While many of the wonderful Tour du Mont Blanc refuges will feature on your ideal self-guided hiking itinerary, what do you do if they have no availability when you go to book your own trip? In this blog post, I’m going to share accommodation booking tips and my top 4 booking tricks for finding accommodation that will keep your trip alive.
It costs 500 Swiss Francs to plan your own 6-day hike in Bernese Oberland, Switzerland.
This cost will vary depending on the number of days on the trail, and your accommodation, food, and transport preferences. So, how do you calculate how much it will cost for your trip? Here are a few sample itineraries using actual 2024 costs to help you out!
The Europaweg Trail between Grächen and Zermatt is one of the most famous two-day hikes in the Alps, as well as forming part of the Walker’s Haute Route and Tour of Monte Rosa. In the past few years, there has been some confusion about where exactly the Europaweg trail goes, due to the original route still appearing on some outdated maps, apps and guidebooks. In this updated post, I share details about the Europaweg trail, clarify where the route goes and share a brief history of trail changes in recent years.
It costs €826 to plan your own 10-day hike of the Tour du Mont Blanc. This amount comes from our new cost calculator for the Tour du Mont Blanc, which uses over 300 actual customer itineraries and 2023 costs from nearly 100 accommodation and service providers along the trail.
the calculator is for self-guided hikers to estimate how much it will cost them to organise their own hike of the Tour du Mont Blanc based on their preferences. Give it a try!
How much it costs to hike the Walker’s Haute Route is one of the most common questions I’m asked. Armed with my accounting background and mission to make every hikers self-guided dreams come true, I’ve dug deep into the numbers across all the different accommodation types, food and services available to provide firm guidance on what it costs to hike the Walker’s Haute Route.
Stacey Hardin is a hiker, Doctor of Physical Therapy, and athletic trainer that grew up with the Pacific Crest Trail in her backyard. Stacey’s experience on the Tour du Mont Blanc confirmed that there are a huge number of preventable injuries that impact bucket list hiking trips each year.
In this guest blog post, Stacey breaks down the factors that cause injuries on the trail and introduces a few simple exercises that can address one of them to start preparing your body for hiking in the Alps.
Most people take between 8 and 15 days to hike the Walker’s Haute Route. Anything quicker requires Olympic speed walking or part trail running; anything longer would allow for frequent breaks and a relaxed trekking pace.
Since 2018, we’ve produced 100’s of personalised hiking itineraries that have helped 1000’s of hikers confidently plan their Walker’s Haute Route. It all starts with guiding hikers through the following 4 steps to determine how long it will take them to hike the Walker’s Haute Route.
Most people take between 7 and 13 days to hike the Tour of Monte Rosa. Anything quicker requires Olympic speed walking or part trail running; anything longer would allow for frequent breaks and a relaxed trekking pace.
Since 2018, we’ve produced 100’s of personalised hiking itineraries that have helped 1000’s of hikers confidently plan their adventures through the Alps. It all starts with guiding hikers through the following 4 steps to determine how long it will take them to hike the Tour of Monte Rosa.
Most people take between 6 and 12 days to hike the Tour du Mont Blanc. Anything quicker requires Olympic speed walking or part trail running; anything longer would allow for frequent breaks and a relaxed trekking pace.
Since 2018, we’ve produced 100’s of personalised hiking itineraries that have helped 1000’s of hikers confidently plan their Tour du Mont Blanc. It all starts with guiding hikers through the following 4 steps to determine how long it will take them to hike the Tour du Mont Blanc.
Hiking time estimates are the backbone of any hiking plan and directly impact the overall experience.
Given that standard time estimates don’t work for over 80% of hikers, The Hiking Club has come up with a way for hikers to personalise time estimates so that anyone can create an achievable and enjoyable hiking plan.
Is it really 2023 already? 😲
2022 was a big year. We launched new trails, tested new products, grew the community to 10,000, and continued to support self-guided hikers to plan, prepare and complete their epic Alps adventures. Phew, time for a break 🎄🏝🥞
Apr: Launched hiking time calculator for Tour du Mont Blanc, Walker’s Haute Route and Tour of Monte Rosa to help you quickly estimate how many days it would take you to hike one of the legendary trails
May: Trail expert consultation via phone or email now available
May/Jun: Break The Trail - Live trail updates to open the 2022 hiking season including; snow conditions, trail conditions, and transport schedules.
