Cycling EuroVelo 17 from The Alps to Avignon through Switzerland and France along the River Rhone.

Frank and Daphne, two retirees from Canada, are on a leisurely cycle tour following the River Rhone through Switzerland and France on EuroVelo 17. Having just ridden from the west coast of France to Basel, Switzerland, this section continues after a train ride from Basel to Andermatt. From here, we follow EV 17 as far as Avignon. This part of the ride took place in June 2019.
The Swiss portion of this route follows Swiss national cycle Route 1, and the French section is also know as the Via Rhona.
A heat wave at the end of June altered our plan slightly so the last part of the video after Avignon is a brief glimpse of our tour of Provence and beyond by car!

[@justinpeer5660]

I'm currently planning on riding the Via Rhona next September and came across your video when searching for information. Thank you for such a lovely way of previewing the journey, that was a delightful way to spend a half hour.

[@daphnebehindbars]

Great that you found the video Justin and thanks for watching! Hope you enjoy the planning and the ride 😁

[@richardzanetti9006]

We have just cycled Eurovelo 17. I watched your videos before we went and just re watched it again. Great video and nice to see the sights again. Thank you for sharing it. Overall a great route. The route has been modified a bit. In particular the section in to Lyon and the section in to Avignon. It is flat after Vienne with a hillier section between Geneva and Seyssel. We stayed in hotels so we could travel light, just a large saddle bag each. We took 10 days and were on road bikes which were fine as most of the route is on perfect tarmac and the gravel sections are easy. We flew out of Marseille

[@daphnebehindbars]

That's great Richard! And thanks for watching the video and sharing the updates after you rode it yourselves - cheers!

[@lgrobby2144]

Thank you Daphne and Frank for your wonderful videos of Eurovelo 6 and 15. I've loved every bit of them. It has definitely inspired me to do some touring.

[@daphnebehindbars]

We're so glad you enjoyed the videos and that they inspired you! We only started cycle touring in 2018 and we feel that if we can do it, anyone can!

[@phillcubed1745]

Absolutely delightful, and interesting. Many thanks.

[@daphnebehindbars]

Glad you enjoyed it Phill!

[@FollowThomas]

Great trip overview. It's very pretty there. 👍

[@enoisporai...7772]

Beautiful images, congratulations, it is very good to travel through your videos.

[@ellejay4497]

What a lovely video! I will be riding the Eurovelo 17 from Lyon south and your video had all kinds of great information. France is so beautiful!

[@daphnebehindbars]

Thank you Elle! Glad you liked it and hope you have a wonderful time on your ride. Yes we really love France too 😀

[@jonathankilbey5785]

Nice video. A real pity about the rain near Montreux and Lausanne, on a nice day the views are absolutely stunning. Pity you missed Nyon and Geneva to go to Gex ( I live in Geneva, so maybe I’m a bit biased but it’s a lovely city!) You did well to take a train from Lyon, I spent a terrible few hours there trying to get out of the town. Anyone doing this route would do well to restart biking at Givors just south of Lyon and not miss out Vienne as it is a nice friendly place. Good on you for getting out on the bikes, I’ll be retiring in a few years and have lots of trips planned. Take care and ride well

[@daphnebehindbars]

Thank you so much Jonathan! Obviously you must be pretty familiar with these areas, so some good tips there for others who might be doing the route. We'll have to keep Geneva in mind for a future visit. Roll on retirement so you too can spend more time exploring all these places by bike!

[@MrJx4000]

Nice ride. I like your combination of still pics and videos; it lets us see some of the more interesting sights. That scenery no doubt has changed after the 2021 floods. It's good that you did this well before.

[@daphnebehindbars]

Thank you William!

[@waltraudvergeiner1002]

Thanks for these 2 lovely videos of your tour of France. 🧡 It makes me dreaming of cycling out again myself while looking out into a dull winter scenery living in the Austrian Alps. Wish you good health and many more trips like this! xxx

[@daphnebehindbars]

Thank you so much for your nice comment. Yes we all need some nice scenery to look at to help us through our long winters. We have a low of -34C forecast for later this week where I live!!!

[@Gabriel-pt6tq]

Great video, I'm pondering doing this ride later this summer.

[@daphnebehindbars]

Thank you - hope you enjoy riding the route if you go!

[@barristersummer238]

magnificent

[@howardkantoff5938]

Thank you for sharing your adventure!

[@daphnebehindbars]

Our pleasure! Thanks for watching 😀

[@Velo_Safari]

Thank you. Love the map and route info.

[@cheapcigs9772]

Thanks for sharing. Love Switzerland

[@daphnebehindbars]

Thanks for watching!

[@terset9912]

Wonderful video....and I was very pleased to see the Canadian flag on your bikes.:). You've a very soothing and pleasant voice for narration. This is the second Eurovelo video I've watched, in as many days, as part of my research... wondering which route would be best for me to start with. Also, like your husband, I'd like to visit Chamonix and Annecy, and maybe do the Tour de Mont Blanc. I don't want to ride in any heavy traffic... if necessary, I'd skip those sections with a train ride as well.

