Hiking holidays Via Alpina Vaud

Man lernt viele interessante Menschen kennen ob alt oder jung, aus der Schweiz oder vom Ausland! Die Landschaft ist so vielfältig, an jedem Wandertag gibt es Überraschungen. Einfach staunen und geniessen. Man wird für die Anstrengungen mehr als belohnt!

Bei der ersten Etappe musste ich einen Umweg machen, weil der offizielle Weg gesperrt war. Und zum Glueck habe ich jemand getroffen, dass mir geholfen hat. Das Hotel in Chateau d'Oeux verdient die 3 Sterne auf Niveau Reinigung nicht.

I had walked portions of the Via Alpina in the past, but had never taken on the seemingly daunting task of walking the entire route! Prisca, Rudi and the Eurotrek team made it easy! From pick-up at the airport, to the briefing at my hotel, to making a couple of slight alternations along the way (picking up forgotten socks and shorts at one place, altering the transport means to allow a longer day of hiking another), everything worked seamlessly! The maps are clear, the trails are well-marked (with the one exception being just outside of La Lecherette) and the Eurotrek team is a phone call or an email away in the event of difficulty. I do recommend downloading the Schweiz Mobil app, however, for extra insurance, as well as the fantastic weather forecasts. The accommodations (I chose the mid-range) were all excellent - the rooms were always comfortable and everything worked, the meals were universally excellent and breakfasts, in particularly, were varied and substantial. And the fact that your luggage moves between your hotels every day is a lifesaver, as you can take a day pack and do not have to worry about the much heavier weight that would come from having to cart one's belongings across the mountains. The views were beautiful, the trails manageable (although you do have to be in good shape for most of them) and there were only two challenging weather days of 15 - one, in which thuderstorms made it too dangerous to cross the pass scheduled for that day (just took a bus to the next stop) and the other in which high winds presented a real challenge, but did not prevent that day's hiking from occurring. All in all, an excellent trip that I would highly recommend and would take again some day!