I am planning to travel across the pond with the family to race Powerman Zofingen in 2018. I understand its a pretty small town and that there are not a ton of hotels available. Is this the sort of race where you need to book the hotel a full year out or can you wait until a few months before the race? Also, I’d be very interested in recommendation on good places to stay for a family of 3. Thanks in advance.
I went in 2016 and am planning on going back in 2018. First, it is an amazing race and truly beautiful course. Very challenging, especially the run course. My wife joined me on the trip and we stayed at the team USA hotel in zofingen. Small but quite nice. Not sure how they would accommodate 3 people but if you call I’m sure they will be able to accommodate. The town is very nice too with decent restaurants and grocery stores within walking distance. There are not a lot of rooms so I booked very early, around the beginning of the year if I remember right.
I went in 2014 traveling with just my teen daughter. I didn’t book until about 3 months before the race and Zof was already sold out. Instead, we stayed in Olten about 6 miles away. Olten has a fairly busy train station with a number of hotels on either side of the tracks and there were a lot of duathletes staying there…also much cheaper than Zofingen. I didn’t bother with a car and went back and forth as needed by train. There was plenty of train service between Olten and Zofingen … about 6-8 minutes travel time. You don’t need a special ticket to take your bike on the train when it is cased, but once built out, you need to pay a small premium. I only had that for the race day. When traveling throughout Europe with my wife and daughter I just look for a “triple” room. Those are in much shorter supply than the standard 2 twin or 1 double room that is typical in much of Europe, but Olten is still your best bet.
We flew direct from Tampa to Zurich, spent 2 nights there, 4 nights in Olten, another night in Zurich and then direct back to the US on Eidelweiss Air. I used the same direct flights with my wife last year to do IM Switzerland … again no car, but we took the train to Lucerne for a day and did a couple of different bus tours around the country.