Imagine yourself surrounded by snow-capped mountains on a scale so massive that your brain struggles to interpret what it's seeing. Air (and water) quality that most city dwellers rarely get to experience, all to the soundtrack of wind, flowing streams and cowbells. You're in the Swiss Alps, a nature-lover's paradise.
This is an intro post covering the basics about trekking in the Swiss Alps. Here you'll find the essentials including what town to stay in, lodging, eats, and getting around. I've also included helpful notes on culture and borders/currency. Experiences are self-contained posts and will be linked from here. As usual, content is based on my (favorite) personal experiences. I've curated the ones I would repeat and recommend to you, the curious and adventurous traveler.
Note, I'm mostly using the verb "trek" vs. "hike" as some of the most spectacular experiences are essentially long walks in nature. You can up the difficulty if you want to, the famous Panaroma Way (for example) is just a long and beautiful trek at high altitude (see Männlichen to Kleine Scheidegg trail (Panorama Way)). I definitely faced more difficulty hiking in the Adirondacks (New York), where even the "easy hikes" featured rock scrambles at high pitch. To me, this adds to the allure of the the Swiss Alps, where you can truly relax and be one-with-nature.
Culture
Switzerland has 4 official languages, German, French, Italian (yes I was also surprised) and Romansch. I often saw signs translated into the first 3. People in the Swiss Alps speak German. I'm proficient in "high German" aka what's spoken in Berlin and I can tell you that Swiss German hits different. With that said, the Swiss can (and will) switch to high German.
There were several situations where I needed to use the German. For example at the supermarket which was 100% locally staffed and at some train stations. Even though this area gets a lot of tourists, it's still not like Berlin where you can get by on English alone. I would just have a translator or phrasebook handy. Worst come to worst charades / pictures + keywords will generally work.
Switzerland is squeaky clean and I would encourage you to help them keep this up. They're also supremely nice. Just one example, I lost my prescription sunglasses at Jungfrau mountain (see Jungfrau to Mönsch glacier trail) and the last train was leaving in 5 minutes. I let staff know as I boarded the train as a "Hail Mary" (#americanfootball reference). It's a big mountain and I'm pretty sure I lost it OUTSIDE at the weather station where I got caught in a wind storm. 3 minutes later, I'm on the train and I see two Swiss gents sprinting to the train with my sunglasses. That means that in a few minutes the folks made a point to get the word out, search, find it (I still don't know how) and get it to me. There were other examples, this is the most epic :) Go Switzerland.
Where to stay
The popular choices (and for good reason) are Interlaken, Lauterbrunnen, Wengen, Mürren, and Grindewald. You can put these on a location-based scale from base of the mountains to in-the-mountains. All are connected by the hyper efficient and easy-to-use Swiss rail system (see "getting around" below)
Interlaken is at the base and features the most development. Interlaken literally means "in between lakes", which makes sense as it sits on a small patch of land between two large lakes "Thun" and "Brienzersee". You can take a lake cruise from here and do at least one spectacular hike in town "Harder Klum" (Interlaken post to be published shortly). Most intercity trains stop here first.
Lauterbrunnen is where I stayed, a straight-up mountain town. That is to say, it has one main road, which you can walk end-to-end in 15 minutes. It's also a jumping off point to many "top hikes". There's the Gondola to the Grutschalp-Mürren trail (see Lauterbrunnen to Mürren). You're next to Wengen which is a launching point for the famous Panorama Way (see Männlichen to Kleine Scheidegg trail). You can also train to many other treks & hikes from here.
Wengen, Grindewald, Mürren: These are higher up the mountains, slightly more remote and often at the foot of specific trails. All are beautiful, popular destinations.
Lodging (Lauterbrunnen)
I stayed at the "Valley Hostel" in Lauterbrunnen and would do so again. I had a private room for ~150 USD per night (mid 2021) and had a balcony with a Mountain View. The bathroom was shared with 2-3 other units and super clean. There was also a large kitchen and dining room where you could store supplies (e.g groceries). Located at one end of the main-road, it's 1 block from the train station and gondola. It's a strategic location.
Eats
Options in these towns are pretty limited (with one major exception; see Lauterbrunnen to Mürren). Note, you didn't come here for the food ;) There are 2 or so restaurants on the main road featuring a standard Western menu. There was also a döner place. If you've been to Germany you know what this German-Turkish delight is all about :) The local supermarket has plenty of sandwich-making supplies and snacks for you to take on your hikes :)
Getting around
The Swiss rail system is called "SBB" (Schweizerische Bundesbahnen) functions like clockwork, runs often and goes everywhere. I used it daily while I was in town. I strongly recommend getting a multiway pass which enables you to skip booking one-way tickets everyday and can also make sense financially depending on use. I recommend you do some quick math to see if makes sense for you. You can also get a "half price card". There's also a bus system, which I used once for a small hike in Lauterbrunnen (and is covered by your SBB pass).
When I say the trains run like clockwork, I mean you can literally set your watches to them. It's a cliche and it's true (no longer the case in Germany, by the way!) There could literally be a grandmother running for the train needing only an extra 30 seconds to board. The conductor will not wait. That's okay though as the next train is probably not far behind.
Borders & Currency
Note Switzerland is part of the Schengen region (your Schengen visa will work here). It is NOT part of the European Union. You will need to you use Swiss francs. I mostly used my credit card which does not charge international fees (Chase Sapphire reserved). In my experience, credit cards and debit cards that do not charge International fees provide the best exchange rates.
I still kept Swiss francs handy. I heard Euros are also (sometimes) accepted. You can expect some local shops to only take cash.
Comentários