Holidays to Switzerland Travel Podcast Episode 108 Transcript
3 Insta-famous hiking trails in Switzerland
You can see the full show notes and listen to this episode > here.
Intro
Are you dreaming of visiting Switzerland? Planning a trip to Switzerland is very exciting, but it can also be overwhelming. How do you choose which of the many scenic cities, towns and villages to visit, which mountain top excursions should you take? And what’s the best way to get around Switzerland and of course, how much of the country can you realistically see within your time frame? If you’ve asked yourself any of these questions, this is the podcast for you. This is the Holidays to Switzerland Travel Podcast. And in each episode, your host, Carolyn Schönafinger, chats with Swiss travel experts to answer your most commonly asked questions, provide practical tips and take you on a virtual visit to the most popular destinations, and, of course, some hidden gems to help you plan your dream trip to Switzerland. And you’ll hear plenty of conversations about Swiss cheese and chocolate too. Are you ready to plan your trip to Switzerland? Well, let’s get started.
Carolyn Schönafinger
Hello and welcome to Episode 108 I’m your host, Carolyn Schönafinger, and today I’m joined by Tanya Deans from Swiss Family Fun. Tanya joined me back on episode 24 when we chatted about a range of different hikes, from easy to challenging in the Jungfrau Region, central Switzerland and Zermatt area. For today’s episode, I’ve invited Tanya back to talk about three hikes that have become very famous on social media, and to share with you some important information that you need to know in order to decide if one of these hikes is suitable for you. Tanya is a very experienced hiker, and in this episode, she shares her thoughts on the hike from Ebenalp to Seealpsee, the Stoos Ridge hike and the Hardergrat Ridge hike from Hartekum to Brienz, and she’s got some great alternatives that are less challenging, but just a scenic. If you plan to enjoy a hike when you visit Switzerland, whether it’s one of the three I just mentioned, or another hike, you’ll definitely get plenty of helpful information and practical tips from today’s episode. Enjoy.
Carolyn Schönafinger
Hi Tanya. Welcome back to The Holidays to Switzerland Podcast.
Tanya Deans
I’m so excited to be here. Carolyn, really nice to see you again and talk with you again.
Carolyn Schönafinger
Oh, it’s great to have you here now. Would you like to start by introducing yourself and perhaps telling us how your passion for hiking in Switzerland got started.
Tanya Deans
Sure. So I am originally from California, and I moved to Zurich with some of my family in 2005 and I had a baby at the time, and then two years later, I had another boy. So I had two little kids, and I was totally new to Switzerland. Didn’t speak German. Was new to hiking with my kids, and we just started exploring the country. I started a blog when I first came here to share some of these things with my family, and that now also with other families that we met here that were English speaking, because it was really hard at the time to get information about hiking in Switzerland, especially for families. So I was always a outdoor person beforehand, when I grew up camping and going to the beach a lot and just being outside a lot with my family. As a child, I was living in San Francisco. We were doing a lot of hiking in Marin County and in Northern California. So that was always a part of what we did. But when we got to Switzerland, it was just completely different type of hiking. They make it super easy. There’s gondolas everywhere, so you can skip all the hard parts and get right to the views. They make it super fun for everyone on the trail. So this was great as I was learning to hike with my little kids, and now they’re old, they’re 17 and 20, so I’ve gone through all the different stages with them. But as I started to share information about these hikes, I got so much nice feedback from other travelers. People that were living here in Switzerland, as well as people that were coming. So I just built this blog up, having now dozens and dozens of hikes, all detailed on our website. And I just love hiking. I love being in the mountains. It’s something that’s great for my family and my relationship with the kids. I find that hiking is a great place to have this time outside of your regular life, where you start sharing things and talking about things that you don’t otherwise do. So I’ve just really enjoyed that, and I love sharing that with other people that maybe hiking is not really their passion, but they’re excited about seeing what Switzerland has to offer, and they just need a little help to get there.
Carolyn Schönafinger
Yeah. Fantastic. And there is just so much information on your blog about every hike that you cover, so it’s amazing, and we’ll include the link to that in the show notes as well. It’s swissfamilyfun.com now, before we get started talking about these particular hikes that I wanted to chat to you about today, for anyone who is perhaps visiting Switzerland for the first time, or is about to plan their first hike in Switzerland. What are some of the things that they really should be aware of?
