Join day tours or on my own to mountains?

  • Removed user
    Participant
    72625 posts
    11 July 2018 at 9:31:34 #817210

    Hi all,

    I’m a lone female traveler and will be visiting Switzerland for the first time this August where I will stay at Geneva, Bern, Interlaken and Zurich. I was wondering if it’s better to join day tours for the summits or just wander around on my own? The upside of joining the tours is that I definitely won’t get lost and there’ll be someone to look out for me if anything happens. The downside however, is that there will be a time limit to how long we can stay at a certain place. I love to take photos and draw sketches when I travel, so it’s probable that I want to stay somewhere for double the time of regular tourists.

    What would you recommend? Do you think it’s perfectly manageable and safe for me to go up the mountains by myself?

    Thanks,

    Paris

  • Effortlessly learn from the questions and answers in the forum. Receive a daily e-mail with new discussions.

    Removed user
    Participant
    72625 posts
    11 July 2018 at 18:28:41 #891063

    Hi Paris and welcome to MySwissAlps!

    As far as traveling on ones on in Switzerland, it is typically very safe – Switzerland is quite a safe country.
    I wouldn’t be worried about it and especially up in the mountains. Hikes are well signed, and if visiting one of the bigger mountains you won’t be alone. 🙂 Very busy in the summer.

    Are you planning any longer hikes or simply traveling to a mountain and spending time at the summit? It sounds like it would be best to travel on your own, seeing as how you might want more time at the top than a tour would allow.

    Once you have an itinerary somewhat decided for each day please do post it here and we can help show you how best to get there and perhaps what to do around each town.

    To get you started have a look at these links for towns you are looking at:

    https://www.myswissalp s.com/zurich/activitie s
    https://www.myswissalp s.com/interlaken/activ ities
    https://www.myswissalp s.com/geneva/activitie s
    https://www.myswissalp s.com/bern/activities

    If you don’t book tours, you’ll also want to look at a rail pass for your travel. https://www.myswissalp s.com/train/ticketspas ses

    A Swiss Travel Pass is very popular and allows for ticket-less travel around most of the country: https://www.myswissalp s.com/swisstravelpass

    Removed user
    Participant
    72625 posts
    12 July 2018 at 10:16:46 #891064

    Thanks for your reply, Lucas!

    I’ve planned to simply hang around the summits, but I’m also open to hikes that won’t take too long to finish. To be honest, I don’t really know what to expect from the summits as I’ve never been to one. For the best views, would you recommend that I walk around more or is hanging around the summits good enough?

    Yes, in fact I’m planning to buy the Swiss pass that includes transportation as well as museum entries after I arrive in Geneva.

    Thanks for the links.

    Paris

    Removed user
    Participant
    72625 posts
    12 July 2018 at 12:58:05 #891065

    The bigger and more popular mountain summits have quite a bit going on at the top. Restaurants, playgrounds, toboggan runs and other activities. You can easily just stay on the summit or just walk around a little and explore -or go off on longer hikes if you so choose.

    You can read more about some Swiss mountains here: https://www.myswissalp s.com/activities/natur alsites

    With the Swiss Travel Pass, I think It would be more convenient to buy the Swiss Travel Pass online. It can be emailed to you and printed at home (saving you time at the airport and giving you a copy to print out again in case you lose your pass). https://www.myswissalp s.com/swisstravelpass/ price

    Regardless of how you buy it, once you have it you are all set to travel independently up many mountains in Switzerland. See what mountains are fully covered and which ones are only discounted with the Swiss Travel Pass here: https://www.myswissalp s.com/swisstravelpass/ validity

  • The thread ‘Join day tours or on my own to mountains?’ is closed to new replies.

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 10730 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.