Hey, It's been a dream of mine since I was little to go to the land of mountains, cheese and chocolate. I'm visiting Switzerland for four weeks next year, and need some help planning a hiking holiday.

I've looked at maps, routes and information but I've never been on an overseas trip before, and am not very confident in putting an itinerary together! If someone who knows Switzerland well could help me I would really appreciate it!

So some facts about my trip:

Time: June 2014
Length: four weeks, give or take
Where: North, North Eastern area
Budget $4,000 (I don't plan on doing most touristy things, so hope it is enough)
Aim: primarily hike/walk around, stay in B&B's, hostels etc. (not camping)
Hiking difficulty: medium - don't want to slog the whole way, but am fit enough to put in a good effort.
Places I want to see: Basel, Bern, Zurich, the Rhinefall, Lichtenstein, everything in between! Any lakes, glaciers, castles in the area.
What I need help with: mapping an achievable hiking route between all these places, taking in the best sights.

Thanks for taking the time to consider my request. Can't wait to visit this beautiful country!

I love the outdoors, and don't really want to spend money on the usual tourist activities. I don't drink or party so am quite happy to stay in quiet villages, meet the locals, eat food from the supermarket and just soak up the amazingness.

Hi Bonnie,

Why are you looking at the North / North Eastern area of Switzerland? If it's lakes and glaciers you're looking for, that's not the area. Castles are generally not something I'd head to Switzerland for - France (Loire) and Bavaria would be far better bets for that.

Am also confused by the specific places you mention, which are mainly cities, so hardly hiking destinations. The Rhine Falls are nice, but not something I would travel overseas for to be honest; Liechtenstein is really not worth any of your time.

You might want to look at the Appenzell region, which has excellent hiking IMO and as it's off the beaten track for most tourists, prices are not as crazy as in the more famous high alpine regions. However, I would never spend 1 whole month in the area, unless I were living there (and even then ;-) ).

With a whole month of just hiking, I would go to at least one of the world class alpine areas in Switzerland, i.e. the Interlaken/Jungfrau region or Zermatt (combined with Lake Geneva to meet your lake/castle requirement), then move on to Appenzell and finally head for the Dolomites in Italy.

By the way, early June might still be problematic at higher elevations (snow) and some of the lifts will probably still be closed. Perhaps you can travel a few weeks later.

Hope this helps,
Andre

There are tons of well signmarked hiking trails, lakes and castles in the area you mention. But if you want to see a glacier, you must go into the Alps which are 100 to 200 km more in the south.
http://map.wanderland.ch/?lang=en

As long as you don't go to the highest alpine places, it's perfectly possible to hike in June.

Castles: there are tons of medieval castles (with walls and towers in order to defend them) all over Switzerland.
If you prefer relatively new (19th century) palaces which had no defense function, Bavaria may be the better choice.

If you want to visit Switzerland, do it, there is enough to see there for months (a hike from Lake Geneva via Zermatt to Engadin Valley would take more than that): there is no reason to go to the Dolomites which are a few hundred km more in the east.

Fantastic, thanks everyone for your replies!

neckervd, thanks very much for the encouragement and info! Really appreciate it