Struggling to find accommodation for Via Alpina

Hi all,

My partner and I are planning to hike the Via Alpina Green Trail from Sucka to Lenk in August, 2022. We’ve read that wild camping is not allowed in Switzerland and it’s recommended to stay in huts along the way, but we are really struggling to find/book huts on the route.

From researching, it seems like the majority of accommodation on the route are hotels (not huts) that are fully booked for most days in July/August. We’re concerned about setting off for our hike and then being unable to find somewhere to sleep during some nights.

Can anyone suggest a helpful resource that shows accommodation that is on the hiking route? Can anyone advise as well on how to book/plan in advance? We want to maintain some flexibility in the route (for example if we want to take a rest day or do an additional section on a day), but it looks like it could be very hard to find accommodation if we don’t book it entirely in advance. Ideally, we’d like to find places that are ~12-20km apart from each other along the route that will provide breakfast + dinner as part of the room rate.

Thank you!

Eileen

Hi Eileen, welcome to MySwissAlps!

Yes, it's best to pre-book accommodation as you'll be hiking in the busiest tourist months. I understand that advanced booking doesn't match your wish to remain flexible. You could consider booking hotels not directly along the trail, but at centrally located spots, that provide easy public transport access to several stages of the trail at once. You'll have additional traveling time each day, but it might be a doable compromise.

For example: find a hotel in Meiringen for sections 1.9 and 1.10. Then move on to a hotel in Lauterbrunnen for 1.11 and 1.12. Would that method work for you? If so, you can start looking for hotels here: https://www.myswissalps.com/hotels.

A detailed description of the route can be found here: www.schweizmobil.ch/en/hiking-in-switzerland/route-01.html. For each stage, you'll find accommodation suggestions too (refer to the grey block "Accommodation"). I'm not sure if these are the hotels and huts you've already tried to book.

I hope this helps you out.