The Alpine Pass Route is a long-distance hiking trail through the Alps in

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

, part of the Via Alpina route. It starts in Sargans in eastern Switzerland, and crosses the heart of country westwards to finish in

Montreux Montreux (, ; ; ) is a Municipalities of Switzerland, Swiss municipality and List of towns in Switzerland, town on the shoreline of Lake Geneva at the foot of the Swiss Alps, Alps. It belongs to the Riviera-Pays-d'Enhaut (district), Riviera-Pays ...

on the shore of Lake Geneva. The total route covers over and crosses 16

mountain pass A mountain pass is a navigable route through a mountain range or over a ridge. Since mountain ranges can present formidable barriers to travel, passes have played a key role in trade, war, and both Human migration, human and animal migration t ...

es, and takes 15 or more walking days to complete.

The route

There are a number of variations on the precise route, but the following stages are fairly standard: The Via Alpina green trail follows the Swiss National Route no. 1 (previously known as the Swiss Alpine Pass Route from Sargans to Lenk, which then continues over a further four passes to

. * From Sargans over the Foo Pass to Elm * Over the Richetli Pass to Linthal * Over the Klausen Pass to Flüelen * Over the Surenen Pass to Engelberg * Over the Joch Pass to Meiringen * Over the Grosse Scheidegg Pass to

Grindelwald Grindelwald is a village and Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the Interlaken-Oberhasli (administrative district), Interlaken-Oberhasli administrative district in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Bern (canton), Berne. In additio ...

* Over the Kleine Scheidegg Pass to Lauterbrunnen * Over the

Sefinenfurgge Pass The Sefinafurgga ( Swiss German, Germanized: ''Sefinenfurgge'') is a mountain pass of the Bernese Alps. The pass crosses the col between the peaks of Hundshore and Bütlasse, at an elevation of . The pass is traversed by a hiking track, whi ...

to Griesalp * Over the Hohtürli Pass to Kandersteg * Over the Bunderchrinde Pass to Adelboden * Over the Hahnenmoos Pass to Lenk * Over the Trütlisberg Pass to Lauenen * Over the Krinne to Gsteig * Over the Col des Andérets to Col des Mosses * Over the Col de Chaude to

The central portion of the route through the Bernese Oberland is the most spectacular, with many hikers choosing to hike a few passes rather than the whole route in one go. The excellent transport connections give many possibilities for breaking it up.

Signposting

The trail is well signposted. Most of the signs carry the name of the next pass or town, but increasingly the green square " Via Alpina" signs are being introduced. This is now called route number 1.

References

External links

* * http://www.wanderland.ch/en/routes/route-01.html Hiking trails in Switzerland {{Switzerland-stub