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The source of the Rhone is in the high Alps beside the Furkapass (Stage 1)

The Rhone Cycle Route

The 895km Rhone Cycle Route starts in the high Alps of central Switzerland, then heads west past Lake Geneva into France before turning south to reach the Mediterranean near Marseille. The first 321km in Switzerland pass through the cantons of Valais, Vaud and Geneva, while 574km in France mostly traverse the Rhône-Alpes region. Towards the end, the route follows the boundary between the Languedoc-Roussillon and Provence-Alpes-Côte-d’Azur regions.

This route (Stage 1) starts at the Rhone glacier viewpoint beside the Belvédère hotel, just west of the Furkapass summit. From here it plunges 900m downhill on the Furkapass to Oberwald then continues gently downhill through Goms, the pastoral valley of the infant Rhone. Near Ernen, where the Rhone descends a moraine, the route climbs away from the river on a track above the Binntal gorge through the Binntal nature park. Returning to the valley, it continues through the upper part of Valais canton (Stage 2) passing the industrial towns of Brig and Visp. Between Leuk and Sierre, where the river drops over a second moraine, the route again leaves the river, this time following a main road through Forêt de Finges pine forest. Between Sierre and Martigny (Stage 3), where the valley turns to head north, and again from Martigny to Lake Geneva (Stage 4), the wide straight valley is lined by vineyards and bounded by the snow-capped peaks of the Diablerets and Dents du Midi ranges. There are alternative routes around Lake Geneva: one passes north of the lake through Montreux and Lausanne (Stages 5–6) and the other south through Evian and Thonon-les-Bains (Stages 5A–6A). These come together in the cosmopolitan city of Geneva, which straddles the border between Switzerland and France.