Tanya Deans
There’s so many important things to consider. First, I would say there is definitely a hike for everyone. So no matter what your age or ability is, there’s something for you. There’s plenty of mountain viewpoints you can get to without hiking at all. There’s beginner trails that are super easy if you’re coming by yourself and you’re solo hiking. There’s plenty of hikes that are safe, and I can give you options for that. If you have any mobility issues or you’re traveling with anyone with limited mobility. There’s lots of trails that are easy and obstacle free that they can go on if you want to challenge yourself. There are so many places where you can go to mountain huts. So there’s just really something for everyone. But it’s really important to choose the right hike that you feel comfortable on, especially when you’re coming to a foreign country where you may not speak the language you’re not really familiar with, the trail networks here, and you don’t want to get out of your depth, so I have a few tips for choosing the right trail. First, if you’ve seen a pretty picture on Instagram, that doesn’t necessarily mean that’s the right trail for you. So a lot of those pictures on Instagram are from really experienced hikers, or people that are taking drone shots, or people that have gone off trail to get a particular view, that aren’t really on safe trails. So you have to be really careful when you follow advice from someone you just see on Instagram that doesn’t really have a lot of details about it, even if they share the location, it’s good to do a lot of research if you really want to see that particular view. But I would also say if you find a picture that you really like, there’s usually really nice alternatives to see similar views without getting yourself in a difficult situation. So that’s often something that I do on my website, is I show you a view that everyone wants to get and then I’ll give you a variety of hikes to get similar views, something from easy, medium and hard. So I think it’s really important to be realistic about your fitness level. Also, if you’re coming just for a few days, you might be jet lagged. You might not be in your prime fitness level when you get here. So also, keep that in mind, there might be weather conditions that are different than you’re used to. So just a few things to keep in mind, one understand the difficulty of the trails. So if you’re a new hiker, you may not really be able to estimate that very well as an experienced hiker, what we typically look at is the length of the hike and also the elevation ascent and descent, because that can make something that’s short, say, like three or four kilometers. If you’re ascending five, 600 800 meters over that short distance, it’s going to be extremely difficult. So if you don’t really understand what your body can do in that sort of ascent, and then maybe do some test hikes before you get here, so you’re familiar about how your fitness level does over that sort of elevation gain. I really do recommend if you really don’t hike very often, if you do it just on holiday, once you know in the summer that you do do some walking or hiking wherever you are, to just get a sense of how your body will react in these particular situations. When you’re looking at trails that are advertised, the system we typically use here in Switzerland show yellow trails will be a tourist trail. So pretty easy, not super difficult. A red, white trail is a mountain trail, typically a narrow path with uneven terrain. There can be a really wide range of how difficult a red, white trail doesn’t tell you too much about the difficulty, but typically it means it’s a signed trail. It’s maintained by the local mountain resort or local hiking clubs, and so you know that this is a trail that people are regularly hiking and is expected to be a normal trail.
Tanya Deans
A blue right trail would not recommend for anyone unless you’re really an experienced mountaineer. And so you’ll see on the trail signs, it’s a white, blue, white marking. They expect you to have mountaineering equipment with you. The trail is faint. You will not necessarily know where the trail is. So this is just not recommended for the average hiker. Besides that, there’s another classification system, which is the T1, T2, T3, T4, T5, this gives you a little more detail about the difficulty trail but a lot of trail maps don’t really show the classification, so it’s not something that the average hiker needs to worry about, unless you’re doing really difficult trails, and in that case, you already have the skills, and you’re probably not listening to this podcast.
Tanya Deans
I would consider that when you’re also looking at the trail, and this is what I try and do on the website, is try and see as many videos and photo stories of the trails. So you know what you’re getting into. You don’t want to get into any situations where you feel really uncomfortable. So a lot of trails might have steep slopes to one side with no barrier or fence, and if you’re afraid of heights, you don’t want to get in a situation where you’re feeling very uncomfortable. And it’s absolutely not necessary. There’s so many different kinds of trails. You don’t have to do that kind of trail to get the best views. So I do that myself as well. Before I do any new trail, I try and see as many blogs as I can and YouTube videos to see what does the trail really look like. Because one Instagram story is not going to give you a real sense of the trail. I would also properly estimate your time.
