The Haute Route in the Swiss Alps in July is hard to beat for an epic summer hiking trip! Wildflowers are in full bloom, the weather is warm yet not blistering hot, the chance of rain is low, and the views are magnificent.

What is the Haute Route? The Haute Route (or the High Route or Mountaineers’ Route) is the name given to a route (with several variations) undertaken on foot (or by ski touring) between the Mont Blanc in Chamonix, France, and the Matterhorn, in Zermatt, Switzerland. There are 13 stages of the entire Haute Route and we started about half way through, on Stage 8 (approx 4o miles of it).

Our group of 11 adults (ages late 50s – early 60s) chose to do a self-guided ‘hotel to hotel’ 5-day hike at the east end of the route from La Sage to Zermatt, booked via Alpenwild. Our bags were transported from hotel to hotel, freeing us up to carry just a daypack.

Hut-to-Hut vs ‘Hotel-to-Hotel’ Hiking:

This trip we stayed in hotels vs. mountain refuges (smaller ‘huts’ on the mountain that provide meals but are more rustic and often have shared rooms) which had pros and cons (see below). In hut-to-hut hiking you sleep in secluded mountain locations and in ‘hotel-to-hotel’ hiking you stay in towns/villages/hamlets with shops, restaurants, and other hotels which is a very different vibe. Both options are great – they are just different. You also can combine both within a single trip (and part of our group did that by spending one night in a hut on a glacier). For comparison, you can also view our hut-to-hut hike two years ago on the Tour de Mont Blanc and a hut-to-hut done last year in the Dolomites.

Pros:


Cons:


Who We Booked Through:

Alpenwild is a terrific US based company that organizes guided and self-guided hiking trips in the Alps. We HIGHLY recommend them. We told them what we generally wanted to do in terms of location and daily distance/elevation gain and they came up with our itinerary, booked the hotels and local transportation (as needed), and responded to any and all questions we had within minutes. They know every trail and hotel in the area. They have an on the ground staff that transported our bags each day to our next destination. They have an app that housed all of the details for our trip (maps, directions, hotel info, rail passes etc) and helped us on-site when we had a medical issue and needed some transport. We can’t recommend them enough.

Hiking Info:


See below for:


Summary Itinerary of Trip 

 

Day #DateActivityApprox Feet Gain/LossMilesHotel Elevation1July 17Arrive Arolla  Hotel du Glacierhttps://hotelduglacier.ch6500        2July 18La Sage to either Grimentz (group 1) or glacier (group 1)    5577 Group 1Bus to La Sage. Acend to Col de TorrentUp 26007Hotel de Moiryhttps://www.hotel-grimentz.ch/en/5095 easierDescend to Lac de MoiryDown 2200 Grimentz, Valais                   Group 2Bus to La Sage  Cabane de Moiryhttps://www.cabane-moiry.ch/9268 harderAscend to Cabane de MoiryUp 55119.3      Down 1706    3July 19Grimentz (or glacier) To St. Luc      Group 1Bust to Zinal. Ascend to St. LucUp 303810.2Hotel Bella Tola & St. Luchttps://www.bellatola.ch/en/5413 easierLunch en route at Hotel Weisshorn before descent into St. LucDown 2236     Group 2Descend from Cabane de MoiryUp 213212 https://www.bellatola.ch/en/  HarderHike into Zinal. Take bus to St. Luc.Down 5905              Groups 1 & 2 merge in St. Luc for rest of trip     4July 20St.Luc – Gruben: Leave French-speaking Switzerland, enter the German speaking areaUp 23008Hotel Schwarzhornhttps://www.hotelschwarzhorn.ch/en/6561  Take funicular up from St. Luc. Hike up Medipass then down into GrubenDown 3175 Gruben          5July 21Big day. Hike up to Augstbordpass and over boulder field then down.Up 35178Resort la Ginabellehttps://www.la.ginabelle.ch/en/5315  Cable Descent to St NiklausDown 3079 Zermatt    Train to Zermatt.     6July 22Hiking in/around ZermattUp 19005Resort la Ginabelle 5315  Funicular up. Hike 5 lakes route on mountain. Take cable car to top of Glacier.Down 1900 ZermattChez Vrony recommended for lunch   Drinks on the mountain before 4:30 dinner at Zum See – terrific.   Dinner booked on the mountain at Zum See 7July 23Depart     

