Nothing prepared me for my first Alpine walking holiday — not even growing up in and around two national parks. In the second, the Lake District, my bandy teenage legs had scaled almost everything. But even so, at the age of 21, when I first stepped from a cable car onto the meadows of the Prarion plateau, beneath Mont Blanc in France, it felt as if somebody had finally opened the door into adult life. Here was the real world at last, breathtakingly dramatic and full of possibility. Even the smells were more atmospheric. The resinous tang of a larch forest, the flat minerality of a dusty path and — best of all — the earthy undertones of a stream in which you’re about to plunge sweaty feet. To me, they are the scents of freedom, and I’ve been in love with them all ever since.
So it’s exciting to see that this summer there are so many interesting Alpine walking trips on offer. Here, I’ve picked out 25 of the most promising and, just like the peaks, passes and valleys they explore, they come in lots of different shapes and sizes. Some are high-mountain treks. Anyone who fancies a hut-to-hut experience should consider the muscle-melting circuit of the Monte Rosa outlined below. Others are more sybaritic. Head to the Alta Badia in the Dolomites, for example, and you may need a second walking holiday to burn off the mountain lunches you ate in the first. Among the mountain refuges to target is Utia Bioch. Not only is its menu bursting with local flavour, its wine cellar holds 11,000 bottles.
Meanwhile, those seeking respite from our ever-accelerating world will find plenty of blissfully quiet, sun-dappled valleys in which to decompress. Not every village here harbours a ski resort. Many are probably less populated now than they have been for millennia, and they offer the space and time to slow down. I can’t promise you’ll feel 21 again. But the mountain streams are still wonderful places in which to plunge your feet.
This article contains affiliate links that can earn us revenue
1. Villabassa, South Tyrol, Italy
Eye-popping scenery in the Dolomites
The first time you see them, the Dolomites will blow your hiking boots off. This is the very opposite of your average British moor: a sun-drenched, snaggled-toothed landscape of sheer rock that seems too fragile and precarious to be a proper mountain range. On this Classic Dolomites programme (which runs all summer) they will be your constant companion on five hikes from the four-star Hotel Adler in Villabassa. Most of the walking weeks involve five to seven-hour hikes a day. But on three — in June, July and August — enthusiasts can deepen the sense of engagement on longer, tougher and more exposed routes.
Details Seven nights’ B&B from £2,399pp, including flights and most other meals (exodus.co.uk)
Advertisement
2. Valle Maira, Piedmont, Italy
A valley untouched by mass tourism
If you’re wondering what the Alps would look like if skiing hadn’t been invented, then Piedmont’s Valle Maira is the place to go. There are no chairlifts or gondolas here. There are no resort towns either; just a smattering of villages, dotted with small hotels and agriturismos — and a long parade of peaks on either side of the leafy, no through road. On this three-centre itinerary, you’ll walk several sections of the restored Percorsi Occitani network of paths that girdle the valley on routes that are mostly over six miles long, though there is a choice of length on some days.
Details Eight nights’ half-board from £1,440pp (inntravel.co.uk). Fly to Turin or Genoa
3. Baveno, Piedmont, Italy
Lakes, islands and the Matterhorn
Walking holidays needn’t be gruelling. This guided Walk and Discover tour, which runs in September and October, offers a choice of hikes each day alongside lakes Maggiore, Como and Orto, with the easier routes no longer than three miles. For the most part the trip is a celebration of gracious lakeside living. Walkers will explore citrus parks, churches and palatial villas, as well as the terraced gardens of Isola Bella. But there’s time to answer the siren call of the high Alps too, with a day trip to see the Matterhorn.
Details Seven nights’ half-board from £1,499pp, including flights (rivieratravel.co.uk)
4. Mont Blanc, France
Circling the Alps’ highest peak
Don’t worry — you won’t be going to the top. This guided Mont Blanc trekking tour starts on June 12 and walks most of the way around it, starting and finishing in Chamonix. It is not, however, for the faint-hearted. En route between simple hotels and mountain hostels, you’ll carry all your own kit, and on the biggest day climb 1,300m. But the rewards are immense. This is a vast massif: menacing and cut with towering cliffs. It’s impossible to tire of looking at it.
Details Nine nights’ B&B from £1,199pp, including some other meals (gadventures.com). Fly to Geneva or take the train
5. Folgaria, Trentino, Italy
Verdant plateaux and improbable battlefields
In the Italian region of Trentino it’s the sheer-sided Dolomites that win all the plaudits. But go southeast from their rocky pinnacles and you’ll find a domain of deep forested valleys and high grassy plateaus that’s softer, lusher and — in some ways — lovelier. It’s a landscape explored on this guided High Plains of Trentino itinerary, which runs in June and September, and takes in remote refuges, sparkling lakes and mountain battlefields of the First World War during walks of, on average, seven miles. Expect plenty of sunshine and a delicious dip in the hotel pool, back in the town of Folgaria, after each day’s hike.