Tanya Deans
So I get a lot of messages from people, and I also do travel consultations. And when we’re talking about the trail. People often say, what’s the shortest amount that I could do this trail in? You know, I’m a runner, I’m a really fast hiker, and I’m not sure what their goals are, but I would say that normally, when you travel, you just want to enjoy your time and not necessarily get it done in the fastest time possible and then rush off to another mountain. I mean, if that’s what you want to do, fine. But I would say normally you’d want to estimate maybe one and a half to two times the estimated walking time to give yourself time to take photos, to take a rest, to even more time to have a picnic. Maybe you have different people in your group that go at different speeds. Just be realistic about that so you don’t get stressed about having to catch certain buses or cable cars. And you thought, oh well, the posted time was 90 minutes, but we’re never going to make that time. I always give myself more time, even though I’m at fast hiker, if I go by myself, I can usually get it done even faster than the estimated time. But if I’m with friends, it always goes much longer.
Tanya Deans
It’s really important to look at the weather. That’s a huge factor in Switzerland, we have lots of microclimates. Weather can move in really quickly, even if it’s a clear forecast the night before. So I do share some weather apps that we use here in Switzerland, which are different. If you just look up weather, it’ll bring up weather.com and these ones are not really accurate for Switzerland. I’ll give you a couple links to maybe put in the show notes, but search.ch is one that we use that I really like, that is off of the official Swiss information. And it’s really important not just to look at the forecast, but the precipitation maps and animations to see how the weather is moving over the country. You really don’t want to be doing mountain trails if there’s any threat of storm, especially if you really don’t have any experience in the Alps. There are other options to do on rainy days and cloudy days. Just when you don’t have a lot of experience in Switzerland, you may not have the skills to really plan it correctly. I would also always look at the website of the local place where you’re hiking, because they’ll post whether there’s a trail closure.
Tanya Deans
Recently, we’ve had some really extreme weather and some landslides, and so a lot of trails ended up being closed or portions of them that needed detours. So that’s really important to understand so you can make adjustments. They also do things like forestry work or work on the trail that may close part of the trails. So you need to be flexible. Always have a plan B, just in case, and don’t just be super determined to that trail because it was on your list. Really hike safely and be careful about choosing things that are in the proper conditions for you. You also really need to check the opening times. So I always tell people that the mountains close here earlier than you might expect, even though it’s light in summer, even till 10 o’clock at night. A lot of the cable cars close at five, so you really need to be finished, and so by five o’clock so you can ride that last cable car down, they are not going to wait for you. I’ve been stuck on the mountain, and it’s not fun.
Carolyn Schönafinger
That’s something I hear frequently in the Facebook group people saying, I didn’t realize that the cable car stopped running at five. We had to walk two hours back down the mountain to the village. It is actually quite well signposted almost at every cable car station. So that’s something that, yeah, you really need to be aware of.
Tanya Deans
Absolutely. I think a lot of tourists like to have their leisurely morning and have the nice hotel breakfast, and a lot of times they don’t even get started till 10 or 11 in the morning. And I think that that’s really a big mistake. I think you should go to bed early and get up early, because first of all, you’ll skip a little bit of the crowds. If you get on the gondolas first thing in the morning, say, 8 30 in the morning, you’ll beat the heat of the day, and you’ll just give yourself more time to get the hike done. So check those opening times really carefully. Also some cable cars if you’re going to the some of the smaller areas, this is not a problem in, say, the Jungfrau Region and Zermatt, but if you go to any of the smaller mountains, they sometimes close over lunch.
Tanya Deans
So when I was hiking with little kids and we had our time getting out the door, we’d arrive at the mountain at 11 30 when we first started hiking here, and then the cable car was closed for a whole hour. So now we’re just stuck waiting to go up the mountain. You don’t want to be in that situation, especially when your time is short in Switzerland. I would also recommend downloading one or two of the trail map apps like I use Komoot. I like also Outdoor Active. There’s also the Swiss Topo app, which is great that uses, it’s free, and it uses all the Swiss topographical maps. And if you feel nervous at all, you can download your trail onto your app and then have an offline version of that to follow it.
Tanya Deans
That said, I think most of the trails that tourists are going to do are very well signed. It’s hard to get lost, but to just have that extra level of comfort, even as someone who’s lived here 19 years, I always have the map on my phone, and it also gives me a sense of where I’m at, how much longer we have when the biggest scents are going to be over. That’s really important for my kids too. They’re like, ‘This part’s really hard. I’m like, Don’t worry, it’s gonna be over in five minutes.’ So that can be really helpful for the group for a motivation factor.