Packing List:

Pack Type:

Bring the lightest backpack available. Many of us used Osprey packs that ranged in size from 20-liter to 45-liter capacity (around 35 liters seemed the norm). Make sure it’s properly fit to your body (I had REI do the fitting for me). Since we didn’t need to carry all of our gear most of us opted for small 20-liter packs.

Pack List:

Here’s the list that our group followed for packing for a 5-day trip. We washed out/hung dry items during the hike as needed:

For the Trail:


For Staying in a Refuge:


For Evening:

Since we weren’t carrying our own bags there was flexibility to carry a bit more!


Other:


What to put in your daypack:


 

Active itinerary and many of the activities were at high altitudes. We moved around a lot in the short time we were there. Purchased a Swiss train pass unlimited SBB. 8 days- it was very convenient and allowed us to use the trains as often as needed without restrictions. We bought 2nd class but if you go during peak travel times, I heard the 1st class is necessary to get seats. Great time to visit, not a lot of tourists – no crowds anywhere, temperatures were mild in 60s and wildflowers were out and beautiful. We made no advanced reservations for any of our activities but if you travel during the summer you may need to arrange things earlier.

Highly recommend the Victoria-Jungfrau hotel. Stately, beautiful, service was remarkable. Restaurants were delicious and spa was fabulously restorative after active days.



Itinerary

Day 1: 18th: Arrive in Zurich (1N), Central Plaza Hotel

·       train from airport to Zürich HB: Hauptbahnhof, walk to hotel (.2)

·       walk through old town (aka Altstadt) along river

·       Shopping in old town and downtown, Walk to Lake

Day 2: 19th: Depart mid morn via train to Interlaken (2.5hrs), Victoria-Jungfrau Grand Hotel & Spa

·       Scenic route is thru Lucerne

·       Check into hotel (3N), hike in afternoon, eBikes to explore lake, Oberhofen Castle, hike in hills

·       Great Indian food in Interlaken

Day 3: 20th: Hike Harder Klum (3-4hrs RT); take water and snacks

Day 4: 21st: Train to Jungfraujoch; train to top, hike on Glacier (RT 6hr trip), spa late afternoon

Day 5: 22nd: check out of hotel in Interlaken, Hotel Bellerive

·       train to Zermatt

·       pickup ski equip; Slalom sports, 3 doors from hotel

·       Ski in 1/2day Zermatt

·       check into hotel (2 nights)

Day 6: 23rd: Ski all day, & return ski rentals at end of day

·       Matterhorn- ski into Italy, Lunch in Italy

Day 7: 24th: check out of hotel, Lucerne- check into hotel Hotel des Balances

·       7pm dinner in hotel, 

·       Take Lake Lucerne boat trip; catch SGV boats near the performing arts center on pier- buy tickets at pier or through concierge

Day 8: 25th: Lucerne. Check out of hotel and train back to Zurich to fly home


Sunday:


Arrive Zurich 8:40am


Purchase train passes at airport from info area after examining best options. Train to Grindelwald. Arrive approx noon.


Took local bus to Residence Hotel (could also have walked). If you show the hotel confirmation then the bus is free.


Afternoon activity:


Zipline on First


Cable car (short walk from hotel) up First. Option was to hike to Bachelpsee (1 hr) but we opted to do the zipline and then walked down to the mid stopping point on the cable car and then took the Trotti bikes down, which were awesome!


