How to Explore the Swiss Alps with Ease: Guided and Self-Guided Hiking in Switzerland with Epic Alpine Views

Hiking in Switzerland no longer means carrying a heavy backpack for days on end. Today’s Swiss hiking experience is all about comfort, flexibility, and unforgettable alpine views. 

In this episode, I’m joined once again by Andrea Caspani, founder of My-Mountains, to reveal how you can experience the magic of the Swiss Alps on foot without sacrificing comfort, flexibility, or stunning views. Andrea shares how his guided and self guided hiking tours help travelers explore Switzerland’s beauty with ease.

We’ll walk through how his team curates memorable Swiss hiking tours, including the famous Via Alpina route, and how features like the included luggage transfer service and hotel stays make even multi-day hikes feel like a breeze. 

You'll hear about scenic routes through Lucerne, Zermatt and St. Moritz, plus insider picks like the trail from Melchsee-Frutt to Meiringen and relaxed hikes around Mt. Rigi. Andrea also explains how to combine your hiking adventure with a scenic rail trip through his sister company, Echo Rails.

If you’ve ever dreamed of walking through the Swiss Alps surrounded by lakes, peaks, and peaceful meadows, this episode is for you. Let’s start planning your perfect alpine escape!

Safe travels,
Carolyn


👉 Show notes - Episode 134


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Transcript

Carolyn Schönafinger: Welcome to the Holidays to Switzerland podcast. If you're planning a trip to Switzerland, this is the podcast for you. I'm your host, Carolyn Schönafinger, the founder of holidays to switzerland.com and in each episode, my expert guests and I share practical tips to help you plan your dream trip to Switzerland. You'll get helpful advice about traveling around Switzerland and hear about the most popular destinations, as well as some hidden gems, and we'll introduce you to plenty of wonderful experiences that you can enjoy as part of your Swiss vacation.

Each episode is packed with expert tips, itinerary ideas and inspiration to help make your Swiss Vacation Planning easy. So let's dive in. Grüezi, Ciao, Bonjour, Allegra, that's hello in all four of Switzerland's official languages. In English. Hello and welcome to this week's episode. It's no secret that the Swiss love to hike, and given the number of marked trails across the country and the stunning landscapes that those trails pass through, it's not really a surprise.

And the great thing is that there are hiking trails to suit everyone. Folks who enjoy a gentle, hour-long stroll are well catered for, as are those who thrive on a long distance hike, and there are plenty of options if you fit somewhere in the middle, too.

Today I'm welcoming back Andrea Caspani, who has been designing and guiding hiking tours in Switzerland for a number of years. Andrea is a passionate hiker and nature lover, and he has lots of useful information about hiking in Switzerland to share with us.

Good morning, Andrea. Thank you so much for coming back onto the podcast. It's great to have you back here again. But for anyone who perhaps hasn't heard you previously, maybe you'd like to introduce yourself and tell us a bit about your background and have you always lived in Switzerland?

Andrea Caspani: Good morning, Carolyn. How are you? Yes, nice to be back. Thank you for inviting us to this podcast. Yeah. My name is Andrea Caspani, and I'm actually originally from Lake Como, but I've studied in the beautiful Dolomites in the mountains for my high school. And then briefly I came back to Como to continue my studies.

In 2011, basically, I moved to Lucerne. Originally, it was a temporary job in an international tour operator, but somehow they liked me, so I basically got stuck there for five years until 2016-2017 and that's when I decided to found My-Mountains.

Carolyn Schönafinger: Well, I mean, I'm sure it was a terrible thing being stuck in Lucerne for five years.

Andrea Caspani: Oh, yeah, definitely, Carolyn, it's a nightmare. That's why I'm still living here, because I hate it so much. Yeah.

Carolyn Schönafinger: I can imagine. So why is it that you just love spending so much time outdoors in Switzerland?