Jun: 2022 Custom GPS map with everything you need to navigate your trail including extra details like the 2022 transport schedules for all the buses, gondolas, and trains along the way.
Jul: Launched a series of 3-day Chamonix base camp hikes.
Summer: Provided real-time trail updates, such as extreme weather, trail route changes, transport changes, and trail conditions.
Aug: 60+ people signed up to test our new accommodation planning tool checker
Oct: Released the 2023 accommodation booking status page to help people know when to start booking their accommodation.
Oct: Partnership with Organic Maps as our preferred map app
Here are a few hints - a new planning app, new trails, and recruitment of more trail experts! Sign up to our newsletter below to keep updated.
Over the past 4 years, The Hiking Club has helped 2,000+ self-guided hikers plan, prepare and confidently navigate legendary trails in the Alps. During this time, we’ve received feedback from some hikers that they struggled to maintain enough mobile phone battery charge when navigating long days on the trail. We’ve experienced this challenge too, and have been searching for a GPS map app that had all the features you need for offline navigation in the Alps, without the heavy battery usage that comes with most apps.
We are happy to share we’ve found an app that ticks all the boxes in Organic Maps, and even happier to announce a new partnership with them to be our preferred navigation map app for 2023 hiking season!
We’ve created a collection of the top mountain huts across Switzerland, France and Italy for hikers. None of these huts require technical gear to reach them - no glacier crossings, no via ferrata, no climbing equipment etc. Most are located in alpine areas and therefore all you need to reach them is good fitness.
We are deep in development and excited to share an update on the current scope and approach to launching our new app.
For those who haven’t heard, our vision for the app is to enable any multi-day hiker to create a personalised itinerary in one session, that is inspiring, achievable, and available to book. The Hiking Club has always been focused on helping self-guided hikers easily plan personalised journeys in the Alps - with Nick coming on board, we finally have the skills to build a trailblazing app 🙌
September is a month of mixed emotions in the Alps. On one hand, hikers setting out can enjoy the fall colours and quieter trails. On the other, it means the hiking season is coming to an end 😢
Rather than share a typical trail update that would benefit very few people at this stage of the year, I’ve pulled together a collection of interesting data points on who is hiking the legendary trails in the Alps and how they customise their trips.
July 2022 trail updates from the 3 trails we support. In summary, only the Walker’s Haute Route has changes to report - the Tour du Mont Blanc and Tour of Monte Rosa updates remain the same from June. I’ve also shared some news about summit route closures for anyone interested in staying informed about what’s happening higher up with our mountaineer friends too.
I’m en route to the Alps and have revised my Break the Trail hiking plan. The 10 day journey through the Pennine Alps has been designed to spend time on the Tour du Mont Blanc, Walker’s Haute Route, Tour of Monte Rosa, and Tour des Combins.
My revised route still comes in at just over 270 km / 169 mi with an intimidating 19,900 m / 62,000 ft of elevation gain. In this blog, I will share details about the current conditions and my revised route.
As the days get longer and the weather starts to warm up in the Alps, I’m excited to share the draft plan I’ve come up with for my first adventure this hiking season. The 10 day journey through the Pennine Alps has been designed to spend time on the Tour du Mont Blanc, Walker’s Haute Route, Tour of Monte Rosa, Hidden Paradise Tour, and Tour des Combins.
My proposed route comes in at just over 270 km / 169 mi with an intimidating 20,400 m / 67,000 ft of elevation gain. In this blog, I will share details about my proposed route, preparation, and goal for the hike.
As we turn into the new year, there are a few updates to share about the Tour du Mont Blanc, Walker’s Haute Route, and Tour of Monte Rosa.
The Pennine Alps are a towering mountain range marking the border between the canton of Valais in Switzerland and the Italian provinces of Piedmont and the Aosta Valley. They are located in the western part of the Alps, with the Mont Blanc massif flanking them to the West and Lepontine Alps to the East. With over thirty 4,000m / 13,000ft + peaks including the famous Matterhorn and Monte Rosa, a trail through the Pennine Alps features on the bucket list of most hikers.
