Lake Biel: The Ride That Never Fails to Impress

The full lap of Lake Biel from home: along the south shore to Biel, back down the vineyard side through Twann and La Neuveville, and round to Erlach for coffee. 61.7km and almost flat, and in my words at the time, it never fails to impress.

This is the ride I've done more times than any other from Bargen. It goes all the way round Lake Biel, so on one afternoon you get the farmland of the Seeland, the town of Biel, the vineyard villages under the Jura and the old walled town of Erlach. I rode this one on Saturday 8 April 2017 and gave it the title it still deserves: "Fantastic ride around lake biel. Never fails to impress. Beautiful scenery."

Lake Biel

Lake Biel, or the Bielersee and Lac de Bienne, is one of the three big lakes at the foot of the Swiss Jura, with Lake Neuchâtel and Lake Murten. It's 15km long and up to 4.1km wide, sits at 429m, and is 74m deep at its deepest. Most of the places round it have two names, one German and one French: Biel/Bienne, Erlach/Cerlier, Twann/Douanne, Ligerz/Gléresse.

A lot of what you ride past is man-made. In 1878 the river Aare was diverted into the lake at Hagneck, to stop it flooding the Seeland, and a dam at Port now controls the level of all three lakes. The water still wins sometimes: in May 2015 the lake came right up over the shore at Erlach (there's a photo of it below). On the north shore the vineyards of Twann, Ligerz and La Neuveville run straight down to the water, and off the southern end is St Peter's Island, really a long peninsula now, where Jean-Jacques Rousseau lived for a few months in 1765.

The RideRound Lake Biel, With Coffee In ErlachSaturday 8 April 2017

The route, from my GPS track. Green: start and finish in Bargen. White: the coffee stop in Erlach. Anticlockwise round the lake: Hagneck, Biel, Twann, La Neuveville, Le Landeron, Erlach, and home. This ride on Strava →

61.7kmDistance

485mClimbing

502mHighest point

424mLowest point (the lake)

2h 31mMoving time

15:02–18:01Out on the road (2h 55m)

24.5km/hAverage moving speed

43.7km/hTop speed

2,174Calories

Carbon CrossBike

How The Day Went

15:02 – 15:37

Out across the SeelandBargen → Walperswil → Hagneck

12kmfarm roadsthe Aare canal

15:37 – 16:08

The south shoreHagneck → Mörigen → Ipsach → Biel

12kmlakeside

16:08 – 16:38

The vineyard shoreBiel → Tüscherz → Twann → Ligerz → La Neuveville

12kmvines down to the water

16:38 – 16:56

Round the end of the lakeLa Neuveville → Le Landeron → Erlach

8km

17:02 – 17:22

Coffee in ErlachThe lakeside, 428m

20 min

17:23 – 18:01

HomeErlach → Vinelz → Hagneck → Bargen

16km

Out To Biel

I left Bargen just after three, west across the flat farmland of the Seeland through Walperswil to Hagneck, where the Aare canal comes into the lake. From there it's the south shore: Mörigen, Ipsach and into Biel at the top end of the lake just after four, 24km in. It's easy riding, and on a cross bike it doesn't matter whether the next bit is tarmac or a gravel track along the shore.

A small footbridge crossing to a little wooded island on Lake Biel, with a boat on the water, in bright April sun — On the ride: a footbridge out to a tiny island in the lake, in the low April sun.

Sailing boats moored along a jetty in a Lake Biel marina, masts against a blue sky — One of the marinas along the way, with the boats still mostly under their winter covers.

The Vineyard Side

The north shore is the best bit. From Biel the road runs under the Jura through Tüscherz and Twann, with the vines rising straight up on your right and the lake on your left, and on to Ligerz and La Neuveville. By 16:38 I was in La Neuveville, and ten minutes later in Le Landeron, at the far end of the lake.

A bare pollarded tree and a bench on a lakeside promenade, with someone sitting looking out over Lake Biel — A quiet bench on the lakeside promenade, on the ride.

Coffee In Erlach, And Home

Then round the end of the lake to Erlach, at 16:56, for a 20-minute coffee by the water. Erlach is where most of my lake rides end up: an old walled town with a castle at the foot of the Jolimont hill, and a café right on the shore. From there it's 16km home through Vinelz and back past Hagneck, and I was in Bargen just after six. 61.7km in just over two and a half hours of riding.

A cappuccino on a wooden table at the Erlach lakeside café next to a Garmin bike computer — The usual stop: coffee and the Garmin at the Erlach lakeside café (April 2015).

A small dog lying on the grass at Erlach looking out over Lake Biel towards the Jura — Lillie at Erlach, looking up the lake towards the Jura (June 2025).

Lake Biel flooding over the shore path at Erlach, with water across the grass — The other side of the lake: Erlach in the floods of May 2015, with the water over the shore path.

Where It Is

Lake Biel, with Biel at the top end and Erlach at the bottom. Bargen is just off the map to the south-east.