Andrea Caspani: Well, that's a great question, Carolyn. Well, I believe that every human being is kind of intrinsically connected to nature, and I believe that everybody should definitely spend time in nature, either skiing or hiking or for a walk, because basically, nature is what recharges our souls, our batteries. It makes us feel more alive. It connects to ourselves. Sometimes I spend time in nature and just to meditate, because it's quiet, the smell of nature, the landscape, just light my soul, basically.

Carolyn Schönafinger: Yeah, it really gives you a chance to just step away from all the hustle and bustle and social media that seems to consume us these days, doesn't it, when you're out there in nature and yeah, you can really just be at one.

Andrea Caspani: Yeah, no, absolutely. I mean, we live in a world that it's like over information and very busy, very stressful, very fast paced. I believe that everybody needs to kind of shut down a little bit and reconnect to nature and to ourselves.

Carolyn Schönafinger: And in your opinion, why is Switzerland the ideal destination for that, for hiking and for skiing and for just getting out and being at one with nature?

Andrea Caspani: Definitely, the world offers a lot of places where people can disconnect. Switzerland, in my opinion, is very special, and part of it, I believe, is the infrastructures that Switzerland offers. First of all, we have roughly 65,000 kilometers of marked hiking trails, which basically it's a lot. If you love hiking, you definitely don't get bored. On top of that, Switzerland is very well known for the public transportation infrastructures, so it makes it super easy to travel from the major airports to the destinations to the mountains, via gondola, by boats, via trams, cable cars, so it makes it super easy to reach basically your perfect spot.

Another point, Carolyn, of course, probably you know better than me, and probably the listeners that have been to Switzerland agree with me. I mean, Switzerland is beautiful nature, right? It's clean, so everybody is respectful of the nature. We have thousands of lakes. We have the farmers also that they make the landscape absolutely stunning and beautiful. As a matter of fact, I mean, and now I'm still going skiing. Basically, I'm a good skier. I love skiing. And when you drive to the mountains, you can already smell that the farmers are working to get ready for the summer season. The colors are so bright because the landscape.

I tell you a small story. I think last year, I had a friend coming to visit me from Italy by train, and she told me, when she crossed the border into Switzerland, she thought that she was on mushrooms because of the colors, you know, the brightness of the colors, the colors of the lakes. So it was kind of like a wow effect for her. Not only that, also food. You know, whenever you hike in Switzerland, you can stop in local restaurants where they get basically their food from locally produced farmers. For example, you know, you have cheese or meat or veggies, which makes it also a great destination.

And last but not least, Switzerland is among one of the top nations in terms of eco friendliness. So it's kind of part of our culture, you know, to take care of the environment, take care of the beauty of our mountains, and yeah, it's part of us.

Carolyn Schönafinger: Definitely, some very good reasons there to make Switzerland your destination. Now we're going to talk today about hiking in Switzerland, and I'll ask you a little bit more about how you sort of got into building your company and organizing guided hikes shortly, but I just wanted to clarify with you, when some people think of hiking, they probably think the backpack on. They've got to carry all their stuff for days on end. Is that what we're talking about here, or are we talking about a more gentle, a more leisurely kind of walk?

Andrea Caspani: That's true, Carolyn. So first of all, I mean, I need to talk about why I came out about this idea of hiking, and why I founded My-Mountains. I don't think that I founded My-Mountains. Kind of My-Mountains found me somehow. So it's part of my nature, it's part of my passion. As I said, I love skiing. I love hiking. I've been skiing in most places in Europe, hiking also all over and it comes natural to me that today we offer this to our clients. Because whenever I go hiking, I always think, oh, wow, this is so beautiful. And even in places like, for example, Rigi, I've been on Rigi hundreds of times, but each time I go, I still feel wowed by the landscape, by the nature, by the cows around.

And going back to your question, we definitely offer some more leisure, or I would say, like Deluxe itineraries. So definitely we offer one of the key points of our hiking tours: the luggage transfers. So people can basically hike from hotel to hotel with a small backpack with just some snacks, maybe some water, and then the luggage will be basically delivered at the next stop. So that's something that we are proud of, and it's very comfortable for our clients to travel in this way. So the stuff is transported, and then you can travel light and explore multiple mountains with ease.

