Hiking in the Alps

Switzerland’s Alpine Pass Route earns its place for sheer scale: about 390 km from Sargans near Liechtenstein to Montreux on Lake Geneva. It is a hard, pass-by-pass traverse across mountainous, pasture, forest and valley terrain.

The Tour du Mont Blanc is the benchmark Alpine loop: 170 km around the Mont Blanc massif through France, Italy and Switzerland. Its 11 hard walking days suit hikers ready for long mountain stages and major ascent.

The Bernina Trek is a hard high-alpine hut-to-hut route in Graubünden, circling the Bernina massif from Madulain to Poschiavo. Around 130 km over eight days gives it a concentrated Swiss Alpine feel.

The Slovenian section of the Via Alpina adds a different Alpine flavour: 230 km across Karst, forest and mountainous terrain. Its 14 point-to-point stages make Slovenia a serious part of this collection.

The Tour du Queyras is a 110 km GR58 loop in France’s Hautes-Alpes, on the Italian border. It is hard but non-technical, with 8–10 days of mountain, forest and valley walking.

Alta Via 1 is the classic Dolomites choice: a 120 km, 10-day hut-to-hut route through the eastern Dolomites. Its moderate grade makes it the most approachable trail in this collection without leaving alpine terrain.

The Eagle Walk is Tyrol’s flagship long-distance hike, running 326 km across Austria from St. Johann in Tirol to St. Christoph am Arlberg. Its 24 hard hut-to-hut stages make it a major Alpine commitment.

The Tour of Matterhorn is a 150 km expert loop around the Matterhorn on the Swiss-Italian border. Its mountainous, alpine and glacial terrain puts it firmly in the high-alpine end of this collection.

GR54 circles the Ecrins massif in France on a 176 km waymarked loop through the Parc national des Ecrins. Its 10–15 day expert workload makes it one of the tougher French Alpine circuits.

This 170 km, 10-day expert hut-to-hut loop circles the Monte Rosa massif, commonly starting and finishing in Zermatt. It belongs here for experienced hikers seeking a compact but serious Alpine circuit with glacier terrain.

This expert 215 km point-to-point trek links Chamonix and Zermatt, connecting the Mont Blanc and Matterhorn areas. Choose it if you want a harder, higher-feeling alternative to the classic Alpine loops.

This Austrian high trail is a hard 70 km hut-to-hut traverse through the Schladminger Tauern in Styria. Its ridgelines, cirques, scree and alpine meadows make it a compact but rugged seven-day route.

Alta Via 2 is the tougher Dolomites sibling: 160 km over 13 days from Bressanone to Feltre. Its expert grade, rocky terrain and high-level hut-to-hut format suit confident alpine hikers.

At 55 km over 5 days, the Gran Paradiso Trek is shorter than most routes here but still hard. It crosses alpine valleys in north-west Italy’s Gran Paradiso National Park on a hut-to-hut line.

The Stubai High Trail packs hard alpine walking into an 80 km loop in Austria’s Stubai Alps. Expect a demanding 7–8 days on rocky ground, steep paths, scree and exposed sections.

The GR5 Grande Traversée des Alpes is the longest route here: 620 km across the French Alps from Lake Geneva to the Mediterranean. It is strenuous rather than technical, ideal for a full Alpine thru-hike.