Biking the Mittelland Route – Stage 3 Kloten to Aarau
Stage 3 of the Mittelland Bike Route was 64 km and went from Kloten to Aarau. This stage took us past the Zürich Airport, through farms and small towns, including the lovely town of Baden where we stopped for lunch, and along the Aare river to Aarau. There was a lot to enjoy on this stage, but it was long and if I were to do it again I might split into two days.
| Where: | Kloten to Aarau Canton Zürich and Canton Aarau, Switzerland |
| Train: | Zürich HB -> Kloten – 15 min Aarau -> Zürich HB – 35 min |
| What: | Mittelland Trail – Stage 3 Kloten to Aarau Red cycle path signs with a blue number 5 |
| Stats: | Length 64 km (48 asphalted, 16 natural surface), Ascent 420 m, Descent 500 m |
| Stage 1: Romanshorn to Wil (SG) Stage 2: Wil (SG) to Kloten Stage 3: Kloten to Aarau Stage 4: Aarau to Solothurn Stage 5: Solothurn to Ins Stage 6: Ins to Yverdon Stage 7: Yverdon to Lausanne |
Getting There
This trail starts near the Kloten train station. When we finished stage 2, we left our bikes locked at the train station, so we didn’t need to bring the bikes on the train when we started stage 3 the following Monday.
As the trail doesn’t go directly past the train station, after we unlocked our bikes, we rode a few minutes down Petergasse street until we met up with our trail, and then we were on our way.
The Trail
From Kloten, the trail follows some residential streets but then joins a paved bike path that stays near the main road.
After the path passes the airport, it heads back out into farm land, occasionally passing through small busy towns. I love sunflowers and it always nice to see the blooming fields.
As the trail continued, the Lägern ridge was often in front of us. My husband and I did the hike along Lägern ridge earlier this year and despite the description calling it a favorite of school children, it was rather challenging. However, if you aren’t afraid of heights, I do recommend it. At one point in the trail, the trail seemed to take some odd zigzags, but I was glad it did, as it took us past a water fountain. The heat was again a bit much and it was nice being able to refill our water bottles.
Just before we came into Baden, we crossed paths with another hike I had done previously, the Limmat Culture Trail. That trail is a pleasant walk along the Limmat river past multiple art installations, one of which is in the third picture above. The half-way point of that trail, and of our bike ride today was the picturesque little town of Baden, seen below.
At Baden we parked our bikes for a bit, strolled the old town and stopped for lunch at a Moser’s Backparadies cafe (excellent club sandwich). After lunch we were on our way again. There was some ascent in the trail before we reached the town of Mülligen, so when we found the next water fountain we took another break.
The final third of the trail took us through forest and along the river Aare. Really lovely views over the river and just a nice bit of trail to ride.
This trail is 64 km long which was too much for me. I was getting very tired and forgot to take pictures.
Getting Back
I was hot, tired and done, so when my son saw a sign pointing towards the Aarau train station, we checked the map to see how much more of the trail there was to go and if the sign he saw would be a short cut. It was a shortcut, so we decided to take it.
I think if we had followed the official trail, we would have had some lovely views of the river and of Aarau, but I was too tired to appreciate them. With our bikes locked up, we headed home to get some rest before we tackle stage 4.
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