St. Gingolph - Glion (VA 1)
I did this hike on the 22nd of August, 2026. It was the first of 23 stages across Switzerland hiking the Via Alpina. As I wanted to start at the border with France, I added the hike below to the original Via Alpina (National Route 1).
Full route: Swisstopo
I started in St. Gingolph, just on the border between France and Switzerland. I arrived with the bus at the train station and walked down to Lake Geneva. The border by the lake is marked by a river coming down from the mountains and standing in the middle, I started my hike across Switzerland.
After leaving the lake, I walked back up to the train station and continued on the hiking trail leading into the forest above St. Gingolph. The trail was here a mix of normal road and gravel road, making it an easy start. In between the more dense forest, I had great views over the lake in direction Montreux and Rochers de Naye, the end of the next day and stage 2.
After having followed the hiking trail through the forest above St. Gingolph, I came out of the forest and walked down to and through Bouveret. Shortly after, I crossed over the Rhine river and continued in direction Villeneuve, following smaller gravel roads and normal roads through forest, fields and open landscape.
It was only lightly clouded, so I had great views to the mountains rising up around me, which really made me look forward to the coming weeks. From Villeneuve, I continued along the lake shore and despite it being Saturday, this part wasn’t too crowded. After a while, I took a small break enjoying the views to Château de Chillon.
As I got closer to Montreux, it got more crowded, but still with relatively empty stretches and I enjoyed this part with all the flowers a lot. The Via Alpina officially starts down by the lake in Montreux marked by a sign with a very nice quote on it: “You have only really been, where you have walked”. Passing this sign was special, finally starting something I had decided on 8 months before.
I walked passed the train station in Montreux relatively quickly as it was very crowded. As I continued up through Montreux, the streets got more empty and I walked a bit around to look at the buildings and enjoy the quietness before I continued into Gorges de Chauderon.
The Via Alpina follows the gorges for a couple of kilometers, before it turns off in direction Glion. As it was a quite warm day, I was happy to enter the somewhat cooler gorge. I once before hiked through this gorges, but it was in May, and I therefore enjoyed to be here again with everything being even more green than last time I was here.
The trail up through the gorge is a normal hiking trail, some places a bit steeper, but only for short parts. There were many lovely smaller bends and waterfalls, and I walked slowly and enjoyed everything to the fullest. Leaving the gorge, I continued on gravel road and normal road for a few kilometers up in direction Glion.
I reached Glion and the end of the first day on the Via Alpina in the afternoon, and enjoyed the views over Lake Geneva at the train station. I was staying down in Territet at the youth hostel for the first two days. I therefore took the funicular down from the train station and could enjoy a very beautiful sunset by the lake before going to bed.