Pennine Alps: Shaded in blue
The availability of mountain accommodation and transportation has created many incredible day and overnight hiking experiences in the Pennine Alps. The top 5 multi-day experiences in this area are:
Walker’s Haute Route (~ 213km / 132mi): along the North side
Alta Via 1 - Aosta Valley (~ 190km / 118mi) : along the South side
Tour of Monte Rosa (164km / 102mi): around the East end
Tour des Combins (100km / 62mi): around the West end
Tour of the Matterhorn (107km / 66mi): around the middle section
Experienced mountaineers also have the original ‘Haute Route’ which follows the Pennine Alps mountain chain, spending much of its time on glaciated terrain. This route was first forged by the English Alpine Club in the mid-19th century and has become a popular ski route in the Spring months too.
The rugged high mountain terrain of the Pennine Alps offers few opportunities for easy passage between Switzerland and Italy. For hikers, only four trails become snow-free in the summer and a further two remain glaciated year-round (but can be crossed with a guide). Col du Grand Saint Bernard on the West end and Simplon pass on the East offer the easiest places to cross the Pennine Alps and have been used by travelers as far back as the Bronze Age — about 800 B.C. Nowadays, roads have been built over these two passes and you’ll often hear the roar of sports cars enjoying the high mountain switchbacks.
Aside from the big mountain vistas, some of the unique highlights in the area include seeing the Valais Blackneck goat, the origin of raclette and fontina cheeses (which are a culinary highlight in their own right!); the tallest gravity dam in the world (Grande Dixence); the highest peak in Switzerland (Monte Rosa); and longest pedestrian suspension bridge in the alps (Charles Kuonen suspension bridge).
Col du Grand Saint Bernard holds particular historical significance as Napoleon crossed here with his army to surprise Austrian forces in Genoa. A famous painting (considered a propaganda masterpiece) was produced to mark the occasion and ultimate triumph of the campaign. In the painting, Napoleon is wearing a magnificent cloak on a rearing charger, when in actual fact, he crossed the pass riding a donkey, wearing a simple grey greatcoat. Hannibal is also etched into the foreground of the painting which aims to draw a comparison with other great generals and has fueled the debate as to whether Col du Grand Saint Bernard was where he crossed the Alps with his African war elephants to strike at Rome.
Napoleon crossing the Alps: Jacques-Louis David, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
The Pennine Alps is also home to The Great St Bernard Hospice was originally a monastic shelter founded in the Middle Ages, led by Augustinian monks. The hospitality of the monks is legendary and continues on as a hospice welcoming pilgrims and hikers, and a museum, today. Founded in 1049, the hospice became famous for its breeding and use of St Bernard dogs in rescue operations.
The Saint Bernard dog: Large size, and gentle temperament originally bred for rescue work by the hospice of the Great St Bernard Pass.
Hiking in this inspiring part of the world was where the idea for The Hiking Club was born and therefore thought there was no better location to kick off our ‘Trails of the world spotlight’. Many of you have experience hiking in the Pennine Alps so we’d invite you to share any highlights or interesting history from the area that you discovered.
Author: Brendan Jones, The Hiking Club
A pizza-making, craft beer-loving, peanut butter connoisseur that has been exploring the great outdoors since completing the Duke of Edinburgh Award in high school. He started The Hiking Club to democratise hiking and the benefits that come from spending time in nature. You can read more about Brendan and the team here.
The Hiking Club empowers anyone to walk the way they want in the wild with personalised self-guided hiking experiences that are easy to find, quick to plan and simple to navigate.
We believe hiking experiences have the power to transform lives. With a growing range of personalised hikes that take into account your preferences, fitness and interests, we give you everything you need to explore the legendary trails of the world!
Instead of spending the 2021 European summer exploring new hiking routes in the Alps, I spent it on the other side of the world within 5km of my apartment. You can read more about that here. After a little wallowing in self-pity, I dusted myself off and went looking for a way to make the most of my situation. The University of New South Wales (UNSW) was seeking applicants for their Founder’s 10x business accelerator program. This was the alternative route I was looking for.
