- Highlights: Thun (and its Castle)
Route 99- Section 3 (Laupen 489m -Thun 560m)
Stats from SwitzerlandMobility.ch: 64 km (10 km unpaved). Height difference is L–T: 1100m, T–L: 1000 m. Their site has the full profile.
August 2016 (1-day trip)
This section was very tiring, due to the fact that the first half of the trip presented very long uphill segments, though not extremely steep. It was not as diverse as Section 2, which remains my favorite. I did not see any important town, with the exception of Laupen and Thun.
The first half passes through hills and woods, with the Jura mountains seen in the distance.
But for me the best panorama is in the last third of the journey towards Thun, with views of the same Bernese Alps that inspired JRR Tolkien.
In Amsoldingen, we discovered a large 10th century church built with massive white stones. Next to it, is a picturesque Halloween-style cemetery from early 20th century.
We finally couldn’t wait to reach Thun. Thun (560m) is a small medieval town at one end of Lake Thun. It is dominated by a beautiful Castle dating back to the 12th century and located on a hill from which one has a great panoramic view of the town, lake and Alps. The castle can be partially visited and contains a historic museum in some of the tower rooms (but we arrived too late to visit it). Also reviewed in Route 8:03.
Thun attracts a lot of tourists. Aside from the castle, it has also a charming and lively historic center near the water.
Here are the links to Introduction & other sections of Route 99:
- BIKING THROUGH SWITZERLAND (with an electric bike)
- Route 99 (Heart Route): Section 1 (Lausanne to Romont)
- Route 99: Section 2 (Romont to Laupen)
- Route 99: Section 4 (Thun–Langnau I.E)
- Route 99: Section 5 (Langnau i.E.–Burgdorf)
- Route 99: Section 6 – Burgdorf to Willisau
- Route 99: Section 7 – Willisau to Zug
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