Bike Switzerland

Bike Switzerland

The PREMIER bicycle tour company of Switzerland! Based in Geneva, and with a staff made up of educators living in Switzerland, this operator is devoted to intercultural exchange and cycling. If you are interested in biking this region, Bike Switzerland has an option for you, whether luxury or budget, beginner or hard-core. Accomodations are 3- and 4- star hotels (in our experience, equivelent to 4- and 5- star in other countries). Guided tours include a variety of cultural experiences: wine-tasting, cheese making, breakfast on a farm, mountain hikes and village festivals. The value-oriented self-guided option includes hands on service with cell phones and GPS guidance. On the heartier rides, there are options of 100 kilometer days and 1000 meter climbs with additional bonus miles (!). Non-riding spouses and partners, and those looking for easier mileage are welcome and are provided with train transportation options allowing them to explore the region. This company is willing to be very flexible and ensures that you will have a comprehensive experience of biking in Switzerland.

Regional Notes:

Geneva and surrounding areas.

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3 Reviews

  1. Robin Ruegg, Apple Valley Minnesota-Reply
    November 23, 2017 at 1:51 pm

    The Bike Switzerland Challenge Tour was great.

    I loved the challenge, and riding the e-bike was fun. I usually rode with the slower group, but on the hardest day with the steepest climbs, I caught up to the fast group and rode with them the rest of the day. It was scary with the steep downhills, but exhilarating too. I couldn’t believe this old fat lady could stay with them! Now, I had trained and was in shape, and it was awesome to find out I could do more than I imagined. I paid for it the next day when I was pretty tired, but oh, what a great memory!
    This trip was on our bucket list for about 10 years.

  2. SAF-Reply
    July 22, 2017 at 11:09 pm

    The description for this company is totally incorrect. There is no staff. Owner (John) and par-time student assistant mechanic.

    I was one of the 19 on the June 2017 Challenge Tour and agree with agree with the poor reviews related to this tour. Right from minute 1, when I entered the shop for my fitting, I was greeted with a cold “can I help you?” by John, given a feeling that I was a bother.

    A number of people received the same cold reception. One was nastily told he was to early (15 min), asked to come back later since he (John) was having a “private meeting”.
    The group was amazing and a lot of fun. The guides were great. Antoine (cook and luggage) was unbelievable and always doing his best to please and making sure we were well fed. Almost as if he felt bad for us about John’s lack of everything and no give s**t attitude now that he has your money.

    One of our riders (an experience and good rider) suffered a fall. No SAG vehicle or support for John. She couldn’t ride and was now on her own. Fortunately she had her husband who naturally accompanied her on the train to the next town. A few days later she had another bad fall on a gravel path and needed some medical assistance. Again, John did not give a rat’s behind and simply suggested they call an ambulance or a cab. Since no SAG van to pick-up bikes, she and husband are both still responsible for their bikes. WOW! Frustrated they told John to take the bikes back and they were done with the tour.

    I can go on about the poor service and John’s poor attitude, but likely you will read posts of a number of people that were extremely disappointed with John & Bike Switzerland.
    Yes! Country is fabulous for both scenery and best I’ve been to for bike friendly roads, paths….. But like others said, it would have been nice to have a little time to enjoy the towns and cities we arrived at, at the end of each day.

    One site suggests Bike Switzerland as the Premier Tour Company of Switzerland. Far isn’t far enough from the truth. Don’t fall for the videos (old), and the write on their site.
    I will go back to cycle other parts of Switzerland. NOT with this company!

    • John Klemme, Geneva, Switzerland-Reply
      November 20, 2017 at 2:24 pm

      The very personal nature of their review shows that we obviously got off to a bad start and I wrote to them directly to apologise for my poor reception at their arrival. Although not excusable, it was due to serious and unrelated personal circumstances.

      I’ll address here the criticism that I see as pertinent and fair.

      I agree that we should have done a better job assessing the levels of the riders. There were riders that were in over their heads and we should have caught this in our application process and will do better.

      We had only 2 guides on this trip and we needed a third. None of the reviews mention the heatwave with temperatures in the 30s. This made the riding unusually difficult and riders needed more attention. We should have been prepared for that by having a 3rd guide.

      We don’t use a sag-wagon in the same way these reviewers are used to. We have one large van that supports our tour. The driver loads all the suitcases, shops for picnic supplies, prepares a large meal of salads, cheese, meat, etc., takes it all down and then drives to the hotels to deliver the bags. On occasion, if there is an accident or if a rider is in distress, then the driver will also be there to help. We would never expect someone in distress to sort out their own problems, as one of the reviewers implies. This did not happen.

      It is true, however, that the van driver does not have the time or room to take tired riders and their bikes to the next destination. Because our itinerary follows the train-line, riders wanting a shorter day are able to take themselves and the bikes onto trains to get to our destination. Our hotels are always very close to the stations and so this is easily done.

      This is not a rule and we often make exceptions, letting a rider or two ride in the van to make it easy for them. But putting larger numbers of riders and their bikes into our van just isn’t possible.

      As for other comments about “no staff”, “student mechanic”…this is just completely invented from whole-clothe. We’re a fully-service bike shop with 2 full-time experienced mechanics.