Turn night into day during Swiss Hiking Night

The time has come: On the night of 20th to 21st July 2024, the annu­al Swiss Hik­ing Night will take place for the 18th time. The sec­ond annu­al   This event for young and old was ini­ti­at­ed by the Swiss Hik­ing Trail Fed­er­a­tion. The organ­is­ers of the approx­i­mate­ly 100 guid­ed hik­ing tours through­out Switzer­land include des­ti­na­tions, hik­ing guides and, of course, the Swiss Youth Hos­tels. The hos­tels in Scuol and Zer­matt have put togeth­er some excit­ing tours. Lin­da test­ed the night expe­ri­ence for you last year in Valais.

 
When I arrive on Sat­ur­day after­noon, the sun is shin­ing over the idyl­lic town of Zer­matt. 

Als ich am Sam­stag­mit­tag anreise, scheint die Sonne über den idyl­lis­chen Ort Zer­matt.

Linda’s report on the Swiss Hiking Night

When I arrive on Sat­ur­day after­noon, the sun is shin­ing over the idyl­lic vil­lage of Zer­matt.

What a diverse group of hikers

At 7 p.m., we meet in front of the entrance to the youth hos­tel. Today’s hik­ing group con­sists of 15 adults, a 10-year-old girl and Haly and Finn, two dogs. The 3.5‑hour tour with an ele­va­tion gain of almost 600 metres was put togeth­er by the expe­ri­enced hik­ing guide Prisca.

Fascinating information about flora and fauna

Prisca has lots to tell about the local flo­ra and fau­na. She has lived here for over 20 years. Hos­tel Man­ag­er Yan­nic is also part of the hik­ing group and grew up in Zer­matt. He, too, shares one or two «insid­er sto­ries» with us.

We now know that there are 3,000 blac­knose sheep in the region. Five farm­ers take care of them in the Zer­matt region. Far up on the slope, we even dis­cov­er some at dusk.

A varied route

The route is pleas­ant and has a lot to offer: wide paths, nar­row trails, steps and even a sus­pen­sion bridge to cross. Time flies by – the con­ver­sa­tions we’re hav­ing are so inter­est­ing. Par­tic­i­pants range from a physi­cist, an urban plan­ner and a cruise expert to a for­mer trapeze artist.

Dawn is slowly breaking and we reach the Ricola-Garden

There are 13 herbs in a Rico­la drop and we can see them all in the Rico­la gar­den thanks to the head­lamp we’ve put on in the mean­time. Due to the ori­gins of the region, the earth is full of min­er­als and there­fore very fer­tile. And that’s why we can always ask the ques­tion: «Wer hat‘s erfun­den?» or «who invent­ed it » – a say­ing from a cult Rico­la com­mer­cial.

Past Blatten and a view of Zermatt at night

The hike con­tin­ues past a small vil­lage with a chapel, a moun­tain restau­rant and a ham­let. Guests have been wel­comed here in Blat­ten since 1850, back then still in a tea house.

In around 20 min­utes hik­ing, Zer­matt is at our feet, what a sight.

A delicious surprise awaits us

We arrive at the youth hos­tel at around 11:30 pm, exhaust­ed, hap­py and hun­gry. Yan­nic, the Hos­tel Man­ag­er, seats us. A tra­di­tion­al 4‑course meal is served at a fes­tive­ly dec­o­rat­ed table. The starter is hay soup and a sal­ad buf­fet. As the main course, we enjoy a tasty raclette. This feast is round­ed off with a physalis ice cream. Sim­ply deli­cious.

My summary:

A tru­ly spe­cial expe­ri­ence. Thanks to Hik­ing Night, I expe­ri­enced a com­plete­ly dif­fer­ent side of Switzer­land and got to know lots of inter­est­ing, kind peo­ple. I will def­i­nite­ly be join­ing the next Hik­ing Night on 20/21 July 2024!

Community question

Have you ever gone on a night hike? Tell us more in the com­ments!

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