Carolyn Schönafinger: Excellent. So for anyone listening who is thinking, I don't really want to be carrying all my luggage for, you know, a few days at a time, they don't need to worry, because you can arrange the luggage transfer for them. So first of all, before we talk more about the actual hiking tours that you offer, can you tell everyone how does your company My-Mountains differ from other companies that offer hiking tours in Switzerland?

Andrea Caspani: That's a question that I always ask myself constantly. I mean, we are definitely not the only company offering hiking tours. There are definitely bigger players in the market. We are a very small fish, and I believe that the key of our success is that we have a customer centric culture at all levels. Basically, we have an extremely attention to details. We have a very good customer service.

And as a matter of fact, I was recently on one of our ski trips with some clients, and I asked them, hey, I always ask my clients, why do you travel with us? Why do you choose us? Because, again, there are so many companies out there, and at the end of the day, they choose us because of our reviews, because of our customer service. So we have our sales team that is based in the US, and they do an amazing job. And that's also one of the key elements, to have a team that is able to embrace the values of My-Mountains, which are basically all around our clients.

So a very good communication and most importantly also is when we execute as well, right? So whenever we plan our trips, we try to be as precise as possible, so our clients will have a very smooth and a great experience throughout the trip. Not only that, I believe that also our hiking itineraries are really good. So we tend to always offer something a little bit off the beaten track. Although yes, we do offer Zermatt, we do offer St. Moritz, but because we have a great knowledge of the area, we tend to offer hikes where you will not find, let's say, tons of tourists, and that, I believe, is what brings the more authentic experience on our itineraries.

Carolyn Schönafinger: Yeah, that's great to know. So can you tell us about some of the different tours that you offer? And I know you have sort of two options. You have the fully guided hikes and you have self guided itineraries. So perhaps we can start with the guided hikes. Can you give us a bit of an overview of what people can expect on one of your guided hikes?

Andrea Caspani: Absolutely, Carolyn. So the guided hikes are mostly for people that want to be taken care of, right? So we pick them up at the airport. For example, we escort them at the hotel, and then the guide, of course, is always with them throughout the trip. We have a fantastic Via Alpina eight-day guided trip with maximum 10 participants. So again, we do not do massive groups. We really want to engage with our clients. We want to get personal. We want to give them this personalized experience.

And of course, we include the luggage transfers from hotel to hotel. So that's also something important. We do not do hut-to-hut, but mostly we work with the hotels because we believe that it gives a better deluxe experience to the clients, to have a private room, to have a shower. Occasionally, we have spa facilities, so if somebody doesn't feel like hiking, they can simply relax and enjoy at the spa.

And one of the main points also of our itineraries, and I'm speaking about all our itineraries, both the guided and the self-guided, is that the hiking routes are flexible. So for example, if we hike from one spot to another spot, there is always a cable car or a chair lift, and we can split also the group. So let's say somebody that today doesn't feel extremely energetic, they can take the chair lift, have a coffee on top of the chairlift, enjoy the views, while the rest of the group can hike up all the way.

So it gives also a great flexibility in terms of hiking distances. Of course, there are some requirements. So people should be, on average, quite active, but it's not extreme hiking. So it's leisure. We just want to show the beauty of Switzerland without being too sporty, I would say. But as I said, if you want to be sporty, our guide is with you, and then you can choose to be sporty as well, while the rest of the group maybe is having a coffee or relaxing on top of the mountain, basically.

Carolyn Schönafinger: So with that Via Alpina tour, what would be the longest distance that would be hiked in one day?

Andrea Caspani: Longest minimum distance we are talking about here is probably about four miles, I would say. So four miles would be like the minimum hike, so with the minimum elevation gain, so it's not too extraneous, I would say.

Carolyn Schönafinger: Good. And what time of year do these guided tours operate?

Andrea Caspani: Yeah, that's an important question to cover. Definitely. We have still some snow at the beginning of June. So our Via Alpina, usually the first departure is at the end of June, and then it runs throughout the beginning of September. We have four departures for this year 2025. The first two, however, are already fully booked, but we still have space in August and September. So if somebody wants to join up, get in touch, and we'll be happy to have you.