Tanya Deans
I would say for most tourists, I know that your luggage is precious in terms of space, and you may not wanna bring all your big hiking gear with you, but I would say, if you want to do any of the real mountain trails, so anything that’s a red, white, I would definitely have hiking shoes that have good tread that’s sticky. I really get sad when I see people out there in these Adidas shoes that just have a slick bottom and really just have no grip at all. I mean, I guess it’s possible, but I think you’re setting yourself up for a possible accident. Most of these trails have gravel and loose rock, and, you know, a lot of uneven terrain with steep steps, and it’s just really important to set yourself up for having a really comfortable time and not having an accident.
Tanya Deans
I always bring hiking sticks, but I know that’s not realistic for everyone, but if you do feel at all uncomfortable, I would invest in some hiking sticks. And there are a lot of inexpensive options out there that telescope and can fit in your luggage. And I do find that that gives the people a lot of comfort on the trailer, if you can bring them and they’re not too heavy, I would say always have a rain jacket, because, again, the weather can change so fast in Switzerland, and even just for wind protection, or if a rainstorm comes in, it’s just really nice to have the rain jacket. So even if it’s a hot day, I’ll just pack a long sleeve shirt that’s thin and my rain jacket any day, just in case. And the amount of times where I’ve thought, oh, I don’t need it today. That’s always the day that I need it.
Tanya Deans
Last thing I would say is that you definitely want to have the emergency numbers just in case. I mean, we don’t want anything bad to happen, but it can happen that someone has an accident, twists an ankle, just even minor injuries on the trail, usually you’re not too far from a mountain hut or something. If you’re a normal tourist that’s hiking out there, you’re not going way into the backcountry, but it’s really helpful to have those emergency numbers. Rega is the helicopter rescue service here in Switzerland, so they do have an app where you can have an emergency signal go out from your phone, even if you don’t have access to the mobile network, so that’s good to have on your phone, and we always recommend, especially if you’re gonna do a lot of hiking, that you become a Rega patron, and it’s a small fee for the year that covers you or your entire family. And then they can waive some of the rescue fees if you’re a patron. You also wanna make sure that you have travel insurance, just in case you have any particular medical needs while you’re in Switzerland. So I think with those tips, I don’t want to scare anyone off. I think that most of the trails that you’ll be picking will not be super difficult, but I think that the things I’ve just mentioned will just ensure that you have a good time and feel well prepared and comfortable out there on the trail.
Carolyn Schönafinger
Yeah, absolutely. And as you say, most of the trails that our listeners will be attempting, probably the yellow and possibly the red and white, and they’re very well signposted. But it’s always good to take those precautions. I’ve seen people even on some hiking trails in their flip flops, which is not very wise, because it can be very slippery. So yes, those stirred issues are always a good idea.
Tanya Deans
Absolutely.
Carolyn Schönafinger
Okay. So the reason that I wanted to chat to you today is because, as you mentioned before, there’s lots of pictures on Instagram of these beautiful views that you can see from hikes in Switzerland. And like yourself, I’m concerned that people are perhaps underestimating the experience that they need to attempt some of these hikes. So there’s three in particular that I wanted to chat to you about, and just get your thoughts on them, and perhaps tell us what kind of experience level you think people should have before they attempt these hikes, and any alternatives that they might like to consider. So the first one is in the Appenzell region. So in the east of Switzerland, from Ebenalp to Seealpsee. This is a hike that I’ve done I haven’t done the other two that we’re going to chat about. So first of all, can you tell us why is this hike so famous?
Tanya Deans
The Ebenalp region is really famous for this cliff restaurant. So it’s a restaurant that’s built into the side of the cliff. It’s very picturesque. And so there’s tons of photos on this. Actually, when I first moved here in 2005 I had read about this in Rick Steves book, and he was promoting it, and it was one of the very first hikes that I did when I came to Switzerland. It’s absolutely gorgeous, and everyone should definitely go to the cliff restaurant. That part’s really easy, but a lot of people will hike from the cliff restaurant down to the alpine lake that’s below, which is called the Seealpsee. You can see it from the cliff restaurant, and it’s absolutely gorgeous and very enticing to go down that trail. However, the trail is very difficult, and it is exposed in areas, and makes it get quite dangerous.
Carolyn Schönafinger
Okay, so what’s the official classification is, this is obviously a red, white trail.
Tanya Deans
It is a red white trail, and it is rated a tT3 so it’s a usually trails are from a T1 up to T5 they can go higher than that, but T5 would be very, very difficult. Basically, mountaineering. T3 means that there are some dangers on the trail.
