bjschrag

I am beginning to plan for a trip to Switzerland with my husband and two grown children (18 and 22) next Summer and need some advice as to how to begin to plan for this trip. We hope to spend about 10 days there prior to heading South to Lake Como maybe via the Bernia Express (or are local train alternatives preferable? )Our goal is to fly into Zurich and then aviod the crowds if possible. We'd like to get into the high country and do a 3-4 day trek. Any suggestions on where to do that? It seems to make sense to travel this country by train, is that correct? And is June too early (cold) to travel in Switzerland? Looking for some off the beaten trail jewels in this country. Thanks!

Toucan

Absolutely trains are the best method of transport along with post buses, chair lifts, funiculars, gondola’s etc. Anything but a car. June may be too snow packed to cross the highest passes but you never know, just depends on the snow pack and weather, however most trails should be open.

If all trails are open and you wanted a somewhat challenging and less crowded trek I would suggest Murren to Kandersteg going over two passes then by the beautiful Oeschinensee (lake), overnighting in huttes’s (several to choose from but must be booked in advance) or a hotel at Griesalp. You can easily arrange for your luggage to be moved each day from hotel to hotel (but not hutte’s) as you hike with your day pack.

Or for an easier but more crowded trek you could start in Meiringen go up and over Grosse Scheidegg, down into Grindelwald, stay the night then over Kleine Scheidegg and stay the night in Wengen or go down into Lauterbrunnen, etc. There are plenty of options!

A 16 day trek is something I have spent a lot of time planning for July – August 2014 with my 17 yr old son. We are going to attempt a trek of about 100 miles starting in Engelberg, hiking through Meirengen, Grindelwald, Murren, Kandersteg, Luekerbad, Visp ending in Zermatt. We practice light weight back packing and expect to stay in hutte’s, campgrounds, a cabin at Kandersteg Intn’l Scout Camp, a concrete pipe in Luekerbad and maybe even an old Silver Stream trailer in Grindelwald. This route is a variation of the Alpine Pass Route. We are looking for a cheaper and more rugged hike than most want to deal with but I would be happy to suggest other segments that may be conducive to your trek goals.

Sadly my wife is opting out as she has day hiked with me in the Swiss Alps before and is a little saner than I, having no interest in trekking. In planning, I have searched many forums but found little info on long treks. You may want to purchase the book The Alpine Pass Route by Kev Reynolds which is the best book written on this subject.

There are plenty of companies that will make all the hotel arrangements, luggage transfers etc. for you but they charge an arm and a leg for it. We decided to do a cheap DIY experience for flexibility, lower cost and a more adventurous, less ‘canned’ experience.

bjschrag

Thank you so much for your suggestions and your 16 day trek sounds fabulous - I'm jealous! How do we find these huttes you are referring to? I see nothing in the guide books about treks and huttes. It sounds like, if we could postpone our trip to July, that might be better weather wise? And I apologize for my ignorance, but what is a DIY experience? Would love to hear how your plans unfold. Thanks again!

WildWanderings

If you want to take either the Bernina Express from St. Moritz to Lugano or the Palm Express (trip on a postal bus through the very picturesque Val Bregaglia) from St. Moritz to Lugano I would recommend looking into the following hikes:

- Senda Segantini from Savognin-Samedan (close to St. Moritz)

- Via Splüga from Thusis to Chiavenna (I), then continue from there to Como

- Mittelbünden-Panoramaweg from Lenzerheide to Davos where you can board the train to St. Moritz

- Prättigauer Höhenweg from Landquart to Klosters with easy access to St. Moritz by train

You find all this hikes listed, with details, on Switzerland's Hiking website:

http://www.wanderland.ch/en/hiking-in-switzerland.html

They are all listed under National routes. You also find accommodation/mountain huts there.

If you want to move away from Graubünden (and the Bernina/Palm Express), the Valais is another great place to hike. I especially love the Bisses, one of them is the Chemin des Bisses from Martigny (Col des Planches)-Vercorin, but there are others. When you are ready to move on to Como, travel via Brig to Domodossola, there board the Centovalli Express (very picturesque) to Locarno from where you have easy access to Como. Bye the way, all tickets and passes are valid on that route even though there's a "stretch Italy" included when you take the Centovalli Express.

Enjoy the journey!

WildWanderings

You asked specifically for Alpine huts. I forgot to add the link. Here is the one that has many of them listed. The most important for hiking in the Alps is the "Swiss Alpine Club SAC"

http://www.swiss-switzerland.com/acc...gaccommodation

docdan

We visited Graubrunden in late may last year, and I can assure you that while May may too early, but June is near perfect, the weather should be nice and puts you slightly before the major tourist months of Jul/Aug. AS mentioned, there may be a few passes that have yet to clear, but you'll have plenty of good options once you are in-country.