Carolyn Schönafinger: Okay, excellent. And I guess there'll be similar dates next year as well, in 2026 from late June until September?

Andrea Caspani: That's correct. For 2026, the dates are already published on the website. They are already bookable. And also our team is aware and ready and happy to help.

Carolyn Schönafinger: Fantastic. So if anyone listening has missed out for June or July this year, they can hop on and book in for next year already. So that's great. All right, so what about the self guided hikes? How do they differ?

Andrea Caspani: So the self guided hikes are more flexible in terms of dates. So we do not have, of course, fixed departures because, by nature, they are self guided. So people can choose freely their arrival time. It's quite similar. So the itinerary is definitely the same. We still offer the meet and greet at the airport and the escort at the hotel, so we will have a nice briefing with the guide about the trip, with the explanations how to have the best basically out of your trip.

Of course, on all our trips, both guided and self guided, we have our travel app where we are going to have all our hiking itineraries links, so people have a full support as well from our office based in Switzerland, in Lucerne. So they have people that are knowledgeable about the itinerary. So at any time, they can give us a call and check with us about what to do.

And this is very important, because especially the weather, right? So we always tend to instruct our clients that the weather is very changeable in the Alps. So if they are not sure if they can do the hike that is planned for a specific date, always to check with us, and then we can provide further ideas, support or itineraries so they can still basically reach their end destination.

In terms of hiking, again, it offers actually a good flexibility. On our travel app, our clients will find options. If they want to do a little bit more sporty or a little bit more leisure, people again can decide based on day by day how long they want to hike or how less they want to hike.

And it's also not mandatory. If one day people decide to not hike, it's not mandatory. They can always take a tram or a gondola and then reach the other destination via public transportation, basically.

Carolyn Schönafinger: So that brings me to the next question, if they're doing a self guided trip, do they have some kind of travel pass that allows them to use all those cable cars and mountain railways, etc.?

Andrea Caspani: Absolutely. So in terms of the guided one, we offer the Swiss Travel Pass and all gondolas and everything is included, ground transportation. However, for the self guided, we offer only the Half Fare Card. Not sure if our listeners are knowledgeable about the Half Fare Card, but basically it provides you with 50% discount on public transportation, and up to 50% discount also on gondolas, trams, chair lifts and so on.

We do this, Carolyn, because we want our clients to be flexible. So if they do not decide to take that chair lift, then of course it will be cheaper for them, you know, if they decide to hike. So on average, we believe that they need roughly 20 to 30 francs per day if they want to take some sort of chair lift to help with the hike. But as I said, the routes are also designed, if you want to hike all the way, you can do that as well.

Carolyn Schönafinger: Great. And just for anyone listening who's not familiar with the Half Fare Card that you mentioned, for most tourists, or I think the tourist version is called the Swiss Half Fare Card, so, yeah, we're referring to the same thing there. Also, with the self guided, is the luggage transfer included?

Andrea Caspani: Absolutely, Carolyn. Yes, the luggage transfers are included in most of our itineraries. For most of the legs we have, for example, one itinerary that covers Lucerne, Grindelwald, Zermatt and Saint Moritz. And the only luggage transfer that is not included is on the Glacier Express, because we offer also the Glacier Express from Zermatt to St. Moritz. It's a quite popular tour. It's a nine day hiking trip which, yeah, is going quite well for 2025.

Carolyn Schönafinger: Oh, that's great. And what other durations do you have for those self guided tours?

Andrea Caspani: So most of our trips are eight to nine days. We actually recently came up with a new itinerary in the Bernese Oberland. It's still part of the Via Alpina, and it covers basically more the German and French speaking parts of Switzerland. So they leave from Gstaad, and then we end up in Montreux. That's actually a little bit of a harder trek, I would say. But again, the hikes are flexible, so if people want or decide to cut it, they absolutely can.

