Walking/trekking in Switzerland

Hello whoever stumbles across this thread it's main purpose is to gather infomation from people that may have some good knowledge and expierences.

I'll keep its short if I can. I've been walking/backpacking for a while now being based in the UK me and my friends have a number of trips in the Scottish mountains and parts of Wales, that's another story. So a friend and I were sat there the other night and we're discussing widening our range of places to backpack. We have a small airport that does flights into Europe on the cheap no more than 30 mins train journey from us. We looked at the destinations and Geneva popped up. We grew fond of the idea of going to Switzerland and started looking into it

So here I am now, asking those on ATS. Have you ever been to Switzerland ? Backpacking ? Any experiences or inside infomation you learnt on your way ? Anything to be cautious about ?

I'd like to clarify when I say backpacking, our intentions are to do some easy hill walking with light day bags. We arnt tackling large mountains or anything with snow and ice. This is a nice relaxing trip to Switzerland

Thanks for your time to anyone who reads this. All answers/questions are welcome

Go to Grindelwald. Seriously, out of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been, it’s number 2, that's saying a lot lol. This area is certainly the most beautiful in Switzerland. And I done a lot of research before I chose where to go so I can honestly say hand on heart you won’t find anywhere else as picturesque.

We flew into Geneva aswell, it was only a couple of hours drive to Grindelwald. Once you’re past the motorway after Lausanne the scenery makes your eyes water it’s so amazing. The train system is top-notch though if you don’t fancy driving.

We were there in winter so we didn’t hike but I’d also done all the research into a summer trip and the hiking is awesome.

You have the Grindelwald valley to chose from or the next valley over called Lauterbrunnen. There is also a gorgeous glacial blue lake called Brienz just over the other end of the valley and there is lower altitude hiking there. Excellent transport links between all these places if you’re not driving.

Ask me anything I promise I can help. I’m a travel junkie & top contributor on a travel forum so I’d be more than happy to help, especially with ATS being so chock-a-block of ebola threads right now

Thinking now, I kind of regret hiring a car so trains may be your best option actually… We got a speeding fine a couple of months after getting back, the Swiss police are absolutely notorious for it - they detest cars in Switzerland. It’s not always clear what the speed limits are and fines are very hefty, nearly three times what they are in the UK. Like I said, the train service is super reliable but if there are at least 2 of you hiring a car will definitely be cheaper. Just be EXTREMELY careful of the limits!

You’ll probably find people saying that Switzerland is expensive. It isn’t cheap, especially compared to Austria, but it really wasn’t as expensive as I expected it to be. The most I paid for a pint was about 9 francs, (around £6). And that was in a smart restaurant at the Jungfraujoch (highest train station in Europe, major tourist destination with rip-off prices). It was a fair bit cheaper in the town bars and restaurants. Generally food and drink was similar to city prices in the UK.

Hey purple! How's it going?

Only a short reply as I'm a little busy but just wanted to acknowledge your replies. Sounds like you are an ideal person to speak to

Well we will start looking into Grindelwald that's given us a start. We arnt driving anywhere we are replying on trusty Swiss transport hah. Anyway I'll reply a little more and give you a rough plan of what we want and maybe you can see if you can give us a little info

Thanks again!

a reply to: ThePeaceMaker

Hey PM good thanks, hope all well with you!

Here’s a link to the Grindelwald tourist info brochures page, you can download the brochures but I’d recommend you get some posted to you for free. It can get a bit mind boggling researching hiking in the area on the net because there are so many different cable-cars and chairlifts which are linked to the best hiking spots and it gets a bit confusing! I ordered most of the brochures and found it much easier to digest and plan everything using them (but then I’m a bit old fashioned, I like to read paper not screens lol)

grindelwald.ch...

Click on ‘Brochures – Jungfrauregion’ and the brochures are there.

If you’re going to choose Grindelwald (I promise you’ll fall in love with the area!), let me know what you need regarding accommodation , I can suggest a few places most convenient for the train and cable-car stations if you like

Thanks for the information purple, every little helps

I notice grindelwald is quite far from Geneva as me and my friend do not drive I was going to ask if you knew how long it would take to get there by train (if thats possible) I hear Swiss public transport is pretty good. Over the next few days I'll be looking on the website you gave me. The idea is I'm going to research one place while my friend picks somewhere else so we have got a few option when it comes to actually going to Switzerland.

I understand Switzerland has wolves. Do you know if they are a rare thing to come across?
Thanks again for your info i will update with replies and questions when I get round to it aaaand when we do finally go I'll make sure I get plenty of pics and share them on here.

Speak to you soon purple take care!

a reply to: ThePeaceMaker

Hey PM! Yeah I know it looks far on the map but it’s actually only about 140 miles and the trains are regular, fast and reliable, you honestly don't need a car! You can get a train directly from the airport to Interlaken in 2 ½ hours and then from Interlaken to Grindelwald is about 30 mins.

