Nature and Outdoor Activities in Switzerland in 2026: The Best Ways to Explore

Switzerland's outdoor infrastructure is the most developed in the alpine world and the landscape lives up to it. The Via Alpina runs 390 kilometres through the Swiss Alps from Vaduz in Liechtenstein to Montreux above Lake Geneva — a high-route traverse of the full alpine chain accessible in hut-to-hut stages. The Eiger's north face above Grindelwald is visible from the Kleine Scheidegg in a way that makes the history of its first ascent physically comprehensible. The Aletsch Glacier — the largest in the Alps, 23 kilometres long, UNESCO World Heritage — is walkable along its lateral moraine from the Bettmerhorn above. The Swiss National Park in Engadine is the only fully rewilded national park in the Alps, where the absence of human management for over a century has produced a chamois, ibex, and red deer population of exceptional density and total wildness. Tours by locals often reveal the rhythm of the place in a more natural way. The hidden gems usually do the rest.