My experience with hiking in Switzerland.

Swiss culture is deeply linked to their enjoyment of the great outdoors. It isn’t uncommon to see locals choosing their bikes over their cars, in fact, nearly 2,000 students in Lausanne choose to bike to UNIL (the University of Lausanne).  

I recently got to experience hiking in Switzerland, another well-loved physical activity here. The hike was to the Oeschinensee lake, in the Bernese Oberland, one of the German speaking cantons of Switzerland. This trip was hosted by ESN, the Erasmus Student Network, and I’m sure it will be one of my most treasured memories of my time in Switzerland when I return to the United Kingdom.

I have to admit, I am not particularly into sports, in fact previous to this excursion I had only been hiking twice in my life. But I decided to take part anyway, I saw it as an opportunity to do some sightseeing, albeit of a different kind.

The hike began in the village of Kandersteg. We departed at around eight in the morning, arriving two and a half hours later, our first train being headed to Bern, to then take our second from there, which was headed to Brig.

I remember getting off the train and standing with other UNIL and EPFL, the other university in Lausanne, students, looking to the snowy mountains that I would have to hike up, and kind of wanting to turn around and go back to the train station. The hiking path I had picked did include gondola rides for the first part of the trail, but the last tract to the lake would have had to be on foot.

However, the gondola rides were closed that day, due to wind. Our team leader, a member of ESN Lausanne smiled at us and told us we would all just have to climb up and take the hard path.

I definitely knew I wanted to turn around then.

But thankfully, or maybe not, the hiking trail turned out to be too icy, and actually following through would be too dangerous. We then opted for a less harsh path, away from the Oeschinensee lake.

We walked through the town of Kandersteg, by green hills and fields reminding me of the book Heidi, until we reached where the actual hike started, a half hour later, just giving me enough time to forget we were actually going to hike.

We started off with a few uphill roads, with the last stretch being on tree roots, forming a sort of steep staircase. There were a few times I found myself stumbling and almost falling down, while being on the higher edge of this cliff.

Luckily, I made it to the top unscathed, and when I looked around, as I tried to catch my breath, I realised it had been worth it. We ended up having a picnic on a green field, with some of us sitting on the cliff’s overhang, surrounded by snow capped alps. I met some other exchange students, bonding over how none of us were really into hiking but had tried it out just for the views.

Thankfully, the hike down was a lot easier. We then spent the rest of the day in the neighbouring town of Thun, where we did a quick tour of the city, and spent our afternoon sunbathing, or whatever sunbathing you can do while being draped in snow gear from head to toe, by the river.

Overall, it was an experience I’d definitely recommend and I’m so glad I took part. I may not have seen the Oeschinensee lake, but I still got to try out something different and take a trip to a new part of Switzerland.