Great experience on the England coast to coast trip. Our guides, Jen and Marieke were outstanding... read more
Great experience on the England coast to coast trip. Our guides, Jen and Marieke were outstanding... read more
Where to start. There is enough documented about the majesty and beauty of hiking the Tour De Mont... read more
In August 2017, my husband and I contracted with Alpenwild for the Haute Route.
We usually plan our travel, but decided to try an agency. We emphasized several times to Tessa that we wanted rooms with a balcony; she promised she would book these rooms and we would get them if they were available.
For five of the eight nights, we did not have a balcony room. We let it go the first night, but on subsequent nights, we decided to press the front desk for a room with a balcony. This put us in an uncomfortable and tedious position after hiking all day--we hired Alpenwild to do this for us.
We did, in fact, get balcony rooms three of the four nights after long discussions and initial refusals. We found out why: the hotel owners in two cases and the front desk manager in one case showed us the reservation requests. Alpenwild had booked standard rooms, which are the smallest, least expensive rooms in the worst part of the hotel, with no balcony.
So, yes, the balcony rooms were available and Alpenwild misrepresented the fact that they would get us a balcony room when possible. We had been in touch with Tessa a couple times during the first two days and she responded to our emails. That is, until we voiced our complaint about the rooms. She never responded to our emails again and to this day, we have not had an explanation or apology from the company.
I would have given Alpenwild two stars except for being able to work with Wen-Di, the Switzerland contact. She was a friendly, bright, and efficient young woman and an excellent driver. She changed our itinerary once when we decided to stay an extra night at one of the towns. She also fetched a guidebook we had forgotten.
Note also that Alpenwild's recommended route to descend to the Hotel Bella Tola is a steep, unpleasant, ankle-twisting path. Claude, the hotel owner at the Bella Tola was shocked that we had taken that route. Continue on the trail a bit more to descend on a more forgiving downhill route.
Try Pygmy Elephant as a possible agency--we heard several rave reviews about their services.
I’m truly sorry that your expectations were not met on your recent self-guided hiking experience booked by Alpenwild. I’m particularly concerned you felt some of your communications with Alpenwild went unanswered. At Alpenwild, we are committed to making sure the concern of every guest is understood and responded to.
While you did request a balcony room at each hotel on your self-guided itinerary, you did not express any willingness to pay extra for these deluxe accommodations. The hotels we use have a short season, limited number of rooms, and only a few with a balcony or view; understandably, they charge more for the most desirable rooms. That cost, when clearly requested, would be passed on to the guest. Some hotels, especially historic hotels in ancient villages, have no balcony rooms at all.
We have a good relationship with our mountain hotels and they typically give our guests, including our self-guided hikers, the best rooms available, which may be a balcony or view room. But no guarantee can be made.
Your disappointment appears to be a result of miscommunication by Alpenwild staff, for which we sincerely apologize. We hope you have wonderful memories of your walks on the wilderness trails in the Swiss Alps.
My husband and I went on Alpenwild's Chamonix-Zermatt Haute Route trip August 20 - August 31st, 2018. It was spectacular! We hike every year in Colorado and wanted to try something new. The scenery and hiking were beyond amazing and the weather was ideal. Imagine hiking among the cows with their chorus of cow bells, plus Ibex, turquoise lakes, and views of snow-covered mountains. Alpenwild has this program so organized that all we had to do is pack our bags and get there. All transportation, accommodations, and meals were handled. The accommodations varied from luxury spa hotels to simple village hotels and backcountry cabins (fun mix) and the food was plentiful and so varied and yummy. We dined at night as a group, either in the hotel dining rooms or at nearby restaurants (sometimes ordering off the menu). Even the cabins served tasty, homemade meals and wine/beer (alcohol extra). We had time to wander around the charming villages as well Chamonix and Zermatt. We really loved our guides, John Froerer and Romain Laussac. They were so professional, knowledgeable, friendly, and fun. Our group had 13 people plus our two guides. We didn't know anyone when we started but our group was so fun that we all felt like great friends within days and still keep in touch. We met some of the people who chose to do the Alpenwild unguided trip and they were enjoyed their trips, but I totally recommend the guided trip. We learned so much from our guides, didn't have to figure out the routes ourselves, and felt like we were part of a traveling adventure. Dining together was really special, too. The youngest person in our group was 24 and the oldest 60 something. The real key is make sure you are in good physical shape and that you understand hiking/trekking and what the trip is all about so you don't hold up your group. We felt safe and very comfortable with the hikes. If you are new to hiking, make sure you understand what backcountry hiking entails. Crossing boulder fields and streams and hiking for hours up to passes on trails are part of the trek and so cool, but take effort. This is totally a five-star adventure we will always remember fondly.
