Italian Alps - Walking at the Foot of the Matterhorn

This tour is designed to give you the chance to walk the high paths with their panoramic views, crisp mountain air, and peaceful atmosphere, but without the very long and strenuous climbs that are needed on most of our alpine trips. Another great feature of this tour is that it uses lesser-known and therefore less crowded trails, so it allows you to get that authentic mountain walking experience.

The majority of the walks are along moderate trails and include regular ascents and descents, so a certain level of mountain experience is required and a level of good general fitness, but there is no need to have any technical experience. It’s best ahead of time to do some practice walks including ascents and descents like those you will experience on the trip whilst carrying your day bag.

This trip is not ideal for those with a fear of heights or vertigo sufferers. You’ll reach a maximum altitude of 2,990 m.

Classic Routes | If you’re the active, outdoorsy type, who’s interested in taking on the great routes of the world or looking for a challenge, then our Classic Routes are for you. We’re talking the West Highland Way, Tour Du Mont Blanc and the Passau to Vienna Danube Cycle Path, to name but a few!

Inn to Inn Walking | Walk from place-to-place changing accommodations each night. Generally staying in B&B’s, inns, and guesthouses.

Alpine Walking

The minimum age for this tour is: 12 Years

We’ve classified this hiking trip as moderate. The level of difficulty is determined based on the entire trip, so individual days may be slightly more difficult or easier than the overall level of difficulty. Two days are a little more demanding and would fit more into the moderate to strenuous category but can skipped or made easier by taking ski lifts. You walk alternately on wide hiking trails and narrower mountain paths. You need good sure-footedness and a certain head for heights is always an advantage in the mountains. This tour is unsuitable for those afraid of heights or suffering from vertigo.

Distances

Our walks usually start and end at a central location in town (church, bus stop, etc.). Access routes to your accommodation are not included in our daily figures.

This trip requires good fitness and some alpine experience, but no technical ability is needed. The stages have different lengths, from 7 to 13 km, and require between 2.5 and 5 hours of walking. The most demanding stages take place on Day 4 from Breuil-Cervina to Champoluc and on Day 6 to Monte Zerbion, where a long but not too steep descent or ascent and descent awaits you. You can simplify both days or skip the walks entirely.

This tour is a good starter Classic walking trip if you are thinking about taking some of our more difficult mountain walks like the Tour du Mont Blanc or the Alta Via.

This holiday includes overnight accommodation in small hotels, guest houses, and B&B’s. We hand-pick the accommodation to ensure you enjoy every minute of your stay. A warm welcome, traditional hospitality, and delicious local food and drink come as standard.

Details of the accommodation we normally use are detailed on the itinerary. These are subject to availability, and early booking is recommended.

We book en suite rooms as standard. If there are no en suite rooms available in an overnight location, we may book a room with shared facilities, but we'll always let you know first if this is the case.

Alternative Accommodation

We'll always try and accommodate you at the locations detailed in your itinerary. On the odd occasion, due to limited availability, there may be an option to be accommodated at an alternative location. In the unlikely event that we must accommodate you elsewhere, we'll let you know before confirming your booking. In this case, you can change your trip dates, or we can arrange taxi transfers to and from an alternative overnight accommodation (supplement payable).

Single Rooms & Solo Walkers

This self-guided trip is available to solo walkers for a supplement and is subject to availability. If you require single rooms within your party, we'd be happy to accommodate you although there is a single room supplement payable. Solo walkers must have alpine walking experience.

Meals

Breakfast is included each morning. In Italy, this is generally a light continental breakfast. Lunch and dinner aren't included but are available from your hotel or nearby restaurants. Your accommodation may be able to provide a packed lunch on request and this can be booked on arrival. The food in Northern Italy is strongly influenced by its neighbouring countries so as well as wonderful Italian wines and cheeses, you’ll get pastries and bread more similar to those found in France and hearty sausages and stews that are reminiscent of Germany. Traditional specialties include matured Toma di Gressoney cheese melted onto polenta and Jambon de Bosses, a cured ham that has been stored in hay at high altitude for several months before being flavoured with local herbs and spices.

Additional Nights

You may want to spend some extra nights along the route, either to rest or for those with plenty of energy to explore some of the other walking opportunities nearby. We recommend extra nights in Breuil-Cevinia, as there is so much to see and do here.

