Electric Feel

The easy way to see Switzerland’s peaks and valleys? From the comfort of an e-bike. Tim Neville checks out the newest cycling routes—without breaking too much of a sweat.

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KONRAD BOSS pedaled his e-bike beside me as we emerged from a grove of linden and beech trees. It was a wet September morning in central Switzerland's Emmental Valley. Feathery clouds drifted over wooden chalets, and cows with bells around their necks grazed in the fields. Boss and I, alone on the road, were lost in conversation.

"Sometimes I feel like I'm still too young for an e-bike," said Boss, a part-time cycling guide who is supremely fit. "But it's nice to be able to ride and talk."

The Swiss have enthusiastically embraced e-bike travel, particularly in the Emmental region, a 266-square-mile patchwork of dairy farms, villages, and woodlands in the shadow of the Alps. Over the course of the past two years, the finishing touches were put on a 370-mile network of routes in the area, collectively known as the Hügu Himu ("heavenly hills").

The Hügu Himu is divided into six loops, ranging from 18 to 42 miles long, that run in and out of two of the region's main towns, Burgdorf and Langnau. The loops take you up sharp hillsides, through pastures, and into hamlets where the air carries a barnyard tang. In between rides, you can fill up on wild mushroom soup at centuries-old restaurants and taverns, and since the loops can be done as day trips, you can return to the same inn each night-no need to lug your bags.

I'd first heard about the Emmental and its quest to become an e-bike haven a decade ago while living in Bern, but it wasn't until last fall that I returned to see just how far it had come. I picked three loops that, taken over three days, would showcase the soul of the region.