Backpacking around Switzerland

Hi, myself and my husband are planning a 2 week stay in Switzerland camping. We are planning to move from place to place with a lot of hiking/ walking carrying all our gear with us. We have a general idea of the regions we would like to visit but are reluctant to do a strict itinerary as we would like the freedom and option to spend as much or as little time in one place as we want. Is this viable?

There seems so many places to visit and trails to walk it is mind- boggling, is it an option to pick up walks when we arrive in a place? plenty of info available when we arrive in each region? is it okay not to book campsites ahead of time? It will be just the 2 of us and a 2 man tent. I should add we will be purchasing rail passes to give us the most freedom of movement.

A lot of people on this forum do have structured itineraries......how necessary/ recommended is this?

Many thanks for your help! :)

Hi Suilchait,

Most of the villages have a tourist information office. You can go there and check which trails are available. It matters when you are there. In the middle of Summer (July to September), all of the trails will be open. In other seasons the higher trails will be inaccessible due to snow.

The season also matters for whether or not to book accommodation/camp places in advance. If you're not traveling in high season, say from mid June to mid September, finding a hotel room should should not be a problem without pre-booking. I expect the same applies to camping, but I don't camp myself.

Note that small villages only have a few or even just one hotel, and certainly only one camping place. If it's full it takes time to go somewhere else. Personally I don't like to search for accommodation at the end of the day. One never knows if some local event or a large group causes things to be fully booked. Hotels can be booked online and in most cases be cancelled free of charge up until the day of arrival. I don't know how campings do this. You can contact the campings you have in mind and ask whether they have sufficient space in the season you plan to travel. Also you can call them one day before and make your reservation then. That way you're flexible and you know for sure you won't spend too much time looking for a place.

Many people indeed have structured itineraries, but I always like to think of it as a wish list when it comes to day trips. It's good to book accommodation in advance. But day trips depend on the weather, so the exact order of doing activities should be determined when there.

Please find some useful links below:

www.booking.com/campin gs/country/ch.en-us.html
www.myswissalps.com/ca mpsites