Stage 17: Gstaad → L'Etivaz

Via Alpina · Day 17 of 20 · km 330 of 392

Distance

16.5 km

Ascent

+1,266 m

Descent

−1,176 m

Estimated average time

6 h 30 min

Highest 1,953 m · lowest 1,040 m

16.5 kilometres, 1,266 metres of ascent, 1,176 metres of descent, 6 hours 30 minutes of walking, an estimated average; highest point at 1,953 metres, lowest at 1,040 metres.

Technique: medium · fitness: hard

What Clotilde says

Vaduz → Montreux

Today you switch languages without opening a dictionary: from Gstaad you cross into the canton of Vaud, and in L'Etivaz you're welcomed in French. The village gave its name to a cheese made in summer on the alpine pastures, over a wood fire. On the pastures, the bearded bellflower hangs all its little bells to the same side.

Montreux → Vaduz

From L'Etivaz, whose alpine cheese bears its name, you cross back into the canton of Bern: in Gstaad, people will speak German to you. 6 h 15 min of walking across the pastures, where the bearded bellflower shows its pale blue bells, fringed with long hairs like a beard. It never needs a shave.

Along the way

• L'Etivaz cheese This alpine cheese bears the village's name. It is made only in summer, in the alpine chalets, in copper cauldrons heated over a wood fire.

In the nature guide

Bearded bellflower

Sources: Wikipedia, "L'Etivaz" (French); Federal Office for Agriculture, "Résumé de la demande d'enregistrement du L'Etivaz" (1999).

See on SwitzerlandMobility (new tab)

Distances, ascents, walking times and route: Federal Roads Office FEDRO, cantons, SwitzerlandMobility Foundation — Hiking in Switzerland (ch.astra.wanderland), open data OPEN BY.