Concerning the "express" trains: In Switzerland these are named trains with special cars that run on the exact same tracks as the regular trains. Sometimes their schedules as such that they take longer to get from point A to point B, making the "Express" title a bit of a misnomer. I suggest you simply go to the very easy-to-use swiss rail website sbb.ch and plan your trips. You'll notice your have to change trains in downtown Zurich, and then Chur. Do plan on a few hours strolling the lovely city of Chur. Then you can take the Rhaetan Bahn trains to the towns listed above, trek, then onto the route of the Bernina Express to Tirano. (The Rhaetan Bahn is a private rail company, but to the average tourist it's all one big Swiss Rail system, so it will appear seamless to you) However, in Tirano, you'll have to walk a short distance to the Italian rail station, and buy a separate ticket. for the remainder of the train ride ot Lake Como.

The guys above me clearly know more about trekking than I do, but I can also offer this suggestion: Take a one day train trip from the St. Moritz/Samedan area north to the little city of Scoul, then the Swiss postal bus to Tarasp on the right bank or FTan on the left bank, you then pick up a hiking trail that will go to Ardez and Guarda, which is prototypical Engadine villages, then rail back ot your origin. Easy to do in one day. For a country famed for spectacular scenery, this area of the Lower Engadine valley was even more over-the-top gorgeous. I am also told that a trek within the Val-d'Camp north of Poschiavo is truely unique, but I am not persnally familiar.

WildWanderings

I only can second what docdan mentioned about the Lower Engadin. It's absolutely gorgeous - and off the beaten track, even in touristy months. Schuls/Scuol has a lovely mineral bath where you can relax your bones after hiking.

Toucan

June should be fine. For example this year Switzerland has received lots of rain over the past 5 weeks and they are hoping it stops soon and if it dows June will be glorious! I've hiked in June and while a little cloudy with some light rain it was stunningly beautiful.

Sorry, DIY (do-it-yourself) is more commonly referred to as Self-Guided. I plan to do literally everything. However, most treks provided by companies are Inn-to-Inn group treks, with options for self-guided trekkers. These are some of the companies that provide the service:
http://www.alpenwild.com/index.html
Group trek focus with some self-guided options.

http://www.sherpa-walking-holidays.c...seas.asp?top=1
Self-guided focus with some group treks offered.

http://www.trek-inn.com/self-guided/alpine_pass.htm
Another self-guided trek of the Alpine Pass Route.

http://www.alpinehikers.com/switzerland_jungfrau.html
Provides a detailed guided trek with good self-guided options.

As mentioned above, the Swiss Alpine Club is a good resource for searching huttes and they own many of them.
http://www.sac-cas.ch/en/huts/search-a-hut.html

Most huttes have their own website. Here is an example of one we are considering:
http://www.gspaltenhornhuette.ch/ind...&id=1&Itemid=2

Here is a good trip report by a family from Tennessee. http://www.slowtrav.com/tr/triprepor...d=1021&index=1 It was a self-guided walk (or trek) along a portion of the Alpine Pass Route with all the hotel and luggage arrangements provided by Sherpa, the first one listed above.

You would do best to decide how you want this trek to look. 1) Fully guided where you basically join a group that follows the professional guide each day.
2) Self guided with nightly lodgings booked and luggage transferred to each stop but they hand you a map and say have a nice time.
3)Fully self guided, do everything yourself which is what I am planning.

Remember that hiking in Switzerland is very easy due to the abundance of well marked trails, web sites that explain it all, places to eat and stay literally all along the trail and the great access to the PostBus (the name of the Swiss bus system), chair lifts, funiculars and trains that will get you to or from almost everywhere if needed sickness, injury or rain. It is just a matter of how much planning you want to do.

neckervd

The posts above are just perfect. I may just add the http://www.mapplus.ch/?x=579877&y=22...ng_line&size=1 map where you can load down all railway and gondola stations and all bus stops as well as a lot of hotels and restaurants. Use it togeter with the http://map.wanderland.ch/?lang=en map which is much mor precise, however.

Bernina Express: the Tirano - Lugano bus is included in the Swiss Pass whereas you will have to pay for the train to Colico - Bellano - Varenna - Lecco - Monza - Como - Chiasso. But the latter can be combined with the Lake Como boats whereas the Swiss bus doesn't stop along Lake Como.

bjschrag

Thanks for all the great information and resources above you all. I will certainly check out the websites and links. It is so helpful to hear your experiences and tap into your knowledge. Appreciate the time you took to share.