Switzerland is a mountain lover’s paradise. Outside the Canadian Rockies it’s my favourite place to go hiking and scrambling because it offers such a huge variety of easily accessible peaks and ridges in absolutely beautiful natural surroundings. There’s an extensive network of well-maintained hiking trails that opens up almost limitless possibilities for exploring the Alps in this small corner of Europe. Another thing I really like are the many chalets and Alpine huts that can be found almost everywhere and are perfect for those well-deserved rest breaks with a glass of Rivella and a plate of Rösti. Switzerland is definitely not cheap, but you get what you pay for. It’s all world-class hiking here that I think is well worth the expense.
Interestingly, once you leave the beaten paths, you won’t find too many others trudging up scree fields and tip-toeing along exposed ridges – scrambling is not really considered a separate discipline here and by far not as popular as hiking. Of course, then there are the countless well-established high Alpine routes on the bigger and more famous objectives targeted by mountaineers. For such a small country there is an incredible range of possibilities for mountain enthusiasts, with thousands of peaks of all sizes and difficulty levels.
I’ve only been able to touch the very surface of this sea of possibilities on a few family visits in recent years. Most of the peaks below are from the Davos area in the canton of Graubünden in eastern Switzerland. Needless to say I am looking forward to many more visits in the future!
- Älpeltispitz
- Älplihorn
- Augstenhüreli
- Bocktenhorn
- Chüealphorn
- Chüpfenflue
- Corn da Tinizong (Tinzenhorn)
- Flüela Weisshorn
- Glims, Piz
- Hasenmatt
- Hoch Ducan
- Isentällispitz
- Jakobshorn
- Jatzhorn
- Jörihorn
- Leidbachhorn
- Leidhorn
- Linard, Piz
- Muttelhorn
- Pischahorn
- Radönt, Piz
- RInerhorn
- Sattelhorn
- Scalettahorn
- Schiahorn
- Schwarzhorn
- Seehorn
- Tällihorn
- Totalphorn
- Weissfluh