Carolyn Schönafinger
Okay, so if someone is coming to Switzerland, they don’t really do any hiking at home. Would you recommend that they do this hike or not?
Tanya Deans
I would definitely not recommend that hike. So just to understand what this trail is like, it has lots of steep switchbacks with very tall steps. So without hiking sticks, it can be quite difficult to keep your balance as you’re going down these long, tall steps. It’s very relentless. So every time I do the trail about a half an hour in, I think, oh, this trail is so much longer than I remember. And I’ve done it lots of times, and I have done it with my young children before I really knew what I was doing, and in retrospect, I would have never taken my small children on that. And in fact, before you even start the trail, they have a sign that says, Do not take small children. And if you do, you should have them attached to a safety line. So the dangers this trail have been known for a long time. I’m a little annoyed with the local authorities that they’ve not put more safety features on this trail that they’ve done in other areas. Their attitude is that it’s your own responsibility. However, in recent years, there’s been quite a few deaths on this trail. So just in 2022 there were five deaths on that trail, including a mother and her small child who fell off the trail. In fact, in one day, someone had fallen off the trail and was being rescued by Rica, and two hours later, on the same trail, another person fell off to their death.
Tanya Deans
So for a lot of people that have done this trail, we feel a little confused, because if you do it carefully and slowly and stay to the side of the trail. There’s really no reason why you should die on the trail, but accidents happen. It’s a busy trail. You have people passing you, sometimes quite fast. There are places that are quite narrow where there’s a very steep slope to the one side, if it’s muddy at all, or if there’s ice or any sort of weather, it can just make it quite dangerous. So it’s just, it can be very dangerous, and because of all the deaths that have been on this trail, I really don’t recommend it to anyone that doesn’t already have some experience in Switzerland. I know that it is really enticing, because you want to get down to that lake that’s below the cliff restaurant. So alternatives that I would suggest, one you can go to the cliff restaurant. It’s all you ride the cable car up the mountain. It’s only about 25 minutes down to the cliff restaurant. And that trail is relatively safe. I mean, it does have uneven terrain, and you do need to be careful on it, but it’s secured and it’s not particularly dangerous.
Tanya Deans
If you really want to go the lake, I would walk back up to the cable car, ride it down, and then walk up the very safe service road that goes directly up to the lake. Now I wouldn’t say that that’s walk in a park either. It’s actually quite steep of a road, and everyone who does it is a little surprised at how steep it gets, but it is safe, so it’s just a lot of fitness, and I wouldn’t take a stroller on it. And if you have very small children, I think it’ll be quite difficult to make it up because it is quite steep, but that’s the safest way to get up to the lake. Now, if you want to see more things on the top of the mountain, another trail that is still a mountain trail, but safe is to go from the top of the cable cart Ebenalp up to the Schafler Mountain Hut. This is relatively safe. There’s not like steep drop offs to the side, and you get a fabulous view of the lake to one side. And then you’re also getting the whole Alpstein mountain range. And then you get up to the Schafler Ridge, which is really exciting. Now, I wouldn’t recommend continuing on that trail on the ridge, because that, again, is quite dangerous, and I’ve done it myself, but I think just going up to the mountain hut and back can be quite a beautiful experience, especially because you get the mountain hut, you can have a lunch up there and then come back down. So I do have a lot of recommendations for other types of trails that are similar in my blog post about this hike on the website, so I won’t go for all of them now, but there’s just so many alternatives to get similar views, but to keep yourself safe.
Carolyn Schönafinger
Fantastic. As you say, that restaurant in the cliff face is very well, you know, well worth visiting. It’s quite unique, isn’t it,
Tanya Deans
Absolutely. I mean, I take all of my visitors there, and I definitely have made mistakes myself. I mean, I took some of our relatives that were visiting, and I really had underestimated their hiking ability, and they were really excited to go, and then it ended up being very difficult to get them down the trail. They were in good spirits. We had hiking sticks for them, and we took it super slow. But in retrospect, what I really should have done is take them on an easier trail a previous day, just so I could understand their hiking ability a little bit better, and then judge whether that was appropriate. So, you know, even someone like myself who’s really experienced, you know, we make mistakes, but it’s really important in the moment to realize what’s happening and then make adjustments on the fly to do something that’s a little bit safer or to take it a lot slower than you imagined.
Carolyn Schönafinger
Yeah, absolutely okay. So another one that seems to have, like, blown up on Instagram and YouTube over the last couple of years is Ridge hike not too far from Lucerne, the Stoos. I think you pronounce it Ridge hike. Tell us about that one.
