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Hiking Trail Detailed Maps

Hello: We just completed a 2-week trip to Europe, to include Switzerland, Italy, and Austria. We did a good amount of walking and hiking in Switzerland at the higher elevations and such. In some selected cases, we were surprised by the height, grade, and level of descent on some of the designated trails and we did not have adequate maps of each trail, etc. Can anyone recommend good/excellent/exceptional maps that go into detail about these trail dimensions and expectations? For example, a few years ago I purchased a copy of this "small, hard to read" book:

https://www.cicerone.co.uk/walking-in-the-bernese-oberland-fourth

Do you know of any other similar walking/hiking books/references maps that are easier to use, either in hard copy form or otherwise - electronic? Also, please note, I would prefer not to continue to try to read an e-book on my small cell phone size. I would be more interested in a 8 1/2 by 11 size that I can study/review in detail before actually getting to Europe. And, if I may, Google Maps to me was NOT a good option for determining the intensity/dangers/opportunities on a given trail. I am searching for an option more traditional in hard copy format.

Please advise. Thank You.

Dale F. Weeks
Minneapolis, MN

Posted by
6914 posts

https://map.geo.admin.ch has detailed topographic maps of the entire country, fully up to date. It is amazing.
If you need paper maps, you can find them locally, but they might ship abroad (look at the Swisstopo website for the catalogue, the 1:33,333 maps are perfect).
Maps are best combined with trail descriptions: https://myswitzerland.com has plenty.

By the way, there's no need to sign your posts with your email address; I would encourage you to edit your post & remove it - spammers run bots that "harvest" them.

Posted by
12 posts

Thanks. I will check your references. And, email deleted. Thanks for that as well.

Posted by
2186 posts

Walking in Switzerland's Berner Oberland by Laurel and Richard Barton has 20 hikes in it but not with the detail you are looking for. However, they suggest: "The maps in the book provide an overview of the route but the linked maps at PlotaRoute.com will allow you to zoom in on sections and see specific features. You can also change the view from the Standard Street Map that is pictured in the book to other views such as Terrain or Satellite views. The elevation profile of the route is shown in the online version where you can adjust a time feature to suit your pace, get a weather forecast and more. Play with it!"

You might see if the hikes you are interested in appear on that website.

Posted by
486 posts

There is also Switzerland Mobility web and app.
Click on the green highlighted routes for detailed information. Here you can also get information regarding any route closures or re-routes as well as the location of bus stops, restaurants, etc.

In addition to the green highlighted routes, all of the yellow lines on the map are regular hiking trails and the red ones are mountain hiking trails.

It is free to use, but if you pay the yearly subscription (around 30 CHF) you can also draw your own route. This can be very helpful if you want to do one of the many paths that are not highlighted in green, or even just a portion of a longer route.

There is also the Schweizer Wanderwege website, only in German, French or Italian, but it has a lot of very useful information as well as detailed hikes. It is worth the effort of translating into English.

The Berner Wanderwege is similar, and specific to the Canton of Bern.

Edited to say that although these are electronic resources, I think that they are very useful in getting real time information and helpful to use along with any printed material. Berner Wanderwege also has an interactive map with 3D options.

Posted by
11336 posts

Janet thanks for the shout-out!

Dale, I use PlotaRoute to assess possible routes in cities and in rural locations, at home and abroad. It will give you an idea of the difficulty in terms of elevation gain or loss as well as distance. You can print a map to take along. AllTrails and Kamoot are good, too, although I think the posters there tend to overestimate what “easy” might be for many of us. “Easy” at 30 years of age is a lot different than easy when approaching 70 or if you have a disdain for extreme descents (like me!).

I also like this company’s map of the LauterbrunnenTal for planning, looking for options, and avoiding getting lost. You might need a magnifying glass, though. EditionMpa publishes dozens of detailed Swiss maps.

Posted by
16333 posts

I have a couple of the 1:25000 topographic maps but I honestly cannot recall where I bought them. Probably in Switzerland, but this UK bookstore offers them online:

https://www.stanfords.co.uk/Switzerland-Swiss-Survey-25K-Topographic-Maps_SI00000370?wgu=5563_198311_16659327410302_9ca22f9f19&wgexpiry=1697468741&utm_campaign=webgains&utm_source=webgains&utm_medium=webgains

I will admit, however, that I rarely use them for planning hikes. I like to find a good description of the hike, whether in a guidebook or online, that gives the length, the elevation gain and loss, and some details regarding terrain and possible exposure or other hazards. Then we use the schematic paper maps from the local visitor center, together with the trail signage.