You’re probably thinking to stay somewhere nearer to Geneva but honestly the scenery and hiking isn’t anywhere near as spectacular.. You’d be better off coming to Wales

I know there are wolves in the Alps but I have read a lot about Switzerland over the years and I’ve never heard anything about wolves being a problem anywhere, I wouldn’t worry about that!

There’s loads to do if you fancy a break from hiking - there's really nowhere else quite like it in the whole of the Alps. Check out the Schilthorn and Jungfraujoch. And the First Flyer zip-line which goes from Mount First in Grindelwald looks so awesome, it was closed when we were there but I want to go back in the summer at some point in the future and I can’t wait to try it. You can hike or take the chairlift to Mount First, take the zip-line half the way back down the mountain and then hike back into town, awesome lol

www.youtube.com...

We are definitely travelling out of Geneva when we arrive we will only stay in Geneva on our last day before going home. Thanks again for the insite all help is appreciated. That's good news about the wolves lol

While I look into grindelwald my friend is looking at going somewhere near Saint Maurice ? Have you heard of that ? If so what is it like?

As for extra activities we may look into that but we are focused on just walking at the minute any extras we may come across in sure we will get involved haha oh and I'm still yet to go to snowdon so I've got to come back at some point

a reply to: ThePeaceMaker

Yeah I wouldn’t worry about wolves PM, I’ve been all over the Alps in France, Austria and Germany as well as Switzerland and have never had so much as even a sniff of a wolf!

No I’ve not been to St Maurice but we drove back to Geneva via Aigle which just up the road from St Maurice. The scenery was ok, nice views over Lake Geneva but nothing at all like up near the Alps though. Much lower altitude and there are just hills as opposed to mountains...

How long are you planning to be in Switzerland?

We are leaving our local airport (Southend on sea) on a Monday morning so arriving in Geneva the same time give or take a few hours and then leaving from Geneva on a friday. The idea of the trip goes something like this at the minute
Monday: arrive in Geneva and head to our destination, stay the night in a lodge
Tuesday: start walking through out the day and looking to stay in a mountain refuge hit somewhere (this is still all in the planning)
Wednesday: descend into a forest somewhere and again stay the night somewhere lol maybe even camp up in the woods. I know you arnt suppose to but we are thinking of being ultra sneaky
Thursday: morning trek back to civilisation to hop on a train back to Geneva where we will spend the night before heading off home Friday

Like I said this is all still in the planning so it's going to change once we start working out what's going.

As for hills compared to mountains we are happy with high hills, you welshies are use to it unlike us concrete jungle Essex people we spotting a nice peak just east of St maurice which is apparently 10,000ft so there will be plenty of height around there for us.

How long would you say it took from Geneva to grindelwald on a train ? If we can make it in a few hours my friend may be more inclined to go there and from what you've been saying sounds better lol

a reply to: ThePeaceMaker

Haha maybe you’re right, us Welsh are probably more hardcore with our mountains! Have to be really - I live on the side of one and get used to walking up and down hills all the time lol.

Mountain lodges and camping sounds good. I’m sure it’s do-able and I’ll bet there’s info about it in those brochures if you sent for them… Now I see why you were worried about wolves hahahaha…..

Your itinerary goods good and that peak in St Maurice sounds just the ticket. But I’m gonna be stubborn and still recommend Grindelwald, it’s only 3 hours by train from Geneva Airport (2 ½ to Interlaken and then 30 mins to Grindelwald). Just checked and you’re looking at 2 hours to St Maurice anyway.

Honestly PM it’s heaven on earth and the hiking is spectacular…. Not sure about camping there though so will have a look into that for you now ok.

I've already detected the stubbornness lol but it's all good well as St maurice and grindelwald are almost the same distance maybe I can bend my friends arm

Yeh the camping like I said we are goig to try and be ultra sneaky but I know how strict Switzerland can be and we don't want to get fined for anything. Don't get me wrong me and my friend arnt the sort of type to go and ruin the land. If anything we are going to Switzerland FOR the land

a reply to: ThePeaceMaker

Well just been reading about it and I never knew that wild camping is illegal in Switzerland! What a load of c**p. But I’d imagine the police are too busy monitoring for speeding (grrrrr!) so you’d probably be ok...! It's a very strict place though so up to you whether you take the risk or not...

There’s a few campsites in Grindelwald and this bunkhouse www.grindelwaldblick.ch... is in an amazing location at the foot of the Eiger only accessible by the cablecars and cogwheel railway.

Yep I'm being stubborn but only cos I want you to have a fab time! I put a lot of effort in researching my holidays and I only go to the best places Grindelwald will honestly blow your socks off!

a reply to: ThePeaceMaker

www.ifjungo.ch...

Take a look at this pic. See all those trains and cablecars? They will take you to the most beautiful hiking spots you could ever imagine!

I know I haven't been to St Maurice but hand on heart I don't think you'll have such an amazing experience if you go there.

One thing though. Because it's so beautiful it is absolutely tourist central. We met people from all over the world there. If that's offputting for you and you'd rather find your own little quiet piece of paradise then maybe you'd be better off going to St Maurice or somewhere else....