Details Seven nights’ half-board from £1,599pp, including flights (rambleworldwide.co.uk)
6. The Bernese Oberland, Switzerland
Explore the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau
There are few sights more gobsmacking than the sheer north faces of the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau, and all three are on show in the final stages of this Bernese Highlights East itinerary. Mind you, every stage is majestic, as you guide yourself from Engelberg to Mürren, staying in three-star hotels and guesthouses en route. The longest walk is 14 miles. The biggest challenge will be tearing yourself away from lovely, car-free Mürren when it’s time to head home.
Details Seven nights’ B&B from £2,279pp, including flights (headwater.com)
7. Samoëns, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France
Advertisement
A hassle-free mountain holiday
Of course you didn’t book an Alpine walking holiday to loll about by the swimming pool. But there it is, on the sun terrace at Club Med Samoëns, beckoning as you tuck into another endless all-inclusive lunch. Bring the kids and their all-day clubs are included in the price too, giving you the opportunity to surrender to the sunlounger’s call. Chances are you will have earned it. The resort’s busy activity programme includes guided wellness hikes with mountainside yoga, as well as botanical and wildlife walks.
Details Seven nights’ all-inclusive from £1,629pp, including flights (clubmed.co.uk)
8. The Julian Alps, Slovenia
Lakes, vineyards and the Alps at their best
Most people don’t even realise the Alps march right down into Slovenia. Yet their jagged limestone ridges are among the most mesmerising in the whole region. This guided, multicentred Hiking in the Slovenian Alps itinerary offers a memorable introduction. You start in the Triglav National Park and then cross the central ridge of the Julian Alps, with further ascents around Lake Bohinj and Lake Bled, averaging six miles a day. The final walk is into the vineyards of the Vipava Valley — the perfect place to raise a glass to your discoveries with some of its bright, mineral-tinted wines.
Details Seven nights’ B&B from £1,890pp, including flights and most other meals (walksworldwide.com)
9. The Isel Trail, East Tyrol, Austria
Hike the last free-flowing glacial river in the Alps
Every river that flows from an Alpine glacier is now dammed or managed in some way — except for the Isel in Austria’s underdeveloped East Tyrol. Here, the water finds its own way: thundering through gorges and cataracts, felling trees and creating a rich and diverse ecosystem. Now, a six-day, 47-mile trail allows you to follow its course from Lienz to the Umbalkees glacier. Base yourself at the three-star Hotel Hinteregger in Matrei so you don’t have to carry your luggage, and ride the local buses to reach each new section of the walk. Finish with a night at the Clara mountain hut near the glacier (room-only twins from £64; virgental.at).
Details B&B doubles from £155 (booking.com). Fly to Innsbruck or Bolzano
10. Bessans, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France
The hidden Haute Maurienne
At the far end of the Maurienne Valley, on a flat tongue of land where a lake once glistened, Bessans and Bonneval-sur-Arc are the kind of higgledy-piggledy villages you hope for in the French Alps but rarely find. Bessans has a charming B&B — Chez Mamie Anna. But the loveliest of the many walks here begins four miles up the road in Bonneval, where a rugged nine-mile circuit leads through the half-forgotten hamlet of l’Ecot and on to the Cirque des Evettes, carved by three glaciers (bonneval-sur-arc.com). Bring a car to make the shuttling to Bonneval easier.
Details B&B doubles from £102 (booking.com). Fly to Lyons or take the train to Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne
11. Camping tour in France, Switzerland and Italy
A 95-mile circuit of Mont Blanc
For some, the simple pleasure of being continuously outdoors in the middle of summer is a big part of hiking’s appeal. So why not deepen that pleasure by camping overnight between your walks? This challenging 95-mile circuit of Mont Blanc offers exactly that, with two rest days en route and your tents transported (and put up) ahead of you. Some nights you’ll dine in restaurants, but the campsite meals will be the ones to remember with drinks in the camp bar as the sun sets.
Details 14 nights’ full board from £2,099pp, including flights (exodus.co.uk)
12. Kitzbühel, Austria
Advertisement
Swimming, slopes and sausages
Come summer, this medieval town softens into a big green playground, dotted with tennis courts and swimming lakes, and threaded with 620 miles of waymarked footpaths. So book into the central, four-star Maria Theresia and dip into the resort’s programme of free guided walks (kitzbuehel.com). The 2.5 mile-long walk from the top of the Hahnenkamm gondola is typical of Kitz’s accessible magnificence. Downhill all the way, it drops 854m and stops for lunch in the Seidlalm mountain restaurant, famous for its boxerl beef sausages.
