In theory it is a winning idea offering a fun experience just a short train ride from the tourist hotspot of Bern. I have to hand it to whoever thought up this back in the day it was quite a forward thinking idea when it was introduced some time around ; they even made an app for the route. It seems a few travel bloggers were enlisted to write about it, but it has faded into obscurity since then. The route has a whole 5 reviews on Tripadvisor β all of them are 5 stars at least.
It is a really wonderful area, but I can understand why it loses out to the Alps. The route is offered as a 1 or 2 day tour. Given that the 1 day tour on an e-Bike is 35km with m of height gain this is essentially an elaborate way to get you to have lunch at the show dairy.
GPX of the whole route via Dropbox. Date: July Season: Spring April to autumn October. The highest point is barely above m so it would still be doable over most of the winter given how mild the winters are getting, but it is much nicer in the warmer months especially in May and June when everything is in full bloom rather than just grim and dead.
It is less than 20 minutes from Bern with frequent trains. Supplies: Burgdorf is a big town with plenty of shops and restaurants. There are endless restaurants along the route and a few villages with shops too. The road near the start from Heimliswil to the show dairy is the worst part of the route.
Other points:. From Burgdorf station the route briefly joins the main road around the town, but quickly turns off and follows a gravel path alongside the Emme to avoid the worst of the traffic as you leave the urban area. You get a good view of the castle but mostly the town is left hidden until the end of the tour. After crossing the river Emme the route follows the road up the Grabe valley Graben is the German word for ditch and Grabe is used to describe the deep valleys in the Emmental region, though most have a name in addition.
