Rhone vineyards and their wines are famous throughout the world: Chateauneuf du Pape, Hermitage, Condrieu, Cote Rotie, etc. But the Rhone River begins in Switzerland, not France, and that was where I recently biked part of the Chemin du Vignoble, or the Trail of the Vineyards, following the Rhone River Valley vineyards in Switzerland’s French-speaking Canton of Valais.
Trail Name: Chemin du Vignoble
Trail Type: Long distance, two-stage bike trail from Martigny to Leuk (aka Loeche), in the Valais Canton in Switzerland; well-maintained and almost exclusively paved, but marking on the trail can be problematic in places.
Length:
Total – 83 kilometers/ 51.5miles
Stage One – 36 kilometers/22.4 miles
Stage Two – 47 kilometers/29 miles
Convenient to: Martigny, Montreux, or Sion, Switzerland
Marking: Red stylized grapes with 72 in white, on a blue square, on a red arrow.
