[Removed user]

17 July 2011 at 2:18:00 #804487

I plan on doing some hiking in the Bernese Oberland area this October. I’m looking for some kind of a book that contains maps of the trails. can someone reccomend something?

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[Olga]

17 July 2011 at 10:59:33 #833496

Hello littlerunaway,

I think there will be books, but I don’t know how any titles.
What I do know is that you will find lots of hiking tips and day trips just by clicking these links.

I hope this will get you started!

[kim11]

17 July 2011 at 11:53:18 #833497

One of the best books on hiking trails in the Bernese Oberland is Kev Reynold’s “Walking Switzerland: Bernese Alps”. I don’t recall offhand if he has specific maps inside but he describes the routes very well.

Once you arrive in the BO you will be able to get trail maps very easily. There are a variety of free maps for easier walks (start looking for these at the tourist office) all the way to detailed topo maps available at all the larger villages (such as Wengen or Mürren).

Depending on the walks you are planning to do, though, you really don’t need maps. All the routes are very well signed.

That said, if you want to buy maps in advance for specific walks, a good resource is http://www.walkingswitzerland.com. Go to the section called The Walks and choose the one(s) you are interested in. There will be a walk description, pictures, and links to maps you can purchase.

Finally, another good on-line resource is activityworkshop.net. They have a section that describes walks all over Switzerland, and this is the definitive source for the route description for the trans-Switzerland Alpine Pass Route. Here’s a link to the overview of hikes in Switzerland http://activityworkshop.net/hiking/switzerland/index.html.

[Arno]

17 July 2011 at 12:31:36 #833498

Hi littlerunaway,

The hiking link Olga suggested leads to a list of trails with detailed maps (Google satellite images) and links to physical maps to purchase (the same maps that you can buy locally). I personally like the Rother Walking Guides. I think they are available in English as well but couldn’t find them. One thing that is good to know about these guides is that trails categorized as “easy” in many cases are actually “moderate” for the average hiker. “Moderate” should be upscaled to “severe”, and so on. They seem to write with the experienced hiker in mind. It’s a great resource with pretty detailed maps.

Have fun!