Otherwise, for people that have some time limitations, we have a wonderful six day circle hike here around Lucerne, which is amazing because you constantly hike around the lake with beautiful views over the mountains, glaciers, waterfalls, and of course, over the lake of Lucerne.

For people that have even less days, we have a three day and a two day hike. So the two day hike is a little bit more rustic. It's actually on Mount Rigi, and we are going to sleep on a farm. So it gives a little bit more of this Swiss immersive cultural experience. But of course, people need to be aware that again, it's a farm, so don't expect the level of service of a four star hotel, but it's lovely.

And the three day hike is lovely too. We just came up with it quite recently, especially again for people that have time constraints, and it goes from Engelberg to Grindelwald, so basically in the heart of Switzerland.

Carolyn Schönafinger: Okay, so there's really something for everyone there.

Andrea Caspani: Absolutely, yeah. And I think those shorter two and three day trips too, they sound like they'd be a great introduction to people who perhaps haven't hiked over multiple days before, just to give them a bit of a taste of it. And then perhaps next time they come back to Switzerland, they can do one of your longer tours.

Carolyn Schönafinger: Yeah, absolutely. And also, there are a lot of people that travel with us, for example, after a honeymoon in Italy, and they just want a quick getaway in Switzerland to either start or end their trip. So those are definitely very flexible in these cases. And of course, Caroline, we are extremely good also in customizing the trip. So if people,  we have been customizing trips since 2017, we have a very good knowledge about Switzerland. We have a very good network of guides throughout Switzerland. So we know Switzerland very well. That's what I'm saying.

Carolyn Schönafinger: Now I'm sure that you give people this information in their trip notes once they've actually booked their trip, but do they need to bring hiking poles? Or do you recommend hiking poles on any of your trips?

Andrea Caspani: That's definitely a question that our clients ask us very often. Well, again, it's quite subjective, Carolyn. I do not like hiking poles by default, because actually, the more you use them, the more you lose balance. But definitely, if people think that the hiking poles can help them to go further or to stay more balanced on the path, definitely, we recommend to have them. There are places also in Switzerland where you can rent them. So we can help out with that. Otherwise, the latest hiking poles are not that heavy, so I'm sure you can fit them in your luggage and bring them with you.

Carolyn Schönafinger: Okay, and I'm sure you give all your clients information on any other kind of special gear that they need to bring, like the right kind of hiking shoes and clothing?

Andrea Caspani: Absolutely yes. For all our trips, we provide a packing list where people can go through and check out what items they need. I mean, we always mention what they should bring, like must-haves, and also some optional items that they can have. So we inform our clients ahead of time. In all our trips, whether for the rails, skiing, or hiking, we have our packing list, which we developed during years of experience.

Carolyn Schönafinger: Excellent. Well, those trips sound absolutely fantastic, and you've very kindly offered our listeners a discount if they decide to go ahead and book one of your hiking trips. Would you like to tell everyone about that discount and how they can receive it?

Andrea Caspani: Absolutely. We are working together, Carolyn, now for more than a year. So I do really appreciate what you do to promote Switzerland, and I love your podcast. And of course, to all the listeners here, we offer a 5% discount. I'm sure that Caroline can share it with you on some links, and yeah, we will be happy to offer these discounts to all your friends, basically all your followers.

Carolyn Schönafinger: Excellent. So for everyone listening, the discount code, or the promo code, is HTSWISS, so H-T-S-W-I-S-S, and you just have to enter that in the promo code box on the My-Mountains website to get 5% off. Andrea's other company is Echo Rails, which he spoke about on a previous podcast episode, and that discount also applies on the Echo Rails tours as well. Perhaps you can just give everyone a quick overview about the Echo Rails tours?

Andrea Caspani: Absolutely, Carolyn. Echo Rails is a fantastic brand which is focused mostly on rail travel. We have the Grand Train Tour of Switzerland, 13 days, which basically covers the highlight of Switzerland, going from Lucerne to Grindelwald to Zermatt, with the Glacier Express to St. Moritz and then ending in Zurich. It offers the most panoramic trains, such as the Glacier Express, of course, the Golden Line, the Bernina Line, the Gornergrat, Pilatus, the steepest cogwheel in the world, and everything is in first class. So it's definitely a lovely way to discover Switzerland at a leisurely pace.

