiered Reichenbach Falls | Bike along Lake Brienz and kayak in its turquoise waters | Amble along the lake’s shore to the charming town of Iseltwald.
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. Read the Straight Talk
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.
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A family-run alpine retreat surrounded by verdant forests and soaring snowcapped mountains. A Relais & Châteaux member. (pool, spa)
Catch stunning views of Eiger's north face from this luxurious chalet-style hotel. (pool, spa)
Elegance and old-world charm reign at this turreted beauty in a picturesque setting by Lake Brienz and the Giessbach Falls. (pool)
There's no better way to find out about Backroads than by hearing it from the people who have traveled with us. For more about the Backroads Experience, read our Guest Testimonials.
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The earlier you book, the more choice you'll have and the lower your price. And you can always change your mind—you won't be charged to transfer to a different trip before your final payment is due.
Please click on a date below for specific pricing and possible itinerary variations.
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AVAILABLE TO BOOKi GOING FASTi CONTACT USi PRIVATE TRIP - RESERVEDi
Interested in a Private Trip? Check out the Make It Private tab for private dates available, or call us at 800-462-2848.
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.
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| Daily Route Options | |||||||||||
| Day | Activity | EASYGOING | ACTIVE | AVID | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Level 1 | Level 2 | Level 3 | Level 4 | Level 5 | |||||||
| miles | feet gain | miles | feet gain | miles | feet gain | miles | feet gain | miles | feet gain | ||
| 1 | Walking/Hiking | 4 | 400 | 6 | 1000 | 7 | 1600 | ||||
| 2 | Biking | 20* | 400 | 40 | 1600 | ||||||
| Biking | 25 | 500 | |||||||||
| 3 | Walking/Hiking | 6 | 500 | 10 | 2100 | ||||||
| 4 | Walking/Hiking | 3 | 800 | 6 | 2200 | 8 | 3200 | ||||
| 5 | Biking | 17* | 1000 | 28 | 1800 | ||||||
| Kayaking | on Lake Brienz (2 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 levels 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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Gather your favorite people to share a Backroads adventure on a ready-to-book Private Trip - featuring all the legendary Backroads hallmarks from expert leaders to unforgettable activities. You can pick from a large selection of dates for your group of 8 or more. Call us for date availability. If your party has fewer than 8 guests, or if your preferred date is not available, we'll create a departure just for you.
Click on a date below for specific pricing and possible itinerary variations.
8 AVAILABLE TO BOOK FOR 8 OR MORE GUESTS 16 AVAILABLE TO BOOK FOR 16 OR MORE GUESTS RESERVED
Don't see your ideal travel date? Make a Date! i
Invite your family and friends on an adventure that's entirely your own - for your group of 8 or more. Find out more
I simply can't imagine a better way to immerse yourself in the life of a region, to explore hidden corners and appreciate nuances while enjoying the benefits and enormous satisfaction of traveling under your own power. These are experiences you cannot have behind the wheel of a car, or on a train or a tour bus. Active travel is, at its heart, a way of connecting more authentically with the world. Sure, Backroads provides amazing leaders, superb accommodations and meals, and opportunities you could never arrange on your own. But all of our comprehensive planning and support is aimed at something far simpler: bringing you the immediate, highly personal satisfaction of discovering a new world on your own terms.
— Tom Hale, Founder & President
