Hiking in Switzerland

You could say that hiking is a national sport in Switzerland. Beautiful landscape, vast net of paths, different difficulty is a perfect cocktail to accommodate any hiker. Options are endless for any level. Do you want to just enjoy some peaks with not too much of an effort? Choose one of the train rides/cable cars to get you up and enjoy a short relaxed 2 hour loop with awesome views.
Do you want something more demanding? No problem because every peak or hill around our Jungfrau region offers beautiful scenery and awesome views.
This is also where we from Local Guide shine. You can choose from our standard guided hiking options for different difficulty experiences or we can tailor perfect hikes for your needs.
Best thing to do is contact us and we can discuss options further

Difficulty and time

Switzerland has one of the best path markings in Europe.
But there are few good things to know before you head somewhere.
There is no distance on the path signs, instead for mountain hikes you’ll see time which indicates how much time it will take to reach your destination.This is because walking 2 km downhill will take you a completely different amount of time then walking 2 km hill. (picture of the signs)
We suggest that before you choose to go on any hike, look into the map, check the difficulty and how much it is time consuming. The best app for this is Switzerland mobility.
Time shown on the app or on the path signs is shown below average speed. So you have realistic expectations. If you are a seasoned hiker and very fit, usually you end up in your destination faster than the time shows.
The weather forecast is very important to look at before executing any plan as mentioned above. The situation you want to avoid most is being somewhere high up during thunderstorms. So plan your hike according to the forecast and make sure that at least you are already on your way down before any thunderstorm could appear. You really don’t want to find yourself in such a situation because once you are high up, there is usually no easy way to escape.
If that for whatever reason happens there is no chance for fast rescue like a helicopter until a thunderstorm passes.
A simple trick is the earlier you start, the better it is. Usually on a beautiful sunny day morning temperature is still relatively low and you can use that to get up on the mountain to not sweat your soul out :). If it’s a warm day, the longer you stay on the mountain, the more chances for thunderstorms. That is also the reason why you will see locals starting their hiking adventures very early in the morning.

What to put in your backpack

The first most important thing is good clothes. Minimum to bring with you is another warm layer and rain/wind proof jacket, even on sunny warm days the wind can be very annoying and higher you go colder it is. You want to avoid a situation where you have to cross some exposed windy parts and not have enough clothes to protect you from cold windy air. Hail, snow anything can happen so best is to be ready for everything.
Always be prepared to spend more time on the mountain than expected. Enough water and food is an important part. Often in Switzerland there are many sources of pristine drinking water going down from the mountains, or high up mountain huts which offer food and drinks, but that is something you can’t count on. So always bring something extra.