Tanya Deans
Yeah, Stoos has become really popular late, and I’m probably pronouncing it incorrectly. I have no idea. I always say Stoos, but it’s become really popular lately, because they have a new fun and clear which is, quote, the steepest in the world. And it is a very exciting ride. So a lot of people come just to go on this funicular that takes you up to the alpine village, and from there you could take a chairlift directly up to the viewpoint over Lake Lucerne. It’s absolutely gorgeous. I’ve been going there for years, even before they had this new funicular that’s made it so popular.
Carolyn Schönafinger
Okay. And what’s the actual classification of this Ridge Trail?
Tanya Deans
This is also a red, white trail, and it’s a T3 so similar rating to the other trail we just talked about.
Carolyn Schönafinger
Okay. And I believe that, like there’s the drop offs on either side are fairly severe, is that right?
Tanya Deans
There’s definitely very steep slopes to the side, and there are a lot of switchbacks on stairs where it is very steep to the side. It’s not an actual cliff, it’s a slope, but you do not want to fall off and then be rolling off. But I mean, this is a very well built trail. It’s wide, and I think that if you have decent hiking experience, it’s totally suitable. I would not go on it if you don’t have hiking shoes, if you don’t have good fitness that you can go up and down, because there’s a lot of up and down on this trail. And I wouldn’t take very small children, because you definitely don’t want children that are going to run off from you and you’re not going to see them, and they’re playing and then they fall off the trail. This is a trail where you need to be serious and really stay on the path and be careful. But I do think that for someone that has average hiking experience that it’s possible.
Carolyn Schönafinger
Okay, so if someone’s listening and they’re thinking that may be a little bit beyond me, what are some alternatives that they could possibly do to still get those same great views over Lake Lucerne?
Tanya Deans
Absolutely. So I’d say if you’re interested in the funicular ride, you should definitely go. But you can ride the chair lift directly to the end of that Ridge Trail at Fronalpstock, and there you can get the same views that you’re going to get. And there’s a short panorama trail along the cliffs that you can do that’s totally safe and easy, and small children can do it. So you can get a lot of what you wanted out of that trail by just going directly to the viewpoint. If you want to do a longer hike, you can hike down from there, not on the Ridge Trail, but there’s other trails that go down back to alpine village. Or if you want a lot of fitness, you can hike up. And I just did that last week where I did the Ridge Trail and that I also hiked down, and you get really beautiful views and get that Alpine feel from that. Now, if you want to be on a ridge, but you don’t want it to be so dangerous, there’s a lot of options for you. I have a lot of ridge trails on the website. A couple that I would just mention are, first of all, well, not just quite a Ridge Trail, but the Rigi Panorama Trail gives you that view of Lake Lucerne, and you’re going to get a lot of those same feels on a relatively easy trail and very safe. So that would be my first choice if you wanted Lake Lucerne views. If you want a Ridge Trail, so you kind of like that idea of being up on the ridge and be able to see both sides of the mountain, if you happen to be in the Interlaken region or Jungfrau region, I would recommend the Schynige Platte trail, and this one’s it’s still a mountain trail, and take some fitness, but it’s quite safe, and they do have barriers on all the places that have the steep slopes, so you’re not going to feel really exposed on this trail, but you’re going to get that same drama that you might have gotten on the Stoos Ridge Trail. I have a lot of other options as well that are smaller mountains, which I can include links to, but this would be my top two to recommend.
Carolyn Schönafinger
Okay, fantastic. Well, it’s good that there are some other alternatives, because, you know, as we said, if someone thinks that that might be a little bit beyond my experience, at least there’s something else that they can try and feel comfortable doing that.
Tanya Deans
Yeah, and I would also say from a time standpoint, because I occasionally do private tours with people, and I had taken a small group that wanted to do the Ridge Trail, I was a little concerned that it was maybe out of their ability, and so I was working on them to just go to the viewpoint, and also our time was short, and so I successfully convinced them to go just to the front up stock. And really they were so happy. And we had a beautiful picnic there on the edge. And it was the best day ever. And they did not feel at all that they had missed out by not doing the Ridge Trail. And I think that this is the theme that I hear from a lot of people, is they’re just worried about missing out. And I think that as long as you’re on any mountain, you’re never going to have that feeling of missing out. You’re going to feel like it’s the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen, and you’ll be so happy, and doing the Ridge Trail is not going to make the difference between having an amazing day or not.
