Bike hire in Switzerland

[Matty]

Does anybody know of alternatives to Rentabike for bike hire in Switzerland. Bike rental costs are
pretty expensive at 30SF per bike per day from the train stations. We could buy a bike for the cost
of a week's bike hire! Anywhere at either Basel, Geneva or in between would be OK. We are looking at
travelling in June for 9 days.

 

[Michel Schinz]

[email protected] (Matty) writes:

> Does anybody know of alternatives to Rentabike for bike hire in Switzerland. Bike rental costs are
> pretty expensive at 30SF per bike per day from the train stations.

Considering how expensive Switzerland is, that's not a lot, really.

That said, one way to save a little bit of money would be to rent a tandem, which is usually less
expensive than two individual bikes. I seem to remember that I rented one in Neuchatel for 50.- CHF
a day (the shop is Oberbike, phone +41 32 724 91 91).

That said, it's not as convenient as renting in a train station, as you have to bring it back to the
same shop and you can only bring it back when it's open.

Another rental shop I found in Lausanne is the following:

http://www.delacombaz.ch/blade_bike.html

Their Web page is not really clear about prices. It seems to be cheap, but it's not clear for how
long the bikes can be rented. I guess you should contact them.

HTH, Michel.

 

[Jacques]

I agree it looks quite expensive, but most probably when you bring the bike back they will have to
do a little work on it before they pass it to the next customer. They may also have to send it
somewhere else for the next customer. If you plan to spend one or two months, it could be worth
indeed buying a bike, but don't imagine spending less than 500 CHF if you want something vaguely
reliable. You may find a bike at 9 days x 30 CHF = 270 CHF, but don't expect to ride 9 days with it
before something breaks apart !

As for non-commercial alternatives, look at this site:
http://www.geneve.ch/gebouge/partenaires/org-deplac.html#2 GENEV'ROULE will offer cheaper bikes
(they say 7 CHF/day, or even free if carrying advertisement), or sell used bikes. Don't expect the
last model, though. I rather imagine 3-speed sturmey archer kind, but maybe I'm biased. The ASPIC
site also referenced there may contain some more hints.

If you buy a (used or new) bike in Switzerland, don't forget to buy the "vignette" (sticker)
which costs 4 CHF and is your mandatory liability insurance (if you hurt a pedestrian, damage a
car, etc...)

Jacques

On Tue, 13 May 2003 19:28:35 +0000, Matty wrote:

> Does anybody know of alternatives to Rentabike for bike hire in Switzerland. Bike rental costs are
> pretty expensive at 30SF per bike per day from the train stations. We could buy a bike for the
> cost of a week's bike hire! Anywhere at either Basel, Geneva or in between would be OK. We are
> looking at travelling in June for 9 days.