Winter hiking in Switzerland – tips and info for your adventure

Winter hiking is all the rage in Switzerland. The Swiss Hiking Trail Federation provides unforgettable tour recommendations and practical tips. This is what you should know about the popular sport.

Linda

26.01.2023

The hype sur­round­ing win­ter hik­ing grabbed hold of the Swiss many years ago. For near­ly 30 years, the Swiss Hik­ing Trail Fed­er­a­tion has ded­i­cat­ed itself to this out­door sport. There are now over 750 marked trails. Before we get to the TOP 10 rec­om­men­da­tions, here are a few excit­ing and like­ly unknown tit­bits relat­ed to this win­ter activ­i­ty

The pink signs for win­ter hik­ing trails are very easy to see. © Swiss Youth Hos­tels

How do new winter hiking trails come to be?

Win­ter hik­ing trails are made by the respec­tive spon­sor (des­ti­na­tion, munic­i­pal­i­ty, moun­tain rail­way etc.). There are sev­er­al cri­te­ria to con­sid­er when plan­ning new win­ter hik­ing trails, such as safe­ty aspects, envi­ron­men­tal com­pat­i­bil­i­ty or attrac­tive­ness. Those inter­est­ed will find more detailed infor­ma­tion here: «Guide to win­ter hik­ing trails and snow­shoe­ing trails» (PDF-Down­load).

Switzerland is seeing pink.

Around one-fifth of the res­i­den­tial Swiss pop­u­la­tion has used marked win­ter hik­ing trails in the past twelve months, and that num­ber is grow­ing!
Our tip: Com­pile your win­ter hikes on Switzer­land­Mo­bil­i­ty. You’ll find great routes here! Mem­bers of the Swiss Youth Hos­tels get a dis­count on the annu­al sub­scrip­tion. Learn more: Swiss Youth Hos­tels | Request pro­mo code (youthhostel.ch)

Switzer­land­Mo­bil­i­ty Plus: The per­fect app for plan­ning a hike. © Swiss Youth Hos­tels

Who prepares the winter hiking trails?

The respec­tive spon­sor is respon­si­ble for prepar­ing and mon­i­tor­ing win­ter hik­ing trails. The pink signs are installed before first snow to make sure they can eas­i­ly be anchored in the ground and the loca­tions are still eas­i­ly acces­si­ble.

Are new winter hiking trails in the works?

The Swiss Hik­ing Trail Fed­er­a­tion isn’t auto­mat­i­cal­ly informed of which des­ti­na­tions, munic­i­pal­i­ties, moun­tain rail­ways etc. are plan­ning new win­ter hik­ing trails. The fed­er­a­tion is hap­py to help and advise spon­sors, but no «duty to report» exists.
TIP: Switzer­land­Mo­bil­i­ty has pub­lished 7 new win­ter hik­ing trails and 7 new snow­shoe­ing trails for the 2022/23 win­ter sea­son.

TOP recommendations for winter hiking trails

Eiger and Wetterhorn in view

  • Track: Holen­stein — Bran­degg
  • Dura­tion: 02:25:00
  • Lev­el: Medi­um — Snow­shoes required

to the win­ter hik­ing trail

Winter hiking on the Faulhorn

  • Track: First(Grindelwald) — Bus­salp
  • Dura­tion: 04:40:00
  • Lev­el: Dif­fi­cult

To the win­ter hik­ing trail

From Aminona to Montana

  • Track: Amin­i­na — Mon­tana
  • Dura­tion: 03:55:00
  • Lev­el: Medi­um

To the win­ter hik­ing trail

From Zermatt to the alpine hamlet of Zmutt

  • Track: Zer­matt — Zmutt — Zer­matt
  • Dura­tion: 03:55:00
  • Lev­el: Medi­um

To the win­ter hik­ing trail

From Naraus to Flims

  • Track: Naraus — Flims
  • Dura­tion: 02:45:00
  • Lev­el: Medi­um

To the win­ter hik­ing trail

On the way at the former Maisensäss

  • Track: Tgnantien — Lenz­er­hei­de
  • Dura­tion: 02:15:00
  • Lev­el: Medi­um

To the win­ter hik­ing trail

Magical Val Roseg GR

  • Track: Pon­tresina — Roseg
  • Dura­tion: 02:20:00
  • Lev­el: Medi­um

To the win­ter hik­ing trail

Winter sun in the Engelberg Valley

  • Track: Brun­ni — Engel­berg
  • Dura­tion: 04:05:00
  • Lev­el: Medi­um

To the win­ter hik­ing trail

From Saanenmöser to Gstaad

  • Track: Saa­nen­mös­er — Gstaad
  • Dura­tion: 02:05:00
  • Lev­el: easy

To the win­ter hik­ing trail

Winter springtime over Davos

  • Track: Ischalp — Davos Platz
  • Dura­tion: 03:10:00
  • Lev­el: Medi­um

To the win­ter hik­ing trail

Due to the con­stant­ly chang­ing snow sit­u­a­tion, there’s a pos­si­bil­i­ty that not all win­ter hik­ing trails can be pre­pared. It’s worth check­ing with the munic­i­pal­i­ty, the tourist office or the moun­tain rail­way before arrival.
Trail overview com­piled by the Swiss Hik­ing Trail Fed­er­a­tion.

On the way from Saanemös­er to Gstaad © Schweiz­er Jugend­her­ber­gen

 

The Swiss Youth Hos­tels test­ed out one of the rec­om­mend­ed trails: A win­ter hike from Saa­nen­mös­er to Gstaad, where one of our youth hos­tels is locat­ed. This easy trail took us past var­i­ous farms with a con­stant view of the breath­tak­ing alpine world.

Community question

Do you active­ly use the win­ter hik­ing trails? Which route is your favourite? Share in the com­ments!

A varied weekend in Davos

Here Christi­na Raget­tli reveals what she expe­ri­enced dur­ing a week­end in Davos.

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Linda

Linda is our Head of Marketing and is up for any kind of fun. When she’s not spinning, jogging or boxing, she’s laughing until her stomach hurts at a comedy show. Linda has lived everywhere and provides us with the best holiday tips. Besides, Linda loves skirts so much that it’s almost a bit strange when she wears trousers for once.