Carolyn Schönafinger
Yeah, absolutely. All right, so there is one other Ridge Trail which has been getting a lot of air time recently as well, and I know it’s quite difficult, and it’s called the Hardergrat. So would you like to tell our listeners a bit about that and where it starts and finishes?
Tanya Deans
So the Hardergrat is a ridge that’s near Interlaken, and its infamous as the most dangerous trail in Switzerland, and some say the most dangerous trail in the world. There are people that have died on that trail. I’m surprised. It’s not more than it is. It starts kind of near, harder, cool, which is directly above Interlaken, and it ends near Brienz Rothorn, which is at the far end, so east of Interlaken, just above Brienz village. And typically, because it’s such a long and difficult trail, people will start this at three or four in the morning before the mountain transport starts or opens for the day on either end of this trail, because it’s just not possible to finish the trail from Harder Kulm opens at 9am and Brienz road horns usually around I think the earliest they might do is 7 30 somewhere around there. It’s just too late in the day to get started on the trail, so you have to start early. So about three or 4am a lot of people will sleep in their car just parked right by the trail, and then get up at three to 4am hike up the mountain, skipping that mountains and transport because it’s not open, and then they’ll spend anywhere from seven to 12 hours on this trail. It’s 25 to 28 kilometers, and most of it is on a blue, white trail, so rated T5 on a very, very narrow ridge with steep slopes on both sides. I have friends that are mountaineers that do ski touring. They’re very extreme hikers, and they’ve done this trail. And when I talked to them about it, they said, even this trail gave them a moment of pause, and they took it very carefully. There were people that were crawling hands and knees on the parts that are really narrow. And I think there are a lot of people that get themselves into a bad situation on this trail, not there are no services on the trail, there’s no water, there’s no shelter, and people go in poor weather, they have the wrong equipment. And the problem is there’s a lot of information and videos on social media. There’s one particular video that makes me so angry of people that, you know, they just arrived. They didn’t really know what was happening. They didn’t have the right equipment, their luggage hadn’t come, so they just went in, whatever they had, and they get themselves in a really bad situation. And I think that this is really dangerous for other people to have these examples and not really understand the true dangers of this trail.
Carolyn Schönafinger
Yeah, absolutely. So you obviously getting the views there of the Bernese Alps from that trail. Is there something else similar? I mean, I guess that Schynige Platte one would also give you similar views. Does it?
Tanya Deans
Absolutely. Schynige Platte is great for beginner hikers. You get similar views just on the other side of the link. If you really want to be on the ridge, you have a lot of options. So the first option is to go to the Brienz Rothorn viewpoint. So you could take a mountain train directly to the viewpoint, and without hiking at all, you’re going to get a lot of the views of what you’re going to get on the trail. Of course, you’re with a bunch of other people, and it feels more crowded. And that’s why people want to go on the trail. Your other option is to do the Brienz Rothorn Ridge trail that goes so if it’s what, that’s where the Ridge Trail ends, this harder grot one. And then from there you can continue on the ridge, more east towards Lucerne. Now that trail is a red, white trail, very well maintained. I’ve done it multiple times, and I think you have good hiking experience. It is, does have dangerous areas, but it’s a normal Mountain Trail, and most people with average hiking experience could do it. So that one is on my blog, and I do recommend it for experienced hikers, and that one, you get a lot of the same views, all the drama, lots of ridge sections, absolutely gorgeous. Another option, if you are an experienced hiker and you think you can do it, you can just do half of the well, it’s not quite half, but a section of the Hardergrat, starting at Harder Kulm up to the Augstmouth or and I’m sure I’m saying that incorrectly. It’s one of the peaks on the Hardergrat. It’s still really difficult, and it does have dangerous, rich sections. But again, it’s a red, white trail. You can go up to the peak. It’s still going to take you maybe six, seven hours. But this is also hike. I haven’t done it myself yet. I have plans to do it the summer. Hopefully we’ll get the right weather way to do it, but it’s something that is, again, within the fitness ability and technical ability of an experienced hiker, someone who doesn’t want to be on a blue, white trail. And I have also a link to that that I can that I share. I have a whole post about reasons not to do the Hardergrat and then all the trails that you can do instead. And I think that if you are unsure at all about your abilities, that should be a good sign to yourself that this is not the right trail for you. And I also want to say that don’t like push through just think like, Well, I’m a tough person, and I’m mentally tough and I can just push through, but that’s not what we’re dealing here. We’re talking about real dangers. So I think pushing yourself through is something maybe you could do on a marathon where you’re just saying, Okay, I’m mentally tough and I’m gonna get this fitness challenge through. But that’s not the case when you’re mountaineering, because there’s so many real dangers that you can’t control, and also accidents that can happen, especially when you’re tired and you are really pushing yourself to the limit.
