Hiking Hut-to-Hut in Switzerland

You asked about hiking hut to hut in Switzerland for families, so I’m finally writing about it. We have stayed in several mountain huts and hiked many trails between huts, but never done a multi-night hut to hut trip. However, I have done some research that I thought might be helpful to those planning such a trip. So I’m sharing that here, including tour suggestions of varying lengths that are suitable for families and casual hikers.

I also have some basic info on staying in huts, including when to go, what services are available, how to reserve, etc. If you have done a multi-night hut to hut, particularly with kids, please comment and tell us about your trip.

Of course, I’m not an expert on mountain huts, but I hope you find this helpful.

If you want to plan your own tour, scroll down to more info about the hut network in Switzerland.

First, are you ready?

Before you pick a Hut to Hut tour, consider:

• How long do you want to hike each day? Many hikes between huts are about 20km with 1000m+ ascent/descent. Even if you can do the distance, the elevation changes add time and difficulty to the hike, stretching hiking time to 6-8+ hours/day, not counting breaks. The shorter tours below still give the authentic experience of hut hiking without a huge commitment.
• What is your (and your children’s) hiking experience? If you are a casual hiker, you may find these tours more challenging than you expect. Mountain trails in Switzerland are usually well-marked and well-maintained. But even on a trail labeled “family friendly,” you still you may find yourself climbing over boulders, crossing snow patches, scrambling up scree fields, etc.
• What if the weather turns sour? Weather can move in very quickly in the mountains and create unpleasant and dangerous conditions. For example, heavy rain, lightning storms, thick fog with no views, surprise snow – we’ve seen it all. You may want to plan your tour with a plan B, so you can end the hike earlier, perhaps by hiking out to nearby public transportation if necessary.

Level 1: Day Hike to a Hut

If you want the experience of staying in a mountain hut, there are lots of huts where you can simply hike there, stay overnight (or just eat lunch) and hike back. This is particularly good for families with smaller children and casual hikers. Here are a few mountain hut reviews we’ve visited with the kids.

Level 2: One Night Tours

If you want the experience of staying in a mountain hut and want to end up somewhere different than you started, I can recommend these.

Hoher Kasten to Saxer Lücke to Toggenburg

In Eastern Switzerland, this hike starts at the top of the Hoher Kasten cable car, hikes along a ridge to to the famous Saxer Lücke viewpoint. Then it continues hiking up an alpine valley to the Zwinglihütte SAC hut high in the mountains. Then you hike down the other side to the Toggenburg area, where you can ride the Gamplut lift down to the valley and catch a bus. Total distance 17km.

We’ve hiked along the ridge to Saxer Lücke, but not over the mountain yet. Maybe next year.

Altdorf to Engelberg

In Central Switzerland, this hike starts at the top of the Attinghausen cable car, from which you hike up and over the Surenenpass to the Blackenalp hut (8.6km). Next day, you can hike to the top of the Fürenalp cable car (5 km) and ride down to the valley or hike along the river down to the valley (6 km).

We’ve hiked the Fürenalp side, which is very beautiful and a great trail. This hike is Stage 7 of the Via Alpina trail, which crosses 8 countries. In the pic below, the Surenenpass is up the valley on the left.

Albert Heim to Realp

In Graubünden, This hike starts at the Tiefenbach bus stop, from which you hike up 3.5 km to the Albert Heim hut. The next day, you continue hiking east and down to Realp in the valley (about 6.5 km), where you can catch the train. We did this in late September and got a bit of snow overnight. Full details for this hike and hut here.

You can make the hike longer by continuing on Trail 51 Fürka Höhenweg toward Andermatt instead of hiking down to Realp.

Mettmenalp to Elm

In Glarnerland in Eastern Switzerland, this hike starts at the top of the Mettmenalp cable car and hikes up to the Leglerhütte on the top of the mountain (about 6 km). The next day, hike down the other side of the mountain to the Ämpachli in the Elm resort (about 9 km), where you can either ride a mountain scooter or cable car down to the Elm valley and catch a bus back to your starting point.

We’ve hiked in both Mettmenalp and Elm but never up to the hut. It’s very popular and often booked out so it just hasn’t worked out yet. Hopefully we’ll do it this summer!

I’ve marked one route on the map below, but there are other trails that connect these points.

Level 3: Multi-day Tours

Vier Quellen Weg

A popular long route is the Vier Quellen Weg, or “Four Source Trail”, which visits the source of four main rivers: Reuss, Rhein, Rhone. The full path is 85 km, broken into 5 stages with overnight possibilities at each stop. This well-marked mountain trail is an official Swiss route, labeled #49.

