A thrilling bike tour, starting from Basel and in a single day you can visit the Black Forest in Germany and Alsace in France, and then close the loop back to Basel along the banks of the Rhine. The route is well signaled and easy, since the gap is not too demanding, but the distance is at least 80 kilometers and can grow depending on route options chosen. The map below provides a route of about 90 km which takes about a day pedaling slowly and stopping to admire the many attractions.
It begins in Basel, in the direction of Riehen, home of the Museum Foundation Beyeler. The urban area continues even after crossing the border into Germany, passing the town of Loerrach. North of Loerrach start several paths, including the Dreiland-Weg. The bicycle path turns straight to the black forest and crosses some beautiful and peaceful villages (Kandern, Liel, Schliengen, Auggen, Neuenburg), with their markets, their railways, the sunny vineyards. Here the Rhine becomes sluggish and you can reach France by crossing one of the bridges for cyclists.
You begin to descend the Rhine towards Basel and discover unforgettable corners of Alsace: the cosmopolitan industrial city of Mulhouse with 1200 houses of the first French settlement of workers and its legendary collection of trains and cars, the Canal du Rhone au Rhin with its boats for tourists, the lone region of Sundgau with its ponds of carps. You return along the Canal de Huningue, that borders the natural reserve of the small Camargue.
The walkway of the three countries (Switzerland, Germany, France) sums up a great trip, which draws a triangle between three states, with their landscapes, their peculiarities, the forest and the river, the extraordinary culinary delights, languages and dialects, road signs and signs of inns, tractors and maize fields, canals and factories, the peasants’ houses with peaked roofs. An opulent feast for palate, eyes, ears, calves and heart, a real journey in the heart of Europe.