Carolyn Schönafinger: And excellent because you have the seat reservations already included as part of the tour, and they are so difficult to get at the moment, especially in those peak summer months. So that's one way to guarantee yourself a seat on those panoramic trains, book on your Grand Train Tour.

Andrea Caspani: Absolutely. Yes, those are really painful sometimes to deal with, but we always guarantee the seats and everything is included. They are fully guided, again, small groups, and again, we offer luggage transfers also on these trips, so people can travel with comfort. Because we believe that traveling with the train is part of experiencing the beauty of Switzerland. They go hand in hand, don’t they?

Carolyn Schönafinger: Absolutely. Well, before we finish up, we've been speaking about hiking today, so I can't let you go without asking you, do you have a favorite hike in Switzerland and why is it your favorite?

Andrea Caspani: Wow, that's a tough question. You know, a lot of my clients ask me, “Hey, what is the best ski resort you have been to?” or “What is your favorite hike?” and it's kind of hard to decide because each hike has different views. But whenever you want to decide what is the best,  and it's also very subjective, right? I mean, the best hike for you, Carolyn, is different from me. I think it always comes down to your mood, the level of energy.

But if clients ask me, “Hey, I have only one day in Lucerne, what should I do?” I always recommend Rigi. I believe Rigi gives you a very nice Swiss and Lucerne experience. We have also a small barbecue. We offer also day tours, by the way. So if clients ask me, definitely, I've been there like 100 times, and I will go every weekend if I can. If my friends ask me, “Hey, we have only one day, we want to hike with you. Where should you bring us?” then I will definitely do part of the Via Alpina, specifically the one that goes from Melchsee-Frutt (it's like a small village here in central Switzerland) down to Meiringen. Because that hike will give you glacier, waterfalls, and it's a little bit off the beaten track. So it's one of my favorites, I would say, to do with friends.

But if I have to do something by myself, then I will probably get lost in one of the hikes around here, the Lake of Lucerne. I have one favorite spot where you reach this peak and then you are surrounded basically by the lake, glaciers, meadows, and it's a little bit more quiet. So because, of course, as we said before, life sometimes can get stressful. So sometimes, if I’m by myself or maybe with a friend, I like to go in places where I don't meet many people, just to recharge my brain, my mind, my soul. So that's why I'm saying, if you want also to get lost and explore these kind of hikes, we are definitely ready and happy to lead you in some hidden spots.

Carolyn Schönafinger: Sounds wonderful. Thank you so much for sharing all that with us today. It's been great to have you back on the podcast, and I'm sure people will be keen to reach out and find out more. So I'll include a link in the show notes for both the My-Mountains website and the Echo Rails website. And of course, I'll mention that discount code as well, so that anyone ready to book can use that code and get your generous discount.

Andrea Caspani: Lovely. Thank you, Carolyn. I wish you a lovely day, and I hope to see you all in the mountains.

Carolyn Schönafinger: If a few days hiking in the Swiss Alps without the hassle of carrying your luggage with you sounds like something you'd enjoy, the hiking tours offered by My-Mountains are definitely worth checking out. You'll find details about all the hiking trips we've chatted about today, plus all the links I mentioned and the promo code to get 5% off your trip with either My-Mountains or Echo Rails in the show notes for this episode.

The show notes are at holidaystoswitzerland.com/episode134. If you'd like to learn more about the rail tours, including that Grand Train Tour of Switzerland that Andrea mentioned, you can hear all about the Echo Rails tours from Andrea in Episode 89.

Thank you so much for joining me today. If you've enjoyed this episode, please share it with your family, friends, and colleagues who are planning a trip to Switzerland. And if you enjoy the podcast, I'd be really grateful if you could leave a five-star rating or review wherever you listen to podcasts.

Thank you so much. Until next week, Tschüss!