Cycling holidays: Aare-Route Grimselpass - Aarau

Transfer up to the Grimselpass in the morning. An imponsant alpine landscape with diversity: Reservoirs and power plants surrounded by icy green-gray granite mountains – a balance act for your eyes.

Steep descent to the Aare valley and onwards to Meiringen and the Sherlock Holmes museum. Take a short breather, then at the shore of the Lake of Brienz there is another hill to cross before reaching your stage goal of Iseltwald.

The deep Lake of Brienz, clear, quiet and sombre. The Lake of Thun, shallower, open and lively. In the middle, Interlaken, a trendy tourist and adventure centre, dominated by those icy icons, the Eiger, Mönch & Jungfrau.

Continue with the ship to Thun, the gateway to the Bernese Oberland and from there to the wide Aaretal (Aare Valley): large villages, industry, open fields and a powerful river in lush water meadows. Then follows the entrance to Bern, the capital city of Switzerland and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Idyllic trio at Lake Wohlensee: bird paradise, hydroelectric power station and nuclear pile. The Aare leads into the Seeland, a huge vegetable garden thanks to the canal Hagneck.

Behind reeds and woodland you can sense the Lake Biel, cheerful hustle and bustle in bilingual Biel-Bienne.

"Children" of the Jura water correction: the Nidau-Büren canal and the old water loop in the Häftli. Witi-Altreu, the world of the stork and hare chamber. Continue along the banks of the Aare river until you spot the St. Ursen Tower which marks the baroque town of Solothurn.

The so-called "Ambassadorial City" of Solothurn is considered the most beautiful baroque city in Switzerland, where Italian grandeur is combined with French charm and German-Swiss down-to-earthness.

From here always the Aare "naa" (to) - Aarau, capital of the canton of Aargau in the Swiss Midlands (Schweizer Mittelland) , lies on the river Aare, to which the city and canton owe their names.