If your idea of fun is spending the day getting a great workout surrounded by breathtaking scenery along with fun like-minded people then I highly recommend this trip! Also quite a bit of pampering with your luggage transferred, fine dining, and supreme lodging with two nights of Huts. We thoroughly enjoyed our guides, Mitch Grosofsky and Tim Harrop. They were knowledgeable, attentive and enjoyable company. They always made sure to have one with the lead hikers and one in the back but promoted a team atmosphere. It was clear that they absolutely love what they do! We loved experiencing the Alps for the first time with these wonderful people! Can’t wait for more!
What an incredible experience! My Mom and I shared the adventure of a lifetime with Alpenwild! Every detail was planned and executed! We just had to show up and marvel! Our guides Louis and Sophie, were amazing-fantastic, passionate people, that put all of our needs and requests first. They love what they are doing, and it shows!
My expectations were blown away day after day! This is the ONLY tour group I would consider for hiking in the Alps! We will be back!
As younger hikers, my wife and I looked for less expensive options. With more means and a greater crunch for time, we have started using guided adventure trips with personalized add-ons. We caught the "Alps" bug previously hiking the Tour du Mont Blanc, Julian Alps in Slovenia and stumbled upon Alpenwild with a "perfect" trip description across the valleys of the Oberland Jungfrau-Monch- Eiger mountains. We could not be happier with the attention provided by the Utah staff setting up our 3 to 4 star rooms and all meals. Steven White and Hans Schlunegger our guides met us as scheduled and introduced the other small group of 10, our itinerary and all the challenges such as weather, scheduling transportation and the incredible array of special detours to hikes, sites, cheese making demonstrations overnight hut destination and other opportunities. Unbelievably the weather held up and we had 50 to 70 degree hiking weather. We were all up to the challenges from 20 somethings to 70 somethings. Most days were ascent descents of 4000 feet hiking. In addition, we used cog wheel trains, cable cars, funicular, gondolas an only twice did we use a bus. Hans has grown up in the Oberland and knows the neighbors, guides, hoteliers, bus drivers, politicians and everyone essential to make our trek successful. Steven made sure our lunches and chocolate snacks weren't left behind and keeping the group happy and together despite some taking minimal photos and others 1000s of photos! Hans kept us plodding behind him (his rule # one) listening for a cadence of verbal chatter; his clue that no one was out of breadth and the social repartee continued. All questions, thoughts, existential theories were tossed around as each of us got to know each other. Rule # 2 was, we are a team and we kept a lookout and assisted each other as well. Most of us came with pre and post travel plans to Zermatt, Lucerne and elsewhere. All travelers documents, recommendations, half-price Swiss fare cards, transfers, hiking and dining recommendations and nearly every detail was covered by the able Alpenwild staff and guides. Except for added wines, beer and liquor, all was covered. While lunch variety was a bit repetitive, it did not concern me but apparently can be more varied on other trips. Swiss dining to me can be very boring but was excellent at Hotel Oberland in Lauterbrunnen and Meiringen but the Italian meals were typically delicious. Breakfasts were consistently filling and good. Don't forget to add on your personal bucket list activities like we did with parasailing, an awesome experience. There was so much to experience including a glacier walk at the Top of Europe, waterfalls galore, snow avalanche falls, 360 vistas in each valley. This was one super trip and one in which it would be nearly impossible to reproduce without guidance!
I will tell you the good news first: The route and hiking is lovely. Great scenery and the tour was well organized. Some hotels are super and luxurious and some are a bit dirty and low end. I would recommend hiking this route, but with a different company!
OK now for the reality check on what went wrong:
Safety wise, the guide forgot to give me the emergency number in Switzerland. Luckily on a day I did a hike on my own, nothing happened and I returned safely.
& for those of you who have dietary restrictions, this is likely not the trip for you! In fact, this company is likely not the one for you either. Not only did I have issues getting the foods I wanted, I was criticized for wanting these foods! . One of the comments stands out:I was told that I was not grateful for the good foods I was offered! I have never had a guide, nor a fellow traveler, speak to me that way! The owner of this company actually had the nerve to email the other guests on the tour to see if they liked the food. He himself is gluten free, but he was judging me for the diet I was on. The guides were also rude on occasion, even when there was not sufficient foods for me to eat. I choose to eat a certain way, because I had cancer so I avoid a lot of foods that cause inflammation. It was just awful that anyone would go out of their way to make me feel bad about trying to heal my body. When I tried a food that was not on my diet, the guides made notes, & when I complained, I was told by the owner how inconsistent I am! Again, their business was to have salads and veggies for me to eat. If I chose to eat some bread and butter, I didn't need the owner passing judgement on me! Heck, I was hungry, because I had a tough time getting enough veggies, salad, protein (I do not eat pork or cheese)and fruits to eat and bread is filling!
When I am on vacation, paying $5K+, I do not think it is too much to ask to have large salads instead of pork, cheese and starchy rice dishes. I know what my body needs to be energized, and when I have traveled with other companies, I was taken care of.