E-Biking in Switzerland: When There’s Not Enough Time, Rent a Bike
by Raegan Nelson
Our trip was planned during the shoulder season of tourism to allow for less crowds and cooler temperatures. This also meant the ridge-lines were still closed to hikers/bikers or required snow shoes. So last minute, our plans changed from hiking in Schywz to spending a few days in Thun. Looking at the online tourism sites, there was a bike route through the mountains near Thun that didn’t say closed, although it didn’t say open either. We decided to try. How else were we going to see over 20 miles of mountainous countryside in a few hours?
We explored Thun on foot the first afternoon, stopping by bike shops to discuss rentals. The first shop we visited was a bust. All the bikes were already rented out. However, he gave us a recommendation for another shop down the road. Again, all bikes were rented out. We were left with one last hope… in Interlaken. By then, it was too late in the day to get ahold of anyone there, so we decided to head that way first thing in the morning.
We woke up to clear skies, our first views of the alps without full cloud coverage. This gave us a good feeling. The bus ride from Thun to Interlaken was 56 minutes of winding, narrow road. Next to us on the bus were two guys with mountain bikes. Another hopeful sign. By the time we arrived at the shop, they only had 3 e-bikes left. Medium, large, and extra large. He looked at us, gauged our sizes, and said “I think they are too big, but you can try”. We rented them.
I showed the worker the route we had screenshotted, hoping for confirmation that it would be passable. Stepping out of the shop, he took a look up at the mountain and said “Yeah it looks good. You can let me know if there’s snow when you get back”. He recommended a slight variation to the route we had picked, providing us a map with circles drawn around different towns to guide us. We were off. It was 11:45am and the bikes had to be back before 4pm.
Immediately, we were in awe of the beauty surrounding us. The sound of cow bells. The running water as we passed by water falls. The breeze on our faces. The new views with each turn. We kept saying “wow” over and over again. The worker had said “when you get to the top of the mountain, you aren’t going to trust your eyes”. He was right.
We did all the elevation…easily. Thanks to turbo mode on the E-bikes. As first time E-bikers, we could not believe how much of a difference it made. Pedaling at a steep incline barely felt harder than riding on flat ground. Breaks were taken for pictures instead of catching our breath.
A couple hours in, we were regretting our lack of packed food after the first few towns had no open restaurant. Thankful for our phones and good service, we still had a few options ahead to check out. About a half mile off route, we found a cute little restaurant in the small mountain town of Habkern. We propped our bikes up by a tree and sat at a table outside with a view of the mountains. We ordered a schnitzelwurst with fries and a cheese tray. It was delicious and exactly what we needed to keep going!
Due to time, we didn’t make it all the way to Thun before we had to catch a bus back to Interlaken. Winding down the road on the final descent while quickly gaining speed, I had to come to an abrupt stop. A bug was IN my eye. The whole bug. In my eye. I called out to my husband. As he looked in my eye, he said “Oh my gosh. There’s a bug in it” YEAH I KNOW. He got the bug out and we continued to round out the last few corners before reaching the bus stop.
In the end, we covered 21 miles and 3,373 ft elevation. We stopped for many pictures, saw multiple mountain towns, met a couple of locals, and could not have asked for any more out of this last minute bike rental. Needless to say, we were hooked. The amount of land and elevation could only be seen, in this short of time, with an e-bike or car. Maybe I am bias, but an e-bike is 100 times better than a car. You get the benefits of hiking- surrounded by the sounds and sights of nature and the ability to easily stop at any point AND you also get the benefit of a car- covering many miles within a short period of time without sore feet. This bias was confirmed by another last minute bike rental in Lauterbrunnen 3 days later.
