Walking holiday in Switzerland
Highlights
Small group guided walking | Kandersteg | Kandertal Valley to the Blausee – Blue Lake | Walk in the Valais Alps and to Daubensee | Oeschinensee | Free day | Gasterntal 'hidden valley' and waterfalls | Traditional, family run hotelDescription of Walking holiday in Switzerland
This walking holiday in Switzerland is a week long, small group adventure, exploring a particularly beautiful and iconic corner of the Alps. You’ll be based in the pretty village of Kandersteg, which sits right at the centre of the Bernese Oberland, home to some of the Alps’ highest and most dramatic peaks and to quintessential Alpine scenery.Walks of four to six hours each day reveal classic Swiss landscapes – pretty green meadows, swathes of wildflowers (best in spring and summer) and a soaring backdrop of peaks and glaciers. Enjoy views of some of the Alps’ most celebrated mountains, including the Eiger, Monch, Jungfrau and Matterhorn, with highlights of the walks including lofty cliffs, a secret valley, waterfalls and a deep glacial-carved gorge.
Walks are graded moderate and are not technically difficult. Paths are well maintained though sometimes narrow and you’ll take on the odd steep climb. A decent level of fitness is necessary, but the pace is relaxed and there are always plenty of stops for lunch and admiring the impressive views. There is also a free day without scheduled walks included, so you can explore under your own steam.
This is a centre based trip, with the traditional and cosy Hotel Alfa Soleil, owned and run by the Seiler family, your home for the week. The hotel has excellent facilities, including a pool and indoor gym. This is a small group break, with a maximum of 15 people.
Travel Team
If you'd like to chat about this holiday or need help finding one we're very happy to help. The Travel Team.
01273 823 700 Calling from outside the UK? rosy@responsibletravel.com
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Responsible tourism
As the pioneers of responsible tourism, we screen every trip so you can travel knowing your holiday will help support conservation and local people.
Activity: As a walking and trekking trip, there is little detrimental impact on the environment and local residents. Though, erosion and adjacent to popular paths is a growing issue in certain places, our local guides will ensure that clients stick to advised routes in order to minimise this. On this trip, we only use local transport, specifically local buses and national rails. In addition, a walking trip like this allows easy access to the local community where clients can easily interact with the locals , visit local cafes and restaurants to foster cultural exchange.
Water:
Water is a really important issue with trips such as this and whilst we must stay hydrated, it is also vital that we have a system for providing clean water without causing lots of waste with plastic bottles. Wherever possible we provide safe alternative sources of water to buying single use plastic bottles. This may be through large water containers, or encourage our passengers to filter, sterilise or purify water. We encourage all our passengers to come prepared with a reusable water bottle for this purpose.
Group Size:
This is a small group tour, meaning that we have a low impact on the environments and communities we visit and are able to ensure that we do not disrupt or lead to the displacement of local people. The small number also allows us to stay in unique, family-run hotels that cannot benefit from coach tours and other mass tourism due to their limited sizes.
UK Office:
It all starts at home where we work towards reducing our carbon footprint in our offices through energy conservation measures, recycling policies and the promotion of cycling and walking as a means for our staff to commute. Our head office has become a plastic-free zone with the use of plastic bottles being banned in our head office and we distributed reusable water bottles and tote bags to every staff member. We also support a large number of community and environmental projects in different parts of the world and try to give something back to the places we visit.
The Impacts of this Trip
Accommodation and Meals:
On this trip, we stay in Hotel Alfa Soleil, a traditional, cosy and family-run hotel that employs local staff and use local produce wherever possible. Additionally, anyone staying overnight in Switzerland is required to pay a local tourist tax which will be used to pay for tourist infrastructure. All of this thereby ensures that our money spent directly benefits the local community. Switzerland holds a mixture of language and tradition resulting in many regional dishes. Meals served are greatly influenced by Austrian and German traditions, where some gastronomic local delights include geschnetzeltes Kalbsfleisch (veal in a rich cream sauce), Kandersteger Bratwurst au Mad re-Jus (roast sausage with a Madeira sauce), Lammbraten gefüllt mit Kraütern (herb roasted lamb) and smoked pork with sauerkraut.
Activity: As a walking and trekking trip, there is little detrimental impact on the environment and local residents. Though, erosion and adjacent to popular paths is a growing issue in certain places, our local guides will ensure that clients stick to advised routes in order to minimise this. On this trip, we only use local transport, specifically local buses and national rails. In addition, a walking trip like this allows easy access to the local community where clients can easily interact with the locals , visit local cafes and restaurants to foster cultural exchange.
Water:
Water is a really important issue with trips such as this and whilst we must stay hydrated, it is also vital that we have a system for providing clean water without causing lots of waste with plastic bottles. Wherever possible we provide safe alternative sources of water to buying single use plastic bottles. This may be through large water containers, or encourage our passengers to filter, sterilise or purify water. We encourage all our passengers to come prepared with a reusable water bottle for this purpose.
Group Size:
This is a small group tour, meaning that we have a low impact on the environments and communities we visit and are able to ensure that we do not disrupt or lead to the displacement of local people. The small number also allows us to stay in unique, family-run hotels that cannot benefit from coach tours and other mass tourism due to their limited sizes.
UK Office:
It all starts at home where we work towards reducing our carbon footprint in our offices through energy conservation measures, recycling policies and the promotion of cycling and walking as a means for our staff to commute. Our head office has become a plastic-free zone with the use of plastic bottles being banned in our head office and we distributed reusable water bottles and tote bags to every staff member. We also support a large number of community and environmental projects in different parts of the world and try to give something back to the places we visit.
The Impacts of this Trip
Accommodation and Meals:
On this trip, we stay in Hotel Alfa Soleil, a traditional, cosy and family-run hotel that employs local staff and use local produce wherever possible. Additionally, anyone staying overnight in Switzerland is required to pay a local tourist tax which will be used to pay for tourist infrastructure. All of this thereby ensures that our money spent directly benefits the local community. Switzerland holds a mixture of language and tradition resulting in many regional dishes. Meals served are greatly influenced by Austrian and German traditions, where some gastronomic local delights include geschnetzeltes Kalbsfleisch (veal in a rich cream sauce), Kandersteger Bratwurst au Mad re-Jus (roast sausage with a Madeira sauce), Lammbraten gefüllt mit Kraütern (herb roasted lamb) and smoked pork with sauerkraut.
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