Must knows about Arno, Annika and their team

  • We first visited Switzerland in 1988, and keep going back. We can’t help ourselves!
  • We’re very happy with our team of experts helping us to run MySwissAlps.com.
  • Our forum moderators live in Switzerland and are experienced travelers too.
  • We are independent. We do not own accommodation or a travel agency, nor are we owned by any other company.

How it started

We created this website to help people prepare for their holidays in Switzerland. It was a natural thing for us to do because we had both fallen in love with the country. Annika had spent many summers in Switzerland since 1988. Arno has always been a train enthusiast and couldn’t stop visiting Switzerland after his first Swiss train trip in 1997. It felt like a waste not to share what we had learned during our visits.

Arno’s technical skills allowed him to build the website. Annika was a teacher of Classics and enjoyed writing the articles.

MySwissAlps timeline

  • 10 May 2002: launched MySwissAlps.com.
  • 3 April 2010: introduced the forum and started growing the community.
  • 28 January 2014: launched the second significant rebuild of the website.
  • February 2020 to February 2022: challenging times during the Covid-19 pandemic. We continued supporting travelers planning future trips, and we started working on a new version of our website.
  • 28 November 2023: launched the third significant rebuild of the website.
  • 18 January 2024: proud to have 10.000 community members.

Our goal

Our goal is to assist with your trip planning by sharing what we know. Our Switzerland experience hopefully allows you to plan quicker and better. All you need for your trip is right here. Our friendly forum community allows you to ask for help and share tips.

We love train traveling

Switzerland prides itself on its excellent rail network. Traveling by train is very pleasant, spectacular even. It’s safe, and it helps to protect the Alps from climate change. We travel by Swiss rail a lot and suggest you do the same to experience the best of Switzerland.

We’re rail pass experts

We have used many rail passes ourselves. Train traveling and rail passes may seem overwhelming at first glance. That’s why we list all rail passes that matter, and explain how they work. Our step-by-step plan helps you to choose the right pass. For each pass, all relevant points of sale are mentioned. We pay a lot of attention to discounts and promotions. The forum is where we provide help if any questions remain.

We love hiking

Switzerland’s natural beauty can best be explored on foot. Numerous well-marked trails across the Alps are just waiting to be discovered. We enjoy it a lot, so we’ve walked quite some kilometers by now.

We care for the planet

It’s important for us to work and travel in an eco-friendly manner, and help travelers to do so too. Climate change is our main concern. It already affects many regions in the world, and the Swiss Alps are no exception. This is what we do to minimize our carbon footprint:

  • Office space: electricity is generated by our solar panels. If that’s insufficient, we get the rest from local wind energy through Vandebron. We have a hybrid heat pump and use very little gas. Gas carbon emission is compensated through Vandebron by purchasing Gold Standard certificates.
  • Internet: we use various web services and a web server. Calculating energy consumption and knowing how power is generated for all those services is close to impossible. We made an educated guess for power consumption, assumed fossil energy, and compensate annually for the carbon emission.
  • Bank: we are a client of Triodos Bank, ensuring that funds will have a positive impact on the planet.
  • Transportation: we use the excellent Swiss public transport for 95% of our day trips. Our car has a low fuel consumption, and we compensate for the remaining carbon emission. The next car will be an electric one. We do not fly.
  • Miscellaneous: 2.5% of our profit is reserved for further green donations or investments.

We’re tourists and locals

Arno and Annika are tourists. Our knowledgeable team members are locals. Together, we aim to offer all the help you need to prepare for your trip to Switzerland.

Community & partners

Our small team can’t do it all alone. The community helps by answering questions. Our partners provide the things you need for your holidays: accommodation, rail passes, and more. We carefully selected our partners: they need to be trustworthy, knowledgeable, and customer-friendly. If you see us refer to them on our website, you can be sure they’re the right party to turn to. We do not sell anything ourselves.

Arno and Annika on Swiss mountain tops.

Team members

Find out who’s running the MySwissAlps website. Our team consists of locals and tourists, who all love to explore Switzerland.
MySwissAlps community against backdrop of Piz Palü.

Community

Post your question to the forum to get help from our moderators and experienced travelers.
Contact MySwissAlps.com (snowy mountains of Lucerne area)

Contact

We welcome your questions and input! This is how to reach us.
About MySwissAlps.com - partners

Partners

We work with partners because they offer what we don’t: hotel bookings, train passes and holiday packages. We give you …
About MySwissAlps.com - terms

Terms

Find our disclaimer, copyright policy and commercial disclosure. Learn how we protect your privacy and how we prevent spam.

About MySwissAlps

We’re passionate tourists and locals. We share tips about how to plan a trip to Switzerland. MySwissAlps was founded in 2002.

Get a free account for a worry-free trip

  • Join our 10600 members and ask us questions in the forum
  • Access to member-only promotions
  • Detailed maps and weather forecasts

Planning your first Switzerland adventure?

Get a jump-start with Annika’s 20-minute e-mail course, “Switzerland for beginners”. Subscribe to our newsletter to unlock the course.

Arno
Page author: ArnoI have visited Switzerland countless times since 1997. I've explored most of the country, but find myself staying in the Bernese Oberland and Graubünden most frequently. The alps and the rail network remain very impressive, even after all these years.