Cycling UK Forum

On the one hand once you get to Geneva, life will be easier. You can follow Swiss National Cycle Route 1 to Lausanne and then Route 5 to Zurich. On the other hand accommodation and restaurant meals are pricey in Switzerland. Check out Swiss Youth Hostels which are very reasonable in price, especially if you book an evening meal as well. More info can be found on http://www.veloland.ch/en/welcome.cfm and in our "Cycle Touring in Switzerland" published by Cicerone.
Reasonably priced accommodation in France can be found on the Gites de France website: http://www.gites-de-france.com/gites/uk/bed_breakfasts. In our experience back roads (normally white on the map) in France are quiet. Apart from major cities there are however few specific cycle routes, unlike Switzerland.
Happy cycling

Neil
Bergstrasse Bike Books

We wrote about bike hire companies in Frankfurt and in other German cities at the start of 2009 on our blog: http://europeancycling.blogspot.com/200 ... -main.html. We found three bike hire companies in Frankfurt:

Die Radprofis. Kai Hundertmarck und Theo Intra
Westerbachstraße 273
65936 Frankfurt am Main
Tel.: +49 (0) 69 / 34 27 80
http://www.intra-radsport.de

Hex Hex Fahrradladen
Owner: Berthold Gentzler
Gutleutstraße 156
60327 Frankfurt am Main
Tel.: +49 (0) 69 / 23 34 44
Fax: +49 (0) 69 / 23 34 94
http://www.hexhex-fahrraeder.de

Die Fahrradscheune
Alt Harheim 27
60437 Frankfurt am Main
Tel.: +49 (0) 6101 / 489 58
http://www.fahrradscheune.de
In our experience the tourist authorities in Frankfurt do not know much touring bike hire. You could also try contacting the ADFC in Frankfurt (http://www.adfc-frankfurt.de/).
Happy Cycling

Neil

Try contacting the ADFC Munich (ADFC=CTC in Germany) on info@adfc-muenchen.de . You can write in English to ask your question.
Bye

CJ wrote:

malcd wrote:There are now fast trains through France and into Spain so flying is not the only alternative, look at "Spain" in The Man in seat 61

Yes, but getting a fully equipped touring bike onto them is far from straightforward!

We have used the overnight SNCF Corail sleeper train from Paris Austerlitz to Toulouse and loaded two touring bikes and a trailer into a bike compartment on the train with no difficulty at all. I assume the other similar trains to Irun will also offer bike compartments.

I doubt very much if you need a cycle map for Luxembourg. It is a very small country. Check out http://www.pch.public.lu/reseau_routier ... index.html for free downloadable maps of the cycle routes in the country.
You only need one map for Switzerland: Kümmerly and Frey 1:301 000 Touristic Cycling Map. Swiss cycle route marking is superb. Check out http://www.veloland.ch/en/welcome.cfm for all sorts of info on Swiss cycling. You might also find our "Cycle Touring in Switzerland" published by Cicerone useful once you are there. (Please excuse the plug, but it is a good book.)