Tour of Monte Rosa. Hilary Sharp

serving both Geneva and Zurich. Although the journey is long the price is competitive: www.eurolines.com tel: [phone].

      Breuil-Cervinia/Gressonney/Alagna

      By air

      The nearest airport is Turin (www.aeroportoditorino.it). The other option is Milan Malpensa (www.milanomalpensa-airport.com). Turin and Milan Malpensa airports are served by various airlines, including British Airways (www.britishairways.com) and Easyjet (www.easyjet.com).

      By train

      There is a train service from Milan to Turin and a train and bus service from Turin to Aosta, then good bus services up the valley to Breuil-Cervinia. There is no direct connection from Turin or Milan to Cervinia; you have to change buses at Châtillon. The bus stations are in the city and not at the airports.

      By car

      Driving in Italy is generally good fun so long as you have an adventurous spirit. The motorways usually charge tolls.

      By bus

      Eurolines offer a regular service from Britain and Ireland to Italy with stops at Turin and Aosta and Châtillon (at the bottom of the valley up to Cervinia): www.eurolines.com tel: [phone].

      Access to other towns

      From Zurich, Geneva or Turin airports you can reach any of the other towns encountered during the trek. In Switzerland the train is the best way to get along the main valleys, from where the yellow Swiss PTT buses give access to all but the remotest villages. These tend to meet up with the trains, so travel is exceptionally easy. There is also train access along the Aosta Valley from Turin and Milan, with buses up the side valleys.

Getting around

      There are several possibilities for using lifts during the Tour of Monte Rosa. These can be very useful for a number of reasons. If you are pressed for time, using a lift could cut off several hours of walking, and if your knees are hurting, taking a lift down could make all the difference to your comfort on the rest of the trip. Furthermore, lifts are inevitably in ski areas, and some of these look a lot better when covered in snow. So to avoid walking up or down bulldozed pistes it may be a good idea to take the lift – the ascent from Stafal (Gressoney) to the Passo dei Salati springs to mind, as does the descent from Testa Grigia to Plan Maison.

      The marvellous trail leading down from Colle del Turlo on Stage 5

      However, it is important to bear in mind that the lifts have a very limited open season in the summer. Typically this may be from the first week or even the second week of July to the first week of September, so if these are an integral part of your trek planning you need to be absolutely sure they will be running. If they are just an option this is less crucial, though once you’ve decided to take a lift, finding it closed can be a very traumatic experience! It’s worth knowing that some lifts have a timetable in the summer (rather than running continuously) and they tend to close for lunch or close early afternoon to fit in with summer skiing requirements.

      Buses are a useful means of escape if you have to abandon the trek for some reason, or if you only plan to do a part of it. Most of the bus services mentioned in this guide are year-round regular services, but the frequency can change radically outside the high summer season. Tourist offices will have details.

Accommodation

      There are a host of accommodation possibilities for your stay, ranging from hotels of all standards to an auberge or albergo (a basic hotel usually offering dormitory accommodation and maybe small rooms) to huts to campsites. In the summer season – July and August – there is a huge demand for accommodation, so advance booking is highly recommended (see Appendix C for hut contact information and Appendix D for other contacts).

      Hotels

      These range from 4-star luxury to no-star basic. Major towns such as Zermatt, Breuil-Cervinia and Saas Fee have many to choose from, whereas the smaller villages like St Jacques and Grächen have just a handful, usually in the 2-star category or below. In addition to rooms, some hotels also have a dormitory; this is particularly common in Switzerland. The local tourist offices will provide a list of hotels and may even make bookings for you. Note that some hotels in the Italian towns do not open before early July – this can be the case where there is a cable car (the opening time of the cable car dictates the season for the hotels).

      Campsites

      There are sites in most Alpine towns. Camping is generally not allowed in the valley outside campsites or (sometimes) near to the huts. Ask the tourist office for details.

      Huts or refuges

      Mountain huts vary greatly in the facilities they offer, from quite luxurious with showers and even small bedrooms to the most basic with just a dormitory and a dining room. There are always toilets, and running cold water is almost guaranteed, although exceptionally hot summers can lead to isolated cases of dried-up supplies. Huts high in the mountains may not have running water early in the morning when the source could be frozen, so at such huts it’s wise to fill water bottles the previous evening. Most huts are open from late June/early July to early September, and there will be a guardian in residence. Usually the guardian cooks an evening meal and provides breakfast. At a few huts you can take your own food, but you must make sure the guardian is happy with this. Quite frankly it is hardly worth the effort of carrying up food when a very good meal will be on offer for a reasonable price. Drinks – alcoholic and otherwise – are also sold.

      In Italy there are strict laws about public water supplies and in some huts you may be told that the tap water is not controlled – this means they cannot guarantee that it is clean. If in doubt it’s always better to buy water than to risk being ill and unable to hike the next day.

      Hut etiquette