Last year my wife and I went on the Switzerland Europe's Crown Jewel in late May into the beginning of June. We were warned of the altitude by our guide on a few of our outings including the trip to the Jungfraujoch and then again when we visited the viewing of the Matterhorn. Out of our group of about 40 travelers I think one couple stayed back on both of these outings. There is no opportunity to hike while at the Jungfraujoch however there was the opportunity to hike down from the Gornergrat viewing area at the Matterhorn. There were more than several of us that hiked down the mountain, had lunch at a nice restaurant overlooking the Matterhorn and then hiked down again to another train station. The weather cooperated and the hike was easy. I think this was the only opportunity we had to hike on this trip. However, I wanted to hike in the Alps and we stayed a day or two extra in Lucern. I hired a guide that took us into the Alps out of Engleberg, away from the tourist. We took a cable car up the mountain and hiked down. One side of the trails were the streams coming down the side of the mountains and the other side were cow pastures. We could here the cow bells on our entire hike. It was a great experience.
My wife and I are in our early sixties. We are both in decent athletic shape. We've hiked in the Rockies in the U.S. and Canada to elevations to just under 12000 ft. We never had any altitude problems in Switzerland and both our hikes were easy. From the Matterhorn we hiked for maybe 3 hours while out of Engleberg that was a full day. We enjoyed both our hikes and would do them again in a heartbeat.
I don’t think that JohnKS answered the question. He and his wife sound like very experienced hikers. I think the question was for the rest of us who never hike farther than from the coach to the excursion site and back or the “walking tour of whatever location”. The couch potato Tauck travelers, like me. We have this trip booked for September, 2019, and I have wondered the same thing.
Nancy
We were on the Crown Jewel last year. There are only two sites where altitude is a factor, the Matterhorn and the Jungfraujoch. The Jungfraujoch ascent is on a train and any walking is almost entirely inside the glacier and no "hiking" involved. The Matterhorn is a train ride up (as a group) and a train ride down (more or less on your own depending on how much time you want to spend at the top). You do have the option to get off the train at several stops on the way down and "hike" or more accurately stroll DOWN. The TD can provide the hiking distance/time involved between these stops. I did not do this but I had heard that it was not stressful and scenic if you leisurely stroll down.
I am 70, have had asthma since a youngster and now have COPD. I did not have any serious issues at these altitudes. You will have time to pace yourself if needed.
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Thank you for your responses
You are right Buzz 48 we are active and in our 70’s
We are active and our trip this year with Tauck to Galapago was full out and harder then many on the trip thought
I have hade some alltitude issues at Bryce, my husband no.
It seems that this is something to consider before booking as they seem like highlight.
I also thought this trip was only 24 people. On this tour,
DixiecChick have you actually been able to Book a trip for 2019’
It seems my travel agent can not get a 2019 booking
No dicouragemen to anyone thinking about Galapagos just not described well till we got there
Re Galapagos, which we took in December. There was only one walk described as more strenuous but I found it fine. It must be really difficult for travelers to assess but Tauck gives each tour a 1 to 5 score for how strenuous they are.
Re booking 2019 tours, we have had two booked fro quite a while now, one in July and one in October. Have you tried booking with Tauck directly? That’s what we always do.
Linda—- we have 2 trips booked for 2019, England, Scotland, Wales on June 9 and Switzerland Crown Jewel on September 13–both small group tours. The trips are technically not ready for booking since the price has not been finalized—that’s a scary thought. But we did put down a deposit for each trip, actually on the first day it was possible to do so, March 9. We have not heard anything since then, ut probably will soon. As I understand it, once the pricing has been done, we have 2 weeks to make a final decision. We’re going no matter what.
I went to our travel agent’s office, and she called Tauck and booked it then. There are dates for 2019 posted online, but not all of them are shown. You or your agent has to call Tauck and talk to them. We wanted to book asap so that we could get the dates that we prefer.
Back to the hiking. We are 71 and active, but we do not hike. Bad feet and knees. We have never had problems with other Tauck tours. Good to know that Switzerland will not present any challenges.
Comments
My wife and I are in our early sixties. We are both in decent athletic shape. We've hiked in the Rockies in the U.S. and Canada to elevations to just under 12000 ft. We never had any altitude problems in Switzerland and both our hikes were easy. From the Matterhorn we hiked for maybe 3 hours while out of Engleberg that was a full day. We enjoyed both our hikes and would do them again in a heartbeat.
Nancy
I am 70, have had asthma since a youngster and now have COPD. I did not have any serious issues at these altitudes. You will have time to pace yourself if needed.
You are right Buzz 48 we are active and in our 70’s
We are active and our trip this year with Tauck to Galapago was full out and harder then many on the trip thought
I have hade some alltitude issues at Bryce, my husband no.
It seems that this is something to consider before booking as they seem like highlight.
I also thought this trip was only 24 people. On this tour,
DixiecChick have you actually been able to Book a trip for 2019’
It seems my travel agent can not get a 2019 booking
No dicouragemen to anyone thinking about Galapagos just not described well till we got there
Re booking 2019 tours, we have had two booked fro quite a while now, one in July and one in October. Have you tried booking with Tauck directly? That’s what we always do.
I went to our travel agent’s office, and she called Tauck and booked it then. There are dates for 2019 posted online, but not all of them are shown. You or your agent has to call Tauck and talk to them. We wanted to book asap so that we could get the dates that we prefer.
Back to the hiking. We are 71 and active, but we do not hike. Bad feet and knees. We have never had problems with other Tauck tours. Good to know that Switzerland will not present any challenges.