MySwissAlps.com features ads, commercial and non-commercial 10 days across Switzerland in April: tips?
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Hi everyone. We booked a 10-day trip next April a bit spontaneously and wow am I overwhelmed with all the good info on here. One thing I’m a bit worried about is the timing we happened to choose, which was the best time for our work schedules but seemingly the worst time for the Bernese Oberland (or Switzerland in general). Here’s a rough outline of what I have as of now–flight into Geneva and out of Zurich is already booked, but nothing else.
April 10 – arrive in Geneva at 8am, train right to Montreux
April 11 – Montreux
April 12-13 – Zermatt
April 14, 15, 16 – Lauterbrunnen area
April 17-18 – Lucerne
April 19-20 – Zurich
Any thoughts or suggestions? Is this doable? Are my concerns about BO warranted? One thing I was wondering about is whether we should shorten that region to 2 days and add another day to Lucerne. We would like to do a few hikes during our trip, but it doesn’t have to be hardcore…I think we were just hoping for some with a little higher elevation though.
Thanks!
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Early – mid April is a fine time to visit Switzerland.
I spent every Easter /early April in Switzerland over a continuous period of about 20 years and it is a very nice time of year to visit. Usually at medium high altitude, the cattle will just be being let out of their winter sheds and into the fields. There will be plenty of very pleasant farmald type hiking available.
You are correct, very high altitude hikes will not be available as early April is just between the end of the season for the winter walking paths on prepared snow and the opening up of normal walking paths for ‘summer’ hiking. At medium altitude you will find that snow is likely to have melted on paths on the sunny side of valleys , but it may be icy or slushy and therefore dangerous or illegal to walk on paths shaded from sum or in forest.
Hi mhm1,
Welcome to MySwissAlps.
Visiting in April is certainly doable.I agree with 1960man however that hikes on high altitudes in the Lauterbrunnen area might not be possible during this time. But it is still possible to hike the various trails in the valleys and along the lakes.
You can find more practical information about seasonal activities here: http://www.myswissalps.com/besttimetovisit
Regards,
Anna
Thank you both for the replies!
Here are a few pictures from one of my April trips – in this case in 2009. The pictures were taken around 9 – 10 April. Below about 1100m asl, everything already green (and spring flowers growing) but as you can see in some photos, higher mountains still covered in snow. Obviously the situation can be different year to year but early – mid April is most often like it is in my pictures.
In picture 2009 080 the nearest (white walled) chalet was our holiday house
We just returned from our trip to Switzerland. Our itinerary was Geneva–Montreux–Wengen–Locarno-Milan. I realize the activities can be very different in April – Schilthorn, & high altitudes, etc. – but the one thing I regret in our short stay of 2 days at Wengen is not having enough time to explore the Lauterbrunnen valley. Although we visited Trummelbach Falls and Mannichlen, we did not do the hike (regretfully) to Kleine Scheidegg (3m) but opted to walk from Murren to Gimmelwald, an easy, paved downhill path. There is so much to do in the beautiful BO region! Seeing the cows and hearing the sound of their bells was quite enjoyable too. The cows were scheduled to come down from the mountains the next week, which would have been interesting to see. We were able to go up to the Schilthorn and see the magnificent Eiger, Monch and Jungfrau peaks clear from the fog. It was an extraordinary experience!
Enjoy your trip in April. I believe any month of travel in Switzerland would be magical!
Bebe
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