Renting a bike in Switzerland is pretty easy, especially through the Rent A Bike website, which enables online reservations for rental locations at train stations and private bike shops. Below are some methods on finding the right rental for you.
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Online Bike Rental – Rent a Bike
Rent A Bike is a helpful rental service (in English) linked with both public train stations and private bike rentals in Switzerland, as shown on this map.
You can make bike reservations through this site and see what equipment is available at various locations. Some locations rent children’s bike equipment like children’s bikes, child carriers, bike trailers, tandem bikes, and helmets. You can see the types of bikes available on this page.
Note that bike season is 1 April through 31 October and availability is limited outside this period.
From Rent A Bike, you can rent 1/2 day (until 13:30), 1 day or multiple consecutive days. Most allow you to pick up the bike in one location and drop it off at another location for a fee, about CHF 10.
Adults with SBB Half-Fare or GA card will get about a CHF 5 discount. Children with SBB Juniorcards receive a 50% discount. Prices include helmets. Here are some sample prices from 2019.
- Full day adult bike = CHF 35, child bike = CHF 30
- Bike trailer or tandem attachment = full day CHF 17.50 (with rental of adult bike)
- Child seat for adult bike = free
Bike reservations
On weekends and school holidays, it’s best to call ahead to reserve and also make sure they have children’s equipment you need, as some shops only stock adult bikes or very few children’s bikes. During school holidays, we have found that some bike shops are completely booked out, with all their equipment reserved weeks in advance. So plan ahead.
German vocabulary for bikes
German terms for children’s bike equipment:
- Kindersitz = child seat on back of bike, rented free of charge
- Kindervelo = child’s bike, sizes 24cm
- Kinderanhänger = bike trailer with room for 1-2 children aged 1 to 6
- Windshattenvelo = tandem attachment to adult bike, for children aged 4 to 7
Combo train travel with bike rental
If you travel by train that day, you can get a 20% discount on the bike rental. It’s probably easiest to buy this combo ticket at the ticket counter, saying where you are traveling to and that you want to rent a bike at the destination. More information and current details on this SBB webpage.
Bike Shop Network
Veloland.ch has links to bike rental and cycle service shops, both on their maps and on region and route profiles. The Bicycle and E-bike page lists contact info for bike rentals in Switzerland or can be filtered by region. The Veloland Map shows bike rentals and cycle services on a map (click icon to view details). Each city or region profile has links to bike rentals for that area, for example, Interlaken, Lenzerheide, Kreuzlingen/Konstanz, Lucerne, Zurich.
City Bike Sharing from Publibike
Publibike is a self-service bike sharing system in over 100 locations across Switzerland. You can pick and drop off in different locations, 24/7. It offers yearly memberships as well as daily or short-term use. They offer e-Bikes and city bikes for adults. They do not offer children’s bikes or child bike seats.
Free city bike rental
Some Swiss cities offer free bike rentals for use in the city, like Zürirollt in Zurich. At Zürirollt, you leave an ID and CHF 20 deposit per bike and you have free use of the bike for the day. The bikes can be dropped off at any of the other Zürirollt stations in the city. You can’t reserve bikes. Most have children’s bikes (usually 20 or 24 in) and child bike seats, though supply is limited. Some have scooters as well. I’ve used this service to rent bikes and ride them along the Sihl river on the west side of Zurich lake, which I would recommend. See locations and opening times on the Zürirollt website.
6 responses
Hi – I am interested in the possibility of renting a bicycle to cycle The Rhine in late August to the end of September. I’d like to pick up the bike in Zurich and drop it off in Amsterdam. Then there is the issue of getting it back to Zurich by shipping or…..? Do you know of a bike rental place in Zurich who might be open to this kind of arrangement? Thank you for any leads you might have!
Sorry but I’m not familiar with long distance multi-country bike rentals like you describe. Good luck!
Hi,
I cycled that route a number of years ago. Your best option is to fly your own bike into Zurich.
The basement at Schipol in Amsterdam just charge about 12 EUR to pack your bike into a cardboard box for air transport. Best of luck!
Thanks for sharing this helpful tip! I agree that bringing your own bike might be easier.
I’m intending to ride a bike with a group of 8 other cyclists, riding the Eurovelo17 from the Alps to the Mediterranean Sea. We expect to be riding for 23 days fro April/May 2020. We would be taking the bikes via train to the starting location and would like to drop off the bikes in Marseilles. Any suggestions ?
Sounds like an exciting adventure. This is really outside my scope of knowledge. I would recommend contacting a bike touring company in Switzerland. Even if they don’t do that kind of rental, they should have the right contacts for that sort of thing. I would also recommend posting on some cycling forums. There you will find experts on this topic. Good luck!