They advertise it as family friendly, but I think this simply means that the trail is well built, not dangerous and doesn’t require technical climbing. But the hikes are still long and very challenging.

Here are the stages:

• Stage 1: From Oberalpsee to Vermigel Hut, 13 km, 800m ascent, 800 descent, 4hr30
• Stage 2: From Vermigel Hut to Gotthard pass, 12 km, 820m ascent, 760m descent, 4hr30. Two small hotels: Ospizio San Gottardo and Hotel San Gottardo
• Stage 3: From Gotthard pass to Campanna Piansecco Hut. 20km, 820m ascent, 950m descent, 6hr
• Stage 4: From Campanna Piansecco Hut to Obergestein village. 20 km, 820 m ascent, 1450 m descent, 6hr30
• Stage 5: From Obergestein to Rhonegletscher, 17 km, 1300m ascent, 400m descent, 6h10

For families that want to do a shorter version of this hike, I’d recommend just doing the first two stages. Or you could just hike to the Tomasee and staying in one of the nearby huts like Badushütte or Maighelshütte.

We have hiked the first part of Stage 1, from the Oberalppass to Lai da Tuma, the lake shown below. I highly recommend this hike even if you don’t do the full hut to hut. Details for this hike here.

We have also hiked part of stage 3 from Gotthard Pass to to the source of the Reuss. Details for this hike here.

Via Alpina Mürren to Oeschinensee

Another popular one I’ve seen online is the Via Alpina trail, combining Stage 12 Lauterbrunnen to Griesalp and Stage 13 from Griesalp to Kandersteg. To save some time and energy, you could ride the bus from Lauterbrunnen to Stechelberg, ride the cable car to Mürren and start hiking from there to Griesalp, where you can stay overnight (about 15 km). Then continue to Oeschinensee and ride the cable car down to Kandersteg (about 14 km). This saves you a couple hours of tough climbing on both sides, but it’s still a very difficult, demanding hike.

We’ve hiked in Mürren and Oeschinensee but haven’t done this long tour. It comes highly recommended but looks very challenging.

I’m currently researching more longer tours and I will add them later.

Research your own tour

The first place to start your research is the Schweizer Alpine Club website, aka SAC, which gives information for 150+ huts in their network and 1000+ suggested tours. Some, but not all, the site is in English. They have a map of these huts.

There are lots of other non-SAC huts in Switzerland not listed here. These private huts appear on this map on Schweiz Mobility, the official hiking network website for Switzerland.

If you are planning your own tour, you might find this Schweiz Mobility map helpful, as it shows the huts and the trails.

When to go

Most mountain huts are open with services July through September, some June through October. This means there is staff is at the hut, food and water are available, and common rooms are heated. Outside of this season, some huts are open but without services. So you can still stay at these huts as a basic shelter, but no food, water, or heating is available. Check the hut’s website beforehand to see their schedule and rules.

Make a reservation

Also, you should definitely reserve ahead. For weekdays, it’s usually ok to call a day ahead or maybe, the morning of your hike. But on weekends, especially in popular destinations, many huts are booked out months in advance. I’ve seen lots of hikers turned away in the late afternoon, now facing a long hike to another destination in the twilight hours. Many SAC huts now accept online reservations, but we always prefer to call so we can ask questions about the facilities.

What to bring

First check out my Mountain Huts with Kids post for an overview of what to expect at the huts, regarding food and sleeping conditions.

In short, the huts provide mattresses, pillows and blankets. You need to bring a sleeping bag liner for each person, which is required at every hut. You can easily buy them at any sporting good store, they cost about CHF 30-50 or more depending on the material. 

Besides that, bring whatever you would normally bring for a mountain hike, including warm, waterproof layers, first aid kit, hiking sticks, etc.

Food at the huts

Huts provide dinner and breakfast for their overnight guests, typically included in your fee. If you brought your own food, you can skip these meals and save some money on your fee. Drinks are typically extra (including water) and expensive. However, most huts provide free “marching tea” in the mornings, which is warm punch you can use to fill your water bottles for the next day’s hike.

You’ll need to bring lunch supplies for your day hikes. Some huts sell picnic lunch supplies, like bread, cheese, snacks and drinks that you can use for your lunch the following day. Ask the specific hut what they will have available.

If you are just passing through, most huts act as a restaurant at lunch time, with simple menus of mountain food, like cold plates of meat and cheese, a couple hot dishes like pasta or rösti, and cakes.

Many huts accept cash only, though more huts are starting to accept cards.

I hope this helps. Please leave a comment and let me know which hut you visit and how you liked it!