Details Seven nights’ half-board from £655pp, including flights (tui.co.uk)
13. Champoluc, Aosta valley, Italy
Give yourself a head start every morning
Flanked by some of the mightiest Alps and flushed with leafy greens, Champoluc is one of the prettiest of the Aosta Valley’s resort villages. And you can make it even lovelier by staying halfway up its eastern slopes at Frantze Le Rascard 1721. This sun-blackened timber farmhouse — now a laid-back hotel — offers a creaky but cute refuge in the midst of a summer meadow, with off-duty ski lifts running nearby to take the sting out of any ascents. Footpaths radiate out in all directions, including the seven-day Tour des Six circuit (tourdessix.it). Walking the section to Saint Jacques and back makes for an easy five-mile tour.
Details Half-board doubles from £120 (frantze.it). Fly to Turin or Geneva
14. Serre Chevalier, France
Affordable, full-board trips with the UCPA
God bless France’s UCPA ― the sport-for-all organisation aimed at 18 to 45-year-olds, whose low-cost hostel-hotels adorn many of the country’s mountain resorts. Accommodation is in small, four-person dorms or (at a supplement) in double rooms, and the price includes all meals and activities. In the case of this culture and history trekking tour, which begins on August 18, that means five easy guided walks, averaging six miles and a maximum 250m of ascent, as well as use of a rucksack and hiking boots.
Details Six nights’ full board from £522pp (action-outdoors.co.uk). Fly to Turin or take the train to Briançon
15. Arosa, Switzerland
Sunrise walks and a deep-tissue massage
The Tschuggen Grand Hotel may have one of the most distinctive spas in the Alps, set beneath a curvaceous crown of glass skylights, but life in this five-star resort isn’t just about loafing. Among the many activities on offer is a three-mile sunrise walk, climbing 762m to the Hörnlihütte mountain restaurant for breakfast. Add in a few more lift-assisted hikes from the 125 miles of trails on offer (arosalenzerheide.swiss) and you’ll have earned your Moving Mountains Massage back at base. The deep-tissue treatment is especially kind to your feet and legs.
Details Four nights’ B&B from £902pp, including flights (expedia.com)
16. Neustift, Austria
Exploring the Stubaital and its glacier
The Stubai Valley is a Tyrolean classic. Burrowing steep and deep towards the central Alpine ridge, it starts with a fanciful baroque church and finishes up on the Stubai glacier, buried in summer snow. This guided group trip, which runs seven times this summer, promises a top-to-bottom experience. You’ll stay in pretty Neustift and nibble at the edges of the glacier and admire the thunderous waterfalls it feeds. You’ll also explore the hidden side valley of Schlick. Each day offers an easier four to eight-mile walk as well as tougher hikes up to 11 miles in length.
Details Seven nights’ half-board from £1,649pp, including flights (hfholidays.co.uk)
17. Arolla, Switzerland
Advertisement
Glamping in one of Switzerland’s most underrated valleys
At 1,950m, Camping Arolla is Europe’s highest glampsite. It’s also the perfect launchpad for all kinds of walks up and down the Val d’Hérens — a bafflingly underrated valley just west of Zermatt (valdherens.ch). From here, walks beckon in all directions: a mile and a half up to the Arolla glacier, perhaps, or a six-mile exploration of the protected Ferpècle Valley, which branches off southwestwards. Meanwhile, back at base, it’s good to know the tents have their own wood-burning stoves. Temperatures drop sharply after dark.
Details One night’s self-catering in a cocoon tent for two from £86 (en.camping-arolla.ch). Fly to Geneva or take the train to Sion
18. Névache, France
Calm in the Clarée Valley
To the south lies the resort of Serre Chevalier, to the north is Italy’s Bardonecchia. But here, in the middle, you’ll find little but farming, larch forests and footpaths. The Clarée Valley was saved from an autoroute in the 1970s and on this guided week you’ll learn why, as you discover old-school Alpine farms, carpets of wildflowers and — above all — a deep sense of quiet. Throughout the trip, the cute L’Echaillon hotel in Névache is your base, with moderately demanding, six to seven-hour hikes the norm. Generally you’ll climb 700m each day with one 884m ascent.
Details Seven nights’ full board from £1,855pp, including flights (mountainkingdoms.com)
19. Via Alpina, Switzerland
An epic 179-mile hike with serious ascents
Here’s a challenge you’ll never forget: a 17-stage, self-guided, 179-mile hike from the edge of Liechtenstein all the way to Montreux on Lake Geneva. Each day’s walking ranges from eight to 15 miles, with several 1,200-1,500m ascents mixed in — by the end of it you’ll be racing up the paths like an ibex. This is a proper adventure amid unremittingly spectacular scenery that climaxes with the peaks of the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau.