Sleep:

Residence Hotel

Cost: 195, 210 2 rooms

Grindelwald

Rybigässli 3, CH-3818 Grindelwald, Switzerland

Tel: +41 (0)33 854 55 55


The nearest bus stop “Grindelwald Kirche” is just 50 meters from our hotel. Regular services of buses are available to and from Grindelwald Train station with a journey time of approximately 4-6 minutes. A Regular service of trains operated by BernerOberlandBahn (BOB) between Interlaken OST and Grindelwald with a journey time of 34 minutes.


Monday:


Morning: The hotel was able to send our bags on to the next hotel in Murren for us, which was great.  We then took the train out of Grindelwald and connected to take the train up to Jungfrau. We spent a while at the top, doing the ski options, having lunch etc. There is a hike to a restaurant at the top that we didn’t do but which looked like a good option. We had some blue sky at the top which was unexpected and lucky! Took the train to Lauterbrunnen and took train up to Murren.


In Murren due to weather we weren’t able to do the Via Ferrata (3 hours)  unfortunately.

We ate at the hotel which was fine.


Sleep: Murren

Edelweiss Hotel Hauptstrasse 3825


Tuesday:

Morning: due to weather we didn’t do our planned morning outing of taking the cable car to Shiltholn to see the 007 exhibit and have breakfast. Would have been back by 9:30 or 10. We ate at the hotel and then packed up and walked through town to the cable car. The hotel sent our luggage down to Lauterbrunnen train station and we packed a smaller back for our hike/backpacking trip.


Travel to Stechelberg (cable car). Then found a taxi to take up to the end of the road (saved a lot of time) to start our hike.


Afternoon: Hike to Obersteinberg – 2 hours. Stopped en route to have an awesome lunch at the little Inn (only one there was en route).


From the final PostBus stop at Stechelberg take the paved footpath upvalley on the left bank of the already-raging Weisse Lütschine. Crossing the river, you’ll continue uphill following signs to Trachsellauenen, a small guesthouse and restaurant near a 300-year-old mining site. Continuing on, the path narrows and steepens considerably, becoming a series of over fifty shaded switchbacks. Arriving at the Hotel Tschingelhorn, views to the valley open up and signal that you’re nearing Obersteinberg. Within about 2½ hours after leaving Stechelberg, the Swiss flag, flapping from a pole in front of the hotel, appears in view, along with some small farm building, a pig sty, happily grazing cows, and the traditional-style hotel dating to the 1880s. Obersteinberg sits at an elevation of 5833 feet, a full 2850 feet of vertical ascent from your Stechelberg starting point.


Sleep: Hotel Obersteinberg

Hotel Obersteinberg, 88/adult, 68/child, cash only

The hotel is located on the mountain and has no electricity and can only be hiked in to. Incredible views and scenery.


Wednesday:


Morning: Walk to Gimmelwald – rocky walk through more forested area. Was raining as well. (2 hours). Some stopped in Gimmelwald for lunch and took cable car down to Lauterbrunnen. Others walked the half hour more to Murren and had lunch there before heading down.


Afternoon: open/rest.


Sleep: Lauterbrunnen

Hotel Staubbach

Haputstrasst 3822 Lauternbrunnen



Thursday:


morning: see Trummelbachfalle (10 min bus ride from train station) – impressive!


afternoon: pick up for Canyoning trip via Alpen Raft company .Those who went had an awesome time!  Those who didn’t go headed back to Grindelwald and did the Alpine Slide and some shopping.


Late afternoon: took bus down to near Stechelberg and watched the base jumpers jump. Incredible to see!!! Then walked further up the canyon to have dinner in Stechelberg (one restaurant there – was great) and took bus back or there is taxi that can be called.


Sleep: Lauterbrunnen

Hotel Staubbach

Haputstrasst 3822 Lauternbrunnen


Friday:


Am: wander to local waterfall right in town

Leave Lauterbrunnen 11:30am

Lauterbrunnern – Basel (2.5 hrs)

Flight out of Basel at 3:40.


And off to Italy for the next week……! 


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