The Alpine Pass Route

Web links

• wanderland.ch - official information including a map, brief descriptions of the stages, and a nice profile chart as pdf.
• via-alpina.org - information about several routes across the alps, including this alpine pass route (the green one)


• Stephen Rabone - covers it all including a personal step-by-step description of the APR, photos, links and many questions from readers (and their answers). Well worth a look.
• Nigel Unlimited - brief descriptions of the route from Altdorf to Montreux at a determined pace - a 12-day experience of tiredness, blisters, and camping in the wet and cold.
• Ken Baldry - this knowledgeable hiker took over 20 years to research the route, and it shows - an overwhelming variety of options are covered in detail including photos.
• wandersite.ch - includes a host of links and comments in German/English, mostly plagiarised from other sites but a good collection.
• Innocents Abroad - selected impressions and great photos (see under 'recent photos-> Alpine Pass Route').
• sdkay - brief details about taking on the APR in the opposite direction, from Leysin to Altdorf, including some useful camping information and lots of photos.
• Robin Hogan - photos and a route map of a similar route from Engelberg to Gstaad.
• Cam B. - lots of great photos from the APR, with short caption and comments available by clicking for an enlargement.
• Debbie Urbanski - beautiful descriptive writing and plenty of good photos, covering parts of the APR between Engelberg and Griesalp.
• Kukko Vantaa - descriptions from a Finnish perspective, from Sargans to Montreux with a gruelling schedule and very mixed weather.

Books

The Lonely Planet guidebook "Walking in Switzerland" (2001) covers the Alpine Pass Route as part of a comprehensive walking guide. Because it's a general guide, rather than just covering the APR, there is a lot of awkward flicking backwards and forwards between the sections, but the descriptions are clear and the maps detailed.

Cicerone Press has a guide (2004) especially for the Alpine Pass Route, whose author, Kev Reynolds, has achieved something of a cult status among his fans. His books are authoritative and well-written, but a complete coverage of Switzerland requires several overlapping books.

A while ago I was getting enthusiastic about the idea of compiling the information from this website (along with more photos, better diagrams and detailed maps) into a self-published book or booklet for sale. But after appealing for interest here over the last 18 months it seems there isn't enough potential purchasers to make it worthwhile. Shame.

More Swissness

If you found any of that useful, you may also be interested in trying some more Swiss hiking, either Day Hikes in Switzerland or Multi-day Hikes in Switzerland, or for more snowy action you can see Snowboarding in Switzerland as well.