[@daphnebehindbars]

Thank you so much for your lovely comment. I'd have to say for a first trip, you can't beat EuroVelo 6, perhaps starting from Nantes and following the Loire. You could decide how far you want to go and then connect by train after that. That was our favourite route so far. Good signage, easy accomodation options (either camping or hotels) and little or no traffic to contend with. And so much to see.

[@markbewley4974]

Excellent content very enjoyable to watch, thank you for sharing 😊

[@daphnebehindbars]

Thanks Mark - glad you enjoyed it!

[@harrycaul2494]

Great video , lovely voice for narration, thank you

[@daphnebehindbars]

Thank you so much Harry!

[@JirkaVor1]

Thank you for a wonderful trip to France. There are no travel conditions right now. Ukraine is at war. As a result, gasoline prices have reached somewhere in the sky. It is amazing how well Europe has so far absorbed refugees. Everyone helps. Hopefully it will end well soon.

[@TamaEnergy]

I have 11 days off in July im a 23 year old Triathelete and very excited for an adventure but no idea where to go! :D

[@daphnebehindbars]

It can be hard to decide when there are so many choices! Depends what kind of scenery you want to see. Whatever you choose, happy trails!

[@tamarawh3677]

Hi Daphne, thanks so much for your video. I'd like to do the via rhona from Geneva to St Marie de la Mer. I noticed in some parts of your trip you mentioned there were tunnels and some sections on the road. Is it possible to avoid these and cycle through country side instead? I'm not interested in the cities and more in being in nature so I was wondering if some of those difficult routes can be avoided. Also, was it a difficult terrain from Geneva onwards, meaning lots of uphill climbing? Thank you!

[@daphnebehindbars]

Hi Tamara, generally speaking this is not a hilly route, especially if you're doing it from north to south, although there are occasional small hills. The tunnels you are referring to are in an area called la Balme, near Virignin. From what I can remember, they did have a shoulder or cycling lane, but it is the noise in the tunnels that is scarey. These ones were not that dangerous for cyclists in my opinion, although it's always a good idea to have a rear light and wear something bright to make sure you are seen. If you really want to avoid them, you can probably figure out a detour using Google Maps, using some other roads. For example you might be able to go west from Virignin across the bridge on the D31A and cycle down the west side of the river, then rejoin the Via Rhona at Murs-et-Gelenieux. But I don't know if that is a busy road, etc. Unfortunately, tunnels are usually built to avoid hills and mountains, so if you choose to go another way, you may have to cycle some hills! But Google maps is a great tool for getting this information, and you can use the little yellow man to look and see what the road is like! Don't let a few hills put you off though - there's no shame in getting off and pushing and taking your time! It will be so worth it. And the tunnels might not be so bad, especially if you're fore-warned about the noise (I heard someone recommending wearing ear plugs for the tunnels). Good luck and I hope you plan to do this awesome ride!

[@BodybreakHal-Jo]

Hi Enjoyed your videos very much. My wife and I want to take on the challenge of cycling parts of Europe. This year we did the Gap and C&O from Pittsburg to Washington, there was vertical no traffic for the 600 km. Which eurovelo route would you recommend for little traffic and access to hotels. We love to bike not real campers. Looking to go 1200 to 1500km. I think we we pack our Canadian flag as well 🇨🇦 Thank you Hal

[@daphnebehindbars]

Hi Hal, glad you enjoyed the videos! I've been thinking about your question, and of course there are many different route options in Europe. But just based on our own rides, I'd have to say EV 6, particularly the section across France between the Atlantic and Basel would be a great choice, and that would be about 1400 -1500km. EV 6 is probably one of the most developed EV routes in terms of signage also, so it's very easy to follow. There's lots to see (like chateaus in the Loire Valley, great cities like Orleans, Tours etc) and loads of accommodation options. Best of all, hardly any road cycling, and if you are on a road, it's very quiet. When we did that route, we flew into Nantes from Canada, using Air Transat, which was convenient. That being said, any section of EV 6 between Nantes and Vienna and beyond has great pathways (although we ourselves haven't ridden it east of Passau). Good luck with your trip planning!

[@Mochioverland]

Nice video! Thanks for sharing! What was the weight of your bikes?

[@daphnebehindbars]

I'm sorry - we never did get the weight

[@HelmutNapsMaximilian]

Freue mich, dass es doch noch Fahrradfahrer gibt, die reisen und nicht nur auf der Jagd nach HM und KM sind.

[@Mochioverland]

Sind sicher nicht die einzigen ;) Wir haben Einen getroffen, der täglich mindestens 150km fuhr. Von Früh bis Abends... Er hat uns fast schon Leid getan...

[@ToastandJam52]

There is a horrible whistling noise coming from this video (at first I thought there was something wrong with my speakers). Just couldn't watch it. Pity.

[@daphnebehindbars]

Thanks for letting me know about that. So strange as it seems normal when I play it on KZbin right now. I can't explain that - sorry ☹️

[@5mjc]

You did not do much cycling thou did you ? More like a train ride

[@daphnebehindbars]

Not sure what you mean since we rode 750km in this video! The riding really begins 5mins into the video.