Carolyn Schönafinger
Yeah, absolutely. Some very good advice there. So for anyone who’s considering, or had been considering, any of those hikes, and now we’ve sort of perhaps given them some food for thought, and maybe they’ll alter their plans. Do you have any other tips that you think that they should be aware of?
Tanya Deans
I would say that. I think that if coming to Switzerland, you should definitely hike I think that’s a big part of the experience in Switzerland. It helps you get away from the crowds. I wouldn’t be turned off. There’s a lot of places that are super popular. So for example, in the Jungfrau Region. Grindelwald First is super popular in Zermatt, the Gornergrat is super popular. And you may be turned off by, oh, I don’t want to be all by all the crowds, but the vast majority of people just stay at the viewpoints, and a small percentage of those people get on the trails. So I really recommend that you do find a trail that fits your comfort level and get out on the trail, even if it’s a short one, because you’re going to have more of an authentic experience in Switzerland, and you’re going to have this more peaceful experience on the trail, and I think that’s really going to add to your whole trip. So I would just say don’t be scared by any of the things that I said, just use those to inform your planning process. And if you feel at all uncomfortable, choose something that’s maybe a little easier than you think you can do to get a start, and then maybe plan the harder hikes a little later in your itinerary, so then you could just test out and see what you’re doing. I would also recommend that you ask at the either at the tourist office or at the gondola station if you have any concerns about the trail, because they’re talking to people that are hiking the trail all the time, the people that are maintaining the trail, and they can often give you advice that’s really of the moment if there’s any things that you need to be aware of. So most of the people in the tourist regions speak English, and they’re quite friendly, and they love the mountains, and they want you to enjoy it. So I wouldn’t be shy. I would ask around.
Carolyn Schönafinger
Yeah, that’s fantastic advice. Excellent. Well, thank you so much for sharing all that. As I said at the start, it’s important for people to understand that just because they see a picture of a beautiful viewpoint from a hike on social media, that that doesn’t mean that they should be there, or they they can actually do that hike. Because, as you mentioned, there could be it could be a drone shot, or it could be from someone who’s an extremely experienced hiker. I will share your website address in the show notes and the links that you mentioned there, but can you just remind people what the name of your website is, please?
Tanya Deans
Yeah, I’m swissfamilyfun.com and I’m also on YouTube, at Swiss Family Fun, at Instagram and Facebook. I also have an email newsletter. I have a lot of premium services, including a Switzerland guide that has an interactive map with lots of hikes on it, almost 500 items on there as well. I do travel consultations, so if you need help with like building the itinerary, especially for people that do have children, or if you have any limited mobility, or if you have any concerns about what sort of hikes you do, that’s something that I can talk you through and help you pick the right kind of hikes. And yeah, so there’s lots of different ways to get in touch with me and get free information for me, and also the more detailed services if you need them.
Carolyn Schönafinger
Fantastic. Thank you so much, Tanya for sharing all that with us today.
Tanya Deans
Thanks for having me. It was great to talk to you.
Carolyn Schönafinger
What great advice from Tanya. Now, the purpose of this episode is not to frighten you or put you off hiking, but to encourage you to research a hike that you’re interested in and to know exactly what to expect before you set off, so that there are no nasty surprises. I’m guessing that a plaster cast or an expensive rescue bill are not the kind of souvenirs you would like to bring home from Switzerland. With 65,000 kilometers of marked hiking trails in Switzerland, there really is a hike for everyone. On Tanya’s website, she provides really detailed information about all the hikes we’ve chatted about today and many, many more. So you’ll definitely find a hike to suit you. You’ll find links to Tanya’s website, her YouTube channel and Instagram page in the show notes for this episode, as well as a link to my free guide 21 useful things to know before you visit Switzerland. To get your copy, head to holidaystoswitzerland.com/episode108. Thanks for joining me today. If you enjoy the podcast, I’d be super grateful if you could leave a five star rating or a review wherever you listen to podcasts. Next time we’re heading to Interlaken to discover the many fantastic all weather activities on offer. Until then, Tschüss.
You can see the full show notes and listen to this episode > here.
