Hiking homebase other than Grindelwald

Three years ago my family and I enjoyed a wonderful two-week hiking vacation in the Bernese Oberland. We stayed in Grindelwald which served us very well. We are considering taking another hiking excursion with our three young adults (ages 18, 21, and 21) in early August. While we might very well return to Grindelwald, I was wondering if there were other regions/towns that we should consider for excellent hiking. We are all fit and enjoy day hikes, particularlhy when they include the chance to dine along the trail. Other outdoor adventures like kayaking, rafting, biking. or just wandering cute towns and cities would be a bonus. Thanks very much!

Hi KimRosenthal,

It's great to know you are planning another trip to Switzerland.

Perhaps this time you'd like to visit a different Swiss region other than the Bernese Oberland? Graubünden in east Switzerland also offers plenty of hiking opportunities. Have a look at this link: www.myswissalps.com/graubunden and scroll down this link to find hiking trail suggestions: www.myswissalps.com/graubunden/activities

I'm sure fellow travellers on this forum would be happy to recommend their favourite hiking base too.

Let us know if you need more information.

Hi Kim

hiking in the Jungfrau area is hard to beat. We have always stayed in Wengen which has a somewhat different atmosphere than Grindelwald (smaller, no cars etc.)

Zermatt is also a popular destination for hiking with many trails having views of the iconic Matterhorn. Trails starting or ending on the Gornergrat summit offer great views of numerous peaks in the Alps.

The Waldhaus Hotel in Sils Maria has a dedicated service to help and advise hikers. The Upper Engadine area has many hikes to tall peaks and alpine lakes. Sils is also close to St. Moritz.

If your looking for something quite different from the above Alpine hiking we enjoyed staying in Locarno and hiking the surrounding trails. Very pretty lake views and many modest mountain hikes. Lugano is another popular destination in the same area with hiking opportunities.

There are also some less visited and less touristy areas often recommend by some of the top contributors that I have no personal experience hiking, namely the Jura mountain area. Perhaps some of them will join the thread.

Mark

We've stayed both in Wengen and Zermatt for our hiking adventures. Can't go wrong with either. Zermatt may have more restaurants and lodging options and possibly more hiking options as well. We were in each location only 3 days so that wasn't nearly enough to exhaust all our options.

I think the most important hiking regions are already covered here:

Bernese Oberland with Grindelwald, Wengen and Murren.

Valais with Zermatt and Saas-Fee. I will be staying for a few days in the latter in July. And it's certainly lest touristy than Zermatt.

Engadin with St.Mortitz and Pontresina (several options there, you could use the train to get around).

Ticino with Lugano and Locarno. I have a trip to Locarno on my future agenda. Staying in Locarno and hiking in the mountains surrounding the town including trips up Valle Maggia and Valle Verzasca for hiking there. Perhaps better in early summer (June) or September than in the high summer weeks.

Lucerne is another good base for hiking. We stayed here on two different trips. Mountain hiking, lake hiking, easy train access to other towns for variety.