You will be walking on a well-signposted walking trail on which you can discover a fascinating, culturally influenced mountain world. Navigation is straightforward as you can use the Macs Adventure app which has maps, GPS tracks, and daily route info. Simply download the GPS tracks for offline use and follow the route on your phone with the assurance that navigation will be simple, and you can’t get lost.

You will find more information on downloading the app in your Macs Adventure Account.

Our walks usually begin and end at a central point in town (such as a church, bus stop, etc.). Access routes to your accommodation are not included in our km daily figures. However, the Macs app will guide you to your accommodation. You just need to go to the ‘Itinerary’ on the applicable day, open the section about your accommodation, and click on the ‘Get Directions’ button.

The hike can be done from July to early September. You can start your walk on any day and date during this period.

Peak Season Availability

Early booking is recommended to secure the best accommodation for you throughout the peak summer months. If you're interested in travelling during these months, then we may require some flexibility regarding your dates and itinerary. We'll do our best to provide a suitable alternative in line with our usual tour. In the instance that our usual accommodation isn’t available, a supplement for alternate accommodation may be payable. We'll always try our best to get you confirmed on the date you wish to travel.

Time of Year

August is the most popular month (with the locals too) and so busier in accommodation. It is not unheard of for snow to fall on higher ground during the summer, and patches of snow may still be present into July. For this reason, we offer the walk starting from July. July and August are the hottest months and carry the greatest risk of thunderstorms, which can be torrential and usually occur in the afternoon—being well-prepared and equipped for all these eventualities is essential.

There are various websites that provide useful information about the weather and climate of your destination. A good website for climate information specific to towns and countries is: www.weather2travel.com

We recommend that you check the local weather forecast daily before starting your walk. TV and radio news and corresponding websites are ideal for this purpose. In addition, your accommodation hosts are usually well-informed and will be happy to help you.

We recommend flying to Turin Airport. There are regular buses to the central rail station, which takes approx. 45 mins. You can catch a train from here to Chatillon, which takes around 1 hour 25 minutes. Then from here, you can take the bus to Valtourneche, which takes about 35 minutes.

Alternatively, you can also fly to Milan.  It’s served by three airports: Malpensa (MXP, 45 km from the city centre), Linate (LIN, 7 km from the city centre), and Bergamo Orio al Serio (BGY, 50 km from the city centre).

From MXP you can catch the Malpensa Express train from the airport to Milan City Centre, which takes around an hour and runs regularly. From BGY you can take a bus into central Milan taking just less than an hour.  From LIN there’s also a bus to central Milan taking approx. 30mins.

From Milan centre, you can take the train via Turin, which takes about 2 hours and then you follow the same instructions shown above from Turin. It takes around 5 hours in total.

You can find Italian train information on Trenitalia.

From Antagnod or Periasc you can take the bus to Verres, which takes around 50 minutes. From where you take the train to Turin, it takes about 1 hour 15 minutes. Alternatively, you could take a taxi to Chatillon which takes about 40 minutes, and then catch the train to Turin which takes about 1 hour 25 minutes. Either way, you then need to take the bus back to the airport, which takes approx. 35 minutes.

If you fancy a journey that is more of an experience in itself then why not take a taxi to nearby Chatillon and catch the train from here to some of Europe's main hubs? You can get to Turin in 1 hour 25 minutes, then on to Paris in a further 5 hours 40 minutes. From here you could also travel across the channel to London St Pancras which takes around another 2 hours 25 minutes. Websites such as Trainline, and Rome 2 Rio are useful tools for arranging rail travel.

Your bags will be collected from your accommodation each day and moved onto your overnight accommodation. Except from Champluc, when you’ll take your main luggage with you to Antagnod on the hiking bus. Don’t worry though, this is a straightforward journey, and you can drop your bag off at your centrally located hotel on arrival, ready to spend your day walking to the summit of Monte Zerbion. Please limit your luggage to one bag of up to 20kg per person.

At Macs Adventure, we work in partnership with many luggage transfer providers who set a limit on how many bags/suitcases they will transfer per person, and also the weight of the bag/suitcase. Your booking includes the transfer of 1 bag per person and the weight of your luggage allowed is specific to the destination you will be travelling to. This is why it’s very important that you read the luggage information specific to your tour before departure. If you don’t stick to these limits, there’s a chance you’ll be charged locally both for extra bags and/or if they're too heavy. This limitation can be a challenge, especially as airlines generally have limits that are higher. However, our luggage providers have reasons for these limits (usually due to the Health and Safety of their employees), which we must respect.