The Alps
29 mountain regions across four countries: what the walking is like, when the season runs, and which valley to start from.
No places to stay are listed in this section. The booking partners behind this site cover the UK only, so there is nothing to book in the Alps yet.
Switzerland
Dufourspitze, 4634 m
The densest concentration of 4,000-metre peaks in the Alps, and the best public transport of any mountain country.
Bern
The federal capital's hill country, well short of the high Alps.
Bernese Oberland
Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau, above Interlaken and its two lakes.
Eastern Switzerland
Appenzell's Alpstein and the Glarus Alps, an hour from Zürich.
Graubünden (Grisons)
Switzerland's largest canton, and its only trilingual one.
Jura and the Three Lakes
Watchmaking towns, three lakes, and limestone hills, not glaciers.
Jura, Fribourg Prealps and Vaudois Alps
Three ranges in one corner: Jura, Fribourg Prealps, Vaudois Alps.
Lake Geneva
Switzerland's largest lake, vine-terraced along most of its shore.
Lake Lucerne
Pilatus and Rigi above the water, reached by two historic railways.
Ticino
South of the Gotthard, Italian-speaking, and mild year-round.
Valais
The Rhône valley, the Matterhorn, and Switzerland's highest ground.
Zurich
Lake-bound, not alpine, but the Uetliberg is a short train ride out.
Austria
Grossglockner, 3798 m
More of the Eastern Alps than anyone else, and the hut network to walk across them.
Carinthia
Warm lakes in the valleys, three mountain ranges around them.
Salzburg & Salzburgerland
Salt, Mozart, and the northern side of the Hohe Tauern.
Salzkammergut
Lakes and salt-mining history, shared by three Austrian states.
Styria
Alpine gorges in the north, vineyard hills in the south.
Tyrol
Austria's Alpine core, from Innsbruck to the Ötztal glaciers.
Upper Austria
Quiet Alpine limestone country, overshadowed by the Salzkammergut.
Vorarlberg
Austria's western edge, between Lake Constance and the Silvretta.
Wachau Valley
A Danube wine valley, honestly not a mountain one.
Germany
Zugspitze, 2962 m
A thin strip of Alps along the Austrian border, plus the low ranges that taught Germany to walk.
Bavarian Alps
Germany's highest peaks, from the Zugspitze to the Watzmann.
Bavarian Forest
Germany's oldest national park, and its largest forest.
Black Forest
Gentle wooded hills in the north, higher and starker in the south.
Rhine Valley & Mosel Valley
Wine valleys, not mountains, but two serious long-distance trails.
Saxon Switzerland
Sandstone towers and gorges, and a climbing ethic all its own.
The Allgäu Alps
Lower than the high Alps, and grassy rather than glaciated.
Liechtenstein
Grauspitz, 2599 m
Twenty-five kilometres long, entirely mountainous, and crossed end to end on one waymarked trail.