On My Own- Alpine Europe Tour- 13 days July 2025

Sounds fun! I haven’t taken this particular tour, so I can’t speak to the specifics about shoes, equipment, etc.
As for hiking poles, you likely need to check a bag to bring your own poles (could be a carryon size as per the tour suggestions). TSA doesn’t generally allow them in hand luggage.
But I’m my experience to way to pack in only a carryon for 2 weeks is to bring 5-7 days worth of clothes and figure out ways to do laundry along the way. That would be sink laundry and/or using local laundromats or laundry services. Your RS guide will likely have suggestions on the best times and places for this. Once you get your full hotels list, you can also research the neighborhoods on Google maps to find laundries and make a plan. Your hotels might also have a laundry service of some type.
Another piece would be getting your toiletries/extras down to the basic necessities (using small bottles, taking just what you need) and adopting the mindset that many ‘just in case’ items will be available to purchase should you need them along the way.
Also remember that you can bring any size bag you want but you will be responsible for carrying/loading it 100% (no luggage service on RS tours). I think a carryon size is so much easier with frequent hotel moves, stairs and walking short distances from bus to hotel.
There is a lot of good advice about packing light on this forum, particularly in the Packing section, if you’d like to check that out.

Here is a link to Rick Steves 2023 Scrapbooks, https://www.ricksteves.com/tours/scrapbooks/tour-alum-scrapbooks.

Scroll down to My Way Alpine Europe in 12-Days, there are four submissions & one took 4th Place for 2023. Their Scrapbooks should provide information for you that may help.

Safe Travels.

Thank you. I didn’t know “scrapbooks” existed.

Hi. I took this tour a number of years ago. I am more of a walker than a hiker. I wore my Keen Newport H2 sandals, not hiking boots or shoes. I did not have poles - not against them, I just did not have them. Best experience: walking from Mürren to Gimmelwald and sitting on the patio of the Mountain Hostel. Best view there is. For me, this tour is especially memorable because I took a vacation from my typical over-planning. Yes, I prepared with lots of options on how to spend my day, and I did a number of those things, but I also met each day and what it offered in a more relaxed fashion that I often do. It was great. Good, friendly group.

I would like to take this tour again. If I do, I would like to walk the Lauterbrunnen Valley, and I think I would like to walk from Füssen to Hohenschwangau.

A few years ago I too enjoyed a nice stroll. Started in Murren, walked down to Gimmewald and spoke to Ollie, Ricks friend, while he was gardening and then had a beer at the Mountain Hostel, took the gondola down to the valley, strolled along the valley floor towards Trummelbach Falls & enjoyed an apple pie w/hot chocolate. Then took the bus back into Lauterbrunnen proper. The next day I rented an E-Bike, and toured the entire valley floor w/a walk through Trummelbach Falls.

Enjoy your time.

We did our own style of My Way trip to Switzerland last fall and stayed in Mürren for a week. I agree with the recommendations above, and would like to offer these as well. We are close in age to you.

From Murren, you can take a funicular up to Allmendhubel. This is a beautiful view of the Eiger, Monch and Jungfrau mountains, there is a whimsical Alpine flower themed playground there, cows to enjoy up close, several trails that leave from that spot, and a really nice restaurant with stunning views. We actually went there three times during our week in Mürren. It wasn’t ever crowded, at least in September, and it was really lovely. If you’re there earlier than mid September, you’ll probably see a whole lot more wildflowers than we did. But it was really enjoyable.

We also did the hike from Mürren to Gimmelwald, which was a somewhat steep downhill paved path with spectacular views. I was glad I had my hiking poles and wore my hiking boots. It was a very smooth path, but that helped me feel more steady. We had lunch at the Mountain Hostel and sat on the balcony. My potato salad had Swiss wildflowers sprinkled on it as a garnish! We made a point to look for each thing listed on Rick‘s Gimmelwald walk, and it was just so quiet and beautiful. Flowers and cats everywhere, jingling bells on the local sheep, and several different farm fridges to explore. When ready to head back to Mürren, we simply caught the cable car back.

In Mürren, we really enjoyed two different cafés. The In Sport Café, tucked in a sporting goods store, was cozy and they made beautiful latte art with the mountains featured in your cappuccino foam. The owner Belinda was very friendly.

Cafe Liv was another cozy spot, with excellent baked goods and a friendly vibe. I was delighted to have a slice of lemon cake with raspberry icing and again, Swiss wildflowers sprinkled on top. This started a quest for me to find some of those to bring back home again. I ended up finally finding a small bottle of dried wildflowers in a gourmet food store in Bern, along with their jars of spices!

During the week that we were in Mürren, the temperatures really dropped dramatically and they got a very early snowfall. So it was nice for us to be able to find warm places to relax and enjoy the snow globe we were in, on September 12!

Enjoy!

Laurie

Re: hiking poles. We were traveling carry-on only for our trip, and I knew I would want the security of hiking poles. I bought some in Mürren and then we ended up checking my suitcase on the way home, so that was how we managed it.

We had 2 sunny days before everything got really rainy and cold and then snowy. So we headed right to Grindelwald First on our second day there. There are a lot of fun activities to do there. Our main goal was to try to get to Bachalpsee, which had been described as a pretty easy hike after a steep beginning. I was grateful for my new hiking poles! Unfortunately, the steep beginning, and not being used to the altitude, and the heat, and bewildering blisters with well broken in boots, meant we got partway to the lake and then turned around, regretfully. But the views there were absolutely spectacular! The Cliff Walk is free and dramatic, and we decided not to do it as we’ve had a similar experience in Engelberg (and I was wiped out at that point!).

We are so glad we made the time to get up to First when we did, even with the altitude challenges and not completing the dream hike. I think all in all we counted 15 separate modes of transportation to get from Mürren to First that day! It was our best weather day of the week, and the whole day was an alpine adventure! We had packed a picnic lunch and that may be one of the most scenic places we’ve ever had lunch! Glorious.

We had purchased the Berner Oberland pass, so no matter what the weather was doing each day, we were comfortable, hopping on and off all kinds of modes of transportation to explore the region as thoroughly as we could.

Tripletblessings has posted a very informative and still active thread on this tour. Go to ‘Rick Steves tours’ section to find it.

I took this tour in August of 2022 and loved it. I traveled as a single and did research the different hikes ahead of time. I pretty much just waited to see what others in my group were doing and joined them. The one thing I did arrange ahead of time was tandem paragliding. The company is called Airtime Paragliding and their office is in Lauterbrunnen but I met my pilot on the lift up to Mürren. The day was sunny and clear and it was so fantastic! I was 67 at the time and my kids thought I was crazy! One lady in our group signed up the next day. She loved it as well.
As far as clothing went, I wore light hiking pants and shirts in layers as needed. I wore my Merrill hiking tennis shoes, which are water repellent. However when we hiked in the Italian alps, it was pouring rain and I got soaked.
I’m sure you’ll have a great trip.