This blog consists mostly of articles I’ve written concerning my experiences hiking the Via Alpina green trail in 2013 and 2016. Posts labeled “Trail diary” (on the home page of this blog) address particular segments of that trail, and provide descriptions, tips and photographs. Other articles (listed on the menu bar) address subjects related to the trail: how it ranks in relation to other trails, what types of gear I recommend for the hike, how to pack trekking poles for flights to Switzerland, etc.
In 2013, we hiked half the green trail from west to east (Lenk to Engelberg). In August 2016 we hiked the remaining half from east to west (Mels to Engelberg). Posts are displayed chronologically, beginning with the most recent. If you want to see my older posts (from 2016 and 2013), you need to scroll down.
The trail segments described on this blog are those that I chose for myself and my walking partners. Sometimes we decided to “take it easy” and shorten the amount of hiking on a particular day. Sometimes we wanted to stay in a particular hut. Also, my wife has fibromyalgia (which causes pain and fatigue) and she simply can’t hike as far or as fast as she once could. In other words: what this blog describes is not the only way to sequence a hike on the Via Alpina. Every guidebook splits up the days differently. Consider various ways of doing it, then make your own decision. As we say in the US: “Your mileage may vary.”
I’ve also included updated information and photos from August 2017, kindly provided by my friend John Brody of California, who hiked the Via Alpina green trail from Lenk to Linthal with his daughter Gabby. Many thanks, John, for providing the updates!
This blog also includes one post about my 2019 hike on portions of the Via Alpina red trail through Liechtenstein, a part of Austria and the Prättigau region of Switzerland. There are (as I explain in another part of this blog) five Via Alpina trails in Europe. I’ve hiked all of the Via Alpina green trail. I’ve hiked only a few stages of the Via Alpina red trail.
P.S. The Via Alpina green trail follows (most of the time) what some call the Alpine Pass Route. The Alpine Pass Route is not marked as such on signs along the trail. But there are some good books out there that discuss it. Those books can be helpful to Via Alpina green trail hikers IF you are careful to note the differences between the green trail route and the Alpine Pass Route.
P.P.S. If you look at the official website of the Via Alpina, you see that the western terminus of the Via Alpina green trail is Lenk. However, some books show the Via Alpina green trail beginning as far west as Montreux.
My Via Alpina 