|
| Self Guided Inn-to-Inn walking tours in Switzerland |
|
|
| HSM |
| Around Meiringen - Panoramas of the Swiss Alps |
8 days,
easy-moderate
|
May-Oct
|
| JBO |
| Bernese Oberland |
8 days,
moderate
|
Jul-Sep
|
| JAP |
| The Alpine Pass Route |
14 days,
challenging
|
Jul-Sep
|
| JHR |
| The walkers Haute Route |
9 days,
challenging
|
Jul-Sep
|
| JMB |
| Tour of Mont Blanc |
14 days,
moderate-challenging
|
Jun-Aug
|
| JWS |
| Wildstrubel Circuit |
8 days,
moderate-challenging
|
Jul-Sep
|
| |
| Escorted walking tours in Switzerland |
|
|
| ESCEJB |
| Bernese Oberland Guided |
8 days,
moderate
|
Jul, Sep
|
| ESCEJP |
| The Alpine Pass Guided |
14 days,
challenging
|
Jul-Sep
|
| ESCJHZ |
| The Walkers Haute Route Guided |
9 days,
challenging
|
Sep
|
| ESCEJM |
| Tour of Mont Blanc Guided |
14 days,
moderate-challenging
|
Jul
|
| |
  At
the centre of Europe, Switzerland is famous for its banks, its four national
languages, its ancient traditions of democracy (the federal structure of cantons
dates back to William Tell in the 13th century) and its purposeful
neutrality (it has not joined the E.U. and it didn't
directly join in the Second World War). It is famous also for Gruyere and Emmental cheeses, its milk chocolate
and of
course, for the Alps!
Modern international tourism
started here, with Thomas Cook (the world’s first travel agency)
organizing the world’s first package tour from London to Interlaken in
the Bernese Oberland in 1863. The popularity of the country with British
travellers in particular however, started much earlier. Many
including Byron, Wordsworth, Johnson, Bosworth and Russell, crossed the
high passes on the Grand Tour down to Italy. The next wave were the
intrepid early mountaineers: usually self made gentlemen (and sometimes
their ladies) hiring guides (usually shepherds) to head to the peaks. Many
a Swiss Alpine peak first succumbed to these 'teams'. Most famously
perhaps the ascent of The Matterhorn by Edward Whymper in 1865. So
popular was the country that Arthur Conan Doyle based the climax of Sherlock
Holmes’ final struggle with Moriarty at the Reichenbach falls
above nearby Meiringen.
The country has continued to maintain an image of cleanliness and
efficiency and naturally, the white, icy mountain giants contribute to a
feeling of purity. The Swiss ensure that every
village in their mountainous land,
from Zermatt below the Matterhorn in the Swiss Valais, to Grindelwald in
the shadow of The Eiger, can be
reached easily by reliable train, postbus or even lakeland boat.
Simultaneously well waymarked trails
lead over the Alpine passes and
along the Haute Route, or around the Swiss leg of the Tour De Mont Blanc.
The country has something for every walker!
|