Details 17 nights’ B&B from £4,000pp, including most dinners (macsadventure.com). Fly to Zurich and return from Geneva
20. Corvara, Italy
Footloose on Alta Badia’s gastronomic plateau
Three cheers for the Pralongia plateau. Not only does it provide a gentle viewing platform from which to gawp at the surrounding Dolomites, it’s also a gastronomic hotspot. Here, a spectacular two-mile, lift-assisted walk will bring you to the Utia Bioch mountain restaurant, where the menu includes a potato soup created by a three-star Michelin chef (mains from £12; bioch.it). Sign up for a self-guided Walking in the Heart of the Dolomites holiday in Corvara next door — and you can mix these sybaritic moments with longer five to 12-mile hikes.
Details Six nights’ half-board from £1,175pp (macsadventure.com). Fly to Bolzano
21. Chinaillon, France
Hiking the long green ridges of Le Grand Bornand
The view from the wood-panelled Village de Lessy self-catering apartments is straight across the village of Chinaillon towards the grassy slopes of Mont Lachat de Châtillon. It’s a modest peak, but a distinctive one, and typical of Le Grand Bornand, where the ridges roll like cresting waves towards Mont Blanc. The resort’s 100-mile network of waymarked footpaths enables exploration of this verdant landscape, with the help of an app and smartphone maps (en.legrandbornand.com). Guided walks start at £38pp a day (guides-grandbornand.com).
Details Seven nights’ self-catering for four from £140pp, including return Dover-Calais ferry crossing (peakretreats.co.uk)
22. Garmisch to Merano, Italy, Germany and Austria
Advertisement
Crossing the Alps from Germany to Italy
It sounds like a muscle-melting challenge, hiking from Garmisch-Partenkirchen in Germany to Merano in northern Italy. But this self-guided itinerary makes it (relatively speaking) a doddle, cherry picking the highlights and making judicious use of a cable car and some train, bus and taxi transfers to skip the long-winded bits. The result? A ravishing sequence of mountain gorges, Alpine meadows, mountaintop views and — on the final stretch ― a choice of wine bars in which to toast your achievement. No walk is longer than 13 miles.
Details Seven nights’ B&B from £822pp (eurohike.at). Fly to Munich and return from Bolzano
23. Merano to Bolzano, Italy
Wine-tasting through the Sudtirol
Circle the broad, flat-bottomed Alto Adige valley on this self-guided tour and you’ll discover a world of high-quality winemaking little known in Britain. The itinerary — which could be an add-on to the Garmisch to Merano hike above ― knits together winemaking villages such as Nalles and Eppan with the forests, medieval castles and Alpine meadows that sit above them. Walks range from seven to 12 miles in length, so there’s time for the odd tasting, as well as a night in the provincial capital, Bolzano.
Details Six nights’ B&B from £659pp (eurohike.at). Fly to Bolzano
24. Salzkammergut, Austria
Lakeside walks and chocolate cake
Low-level walks, Hapsburg-era monuments and a landscape of glittering lakes make this self-guided, three-centre itinerary a good option for those who want to enjoy the Alps without having to climb them. En route, you’ll stay in comfortable, well-kept four-star hotels and enjoy walks between 2 and 11 miles long. Among the highlights are two nights in the gorgeous lakeside village of Hallstatt and a slice of chocolate kaisertorte at the Zauner café, founded in the spa town of Bad Ischl in 1832.
Details Seven nights B&B from £2,119pp, including flights (headwater.co.uk)
• 10 of the best hiking holidays in Europe
25. Monte Rosa circuit, Switzerland
Walk around the Alps’ second-highest peak
After you’ve completed this tough, nine-day circuit you’ll wonder why the Monte Rosa massif isn’t better known. It is, after all, a mighty lump of rock, home to the Alps’ second-highest peak and a dramatic viewing platform from which to survey other mountains. On this guided route, you’ll start and finish at Saas-Fee in Switzerland, walking up to 14 miles a day and climbing as much as 1,800m. For the most part, you’ll be overnighting in thrillingly remote mountain huts too, so you’ll need to carry your own gear. Pack light — and don’t forget the travel wash.
Details Ten nights’ half-board from £2,295pp (keadventure.com). Fly to Geneva or Zurich
Have we missed out your favourite Alpine hikes? Share your top spots in the comments below
Sign up for our Times Travel newsletter and follow us on Instagram and X
