This section extends the Hiking in Switzerland section, giving suggestions for multi-day hikes. Using these suggestions you can make two-day weekend trips or longer excursions, taking advantage of the many hotels, guesthouses and huts dotted along the way. The difficulty levels are generally similar to those of the day hikes.
Here's a map of Switzerland showing (roughly) where the hikes are. Click on the numbers, or use the summary below.
For a zoomable guide to all the Swiss hikes, whether half-day strolls or multi-day treks, see the Swiss hike map. This overview is also available as a Google Earth file: Swiss hikes kmz. It shows the rough location of each of the Swiss hikes, and the accompanying bubbles contain links back to the hike descriptions here at the Activity Workshop.
Name | Length | Distance | Everests | Gradient | Summary | ||||
1
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Jura Ridgeway | 17 days | 310 km | 1.4 | 380 | Traversing the whole Jura range from Dielsdorf north of Zürich to Borex near Nyon. |
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2
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Zürichsee Panoramaweg | 2 days | 28 km | 0.07 | 200 | Easy and panorama-rich walk along the Zürichsee from Zürich to Feldbach. |
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3
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Toggenburger Höhenweg | 5 or 6 days | 91 km | 0.50 | 440 | A varied, scenic route through north-east Switzerland. |
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4
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Liechtenstein Panoramaweg | 2 or 3 days | 31 km | 0.5 | 700 | Ridgetop loop over the Drei Schwestern. |
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5
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Alpine Pass Route | 19 days | 354 km | 2.2 | 520 | Spectacular route crossing a chain of passes across the heart of the country. |
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6
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Strada Alta Leventina | 2 or 3 days | 49 km | 0.27 | 280 | Easy route along the side of the Valle Leventina in Ticino. |
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7
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Southeast Crossing | about 15 days | ~230 km | ~1.7 | ~610 | Proposal for an unresearched route across Graubünden & Ticino |
In this table, the 'Gradient' column refers to how much total climb plus descent a walk involves. It is basically just for comparison, in arbitrary units of milli-Everests-per-marathon. Obviously a lower number means a flatter walk, a higher number means more climb and descent per distance walked.
Please note that all times and prices are approximate, and may be subject to change since the hikes were researched. Use common sense and backtrack or shortcut if necessary.
The icon means that a GPS was used to record the hike, and so waypoints and 3d plots are available. The icon means that photos are available. Recently added are the Kmz files, which you can open in Google Earth or GpsPrune to show the routes - these are indicated by the icon.
Also, please feel free to share your experiences. Any additional information, corrections, suggestions and comments would be gratefully received by email - all due credit will be given.
In the resources page there are links to a selection of the long-distance trails in Switzerland, and there's an overview of the current state of the national route information within OpenStreetMap. There are also some brief details about other multi-day hikes available. And if you found any of that useful, you may also be interested in trying some Snowboarding in Switzerland as well.