Switzerland Oct.10-20: planning hikes, where to go
A traveler is flying into Zurich from October 10 to 20 and is looking to plan an efficient itinerary for hiking in Switzerland. They plan to base themselves in the Lauterbrunnen area for about four days and are concerned about weather conditions affecting their hut-to-hut hiking experience. They prefer traveling by train rather than by car.
- Hut-to-hut hiking is possible in early October, especially at lower altitudes.
- Begin your trip in the Lauterbrunnen area to take advantage of better weather before it gets colder.
- Train travel is recommended over driving for exploring Switzerland.
- Check cableway schedules for higher altitudes, as many stop running after October 21.
AI-generated summary-
We are flying in and out of Zurich from Oct 10 to 20. I have been researching and understand how weather can dictate how we hike at that time. We travel by backpack and would like to hut to hut a few days if possible. We are not set on any area that we have to see. Want to use our time wisely. Trying to figure an itinerary to travel around Switzerland for those days. We thought we would leave Zurich the morning we land and stay in Lautenbrunner area for about 4 days. Better to be able to visit northern area first before the weather gets colder? Alps snow that would close off us hiking? Leaning towards train not car. All ideas are appreciated.
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Hi Wander12 and welcome to MySwissAlps!
I moved your thread out of the Trip Report forum (that’s for talking about completed trips).
We don’t create itineraries here but can give you as much information as we can to help you plan your own.
Hut to hut hiking is still mostly possible in early October – the lower altitudes the better. You can check out the huts and make reservations where possible here: http://www.sac-cas.ch/
The Jungfrau region: http://www.myswissalps.com/ju ngfrauregion (around Lauterbrunnen) is a good place for mountain visits and day hikes especially). I’d head there first (or wherever you decide to hike). Then leave lower altitude visits for the end of your trip (ie town visits etc).
I agree train travel is much better than car travel in Switzerland.
Here’s some links that might help your planning:
- http://www.myswissalps.com/ac tivities
- http://www.myswissalps.com/wh eretogo
- http://www.myswissalps.com/tr ain
- http://www.myswissalps.com/ti metable
Let us know if you have more questions about your trip / trip planning.
<<“Better to be able to visit northern area first before the weather gets
colder? Alps snow that would close off us hiking? Leaning towards train
not car. All ideas are appreciated.”>>
It is not the latitude but, rather, the altitude that is the issue.
October 10-20 could be excelent, or could be awful.
I’d be concerned about anything over 2000 meters.
By the way, a lot of the cableways serving higher area stop running on October 21. Good timing on your part.
Slowpoke
Slowpoke
It’s in that “in between” time before Winter.
Here are some trails:
http://www.alpenwild.com/stat icpage/trail-signs-in-the-swiss-alps/
Slowpoke
Thank you
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