Best time to hike in the Alps?

Hello! We are visiting Switzerland for the first time this summer. We want to hike to high altitudes without facing too much snow. Some snow travel is fine. We do not wish to visit during the peak of summer travel. So we are going to visit in June or late August into early September. Can anyone please advise me which time would be better for us? Thank you.

Hello HikingLizz,

That's really hard to say, because weather is always a bit unpredictable in Switzerland, but my guess would be that you will be better off late August/early September, spoken from my own experience.
By the way, there are hiking tips and day trips on this website which may be of help to you.

Wishing you a wonderful trip,

Thank you for your reply, Olga.

One more question for now. We are renting a motorhome during our visit. Can anyone recommend an area in Switzerland where we can stay in a campground and enjoy many hiking options? Thank you!

My favourite area is the Bernese Oberland, with Graubünden as "runner up". Perhaps it's a good idea to check what the Bernese Oberland, for example, can offer you. The hiking tips and day trips I mentioned before may give you an idea of the possibilities. It's all very personal, of course...

With the caveat that no one can predict the weather, I recommend first two weeks of September in the Bernese Oberland. We have visited the area for hiking vacations 15 times in past 15 years; for 14 of those visits the weather was perfect during this time. Summer crowds have abated. All the hiking trails are open.

If you are camping, check out Camping Jungfrau http://www.camping-jungfrau.ch/. This is a lovely camping area with lots of amenities situated in the Lauterbrunnen Valley. The best hiking in all of Switzerland (IMO) is in this region, with hikes ranging from easy to very challenging. The scenery is unbelievable. Let me know if you want more info, I have a 30+ page document of my experiences in this area that I can email to you if you want it.

My daughter and I will be in Switzerland the first two weeks of September 2011. We want to do a 4-5 day hike in the Bernese Oberland staying in huts or mountain inns. Any suggestions for medium to easy hike in this area? About 10 years ago we hiked from hut to hut from Verbier to Zermatt, so we have some experience.

Many of the huts in the BO are either too far away from each other to make it in a single day and/or involve quite challenging hiking (not easy to medium). It is, however, entirely possible to hike from village to village and stay over in small inns in the villages. We've done this many times, last year walked across the whole country on the Via Alpina route. You can see more about that at http://activityworkshop.net/hiking/alpinepassroute/index.html

Another good alternative is to pick a home base and do day hikes from that base. Wengen is my favorite, Murren is also very nice.

In addition to the hike descriptions on this site there is good information at http://walkingswitzerland.com/walks/index.php

kim11 said: With the caveat that no one can predict the weather, I recommend first two weeks of September in the Bernese Oberland. We have visited the area for hiking vacations 15 times in past 15 years; for 14 of those visits the weather was perfect during this time. Summer crowds have abated. All the hiking trails are open.

If you are camping, check out Camping Jungfrau http://www.camping-jungfrau.ch/. This is a lovely camping area with lots of amenities situated in the Lauterbrunnen Valley. The best hiking in all of Switzerland (IMO) is in this region, with hikes ranging from easy to very challenging. The scenery is unbelievable. Let me know if you want more info, I have a 30+ page document of my experiences in this area that I can email to you if you want it.

Hi Kim, I stumbled on this post.. We are going to Switzerland on Aug 19-24 2012 we love to hike but we don't have time, it's all sightseeing for now. If we have extra time we would like to do a short hike. What would you recommend? We're staying at lauterbrunnen for 3 nights 2 nights at Lucerne. If you don't mind I actually want a copy of your 30+ page documents for future reference. It will be our first time to Switzerland and already I want to come back. My email address bestdealhunter@sbcglobal.net

Thanks!
Francis

Hi Francis,

I have sent my info to your email address. In the future, it would be a good idea to not post your address up on any public forum. On forums such as this one (and many others) you can simply click on the screen name of the person you want to communicate with and you will be given a "send message" option. This is a good way to get a private message to someone without the risk of putting your email address up for all the world to see.

You will see many short hikes listed under the "Easy Hikes" section of the document I sent you. But just to complete the thread, the real jewels of the region (in order) are:

1. Männlichen to Kleine Scheidegg
2. Grütschalp to Mürren
3. Lauterbrunnen to Stechelberg with a side trip to Trümmelbach Falls along the way.