Traveling to the Alps with Wilderness Travel

I have never been to the Alps before, I plan on joining a 16 day guided trip

with Wilderness Travel. Do anyone have experience with this outfit? Also between

July and September, is the weather pretty much the same?

 

Wilderness Travel link: http://wildernesstravel.com/itins/gat.html

I don't know the company. To answer the second question there is a huge difference between July and September. Whereas July is still pretty warm with only few rain in September it is getting already cold. For scenics early fall (September) can be one of the best seasons to visit the Alps, but you may get rain and fog.

 

Regards Gerhard

i kooked at the price and it seems very expensive, especially if airfare is not included.

Hi Michael,

 

You may want to think about whether you really need (or want) a guided trip to have a

great experience in the Alps. In general, the region is surprisingly easy to get around, tons

of people speak English, and guidebooks are numerous. Also, you can easily hire local

guides if there are particular adventures you want to pursue with assistance from someone

experienced.

 

Also, if photography is a priority, this Wilderness Travel trip will not cater to a

photographer's schedule.

 

Trips that attempt to cover all the highlights tend to dedicate a lot of time to

transportation during the trip, offer limited opportunities for participants to explore on

their own, and make it impossible to choose to linger in places you particularly like.

 

This is just my approach, but I would tend to do some research into a few different places

that particularly appeal to me, and I'd spend more time in those, using a town as a base-

camp to explore the immediate area for a few days. For instance, when I have visited the

Berner Oberland in Switzerland, I've always stayed in Grindelwald, which is accessible via

rail (as are the nearby villages which make great day-trips), offers amazing hikes into the

mountains from town, and has some nice restaurants and services. Chamonix, Zermatt,

Aosta, etc. can be treated in the same way.

 

I guess the question is whether you want the regimented highlight trip, or do you want to

do a trip that really allows you to get to know the places you do visit, with flexibility to

control your own schedule?

Dan Heller (www.danheller.com) goes on the Wilderness Travel trips to shoot photos for their

catalogs. You may want to check his website to see what kind of photography he's done while

on their trips.

<P>I just came back from the trip and it was a wonderful one. If you want to see some of the images, click on the photo below and check out the Great Alpine Traverse Highlight slide deck.</P>

<a href=" title="Alpenglow at Diavolezza, Switzerland by Inspiration Point Studio, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1255/1308297708_66c8db91f8_b.jpg" width="1024" height="685" alt="Alpenglow at Diavolezza, Switzerland" /></a>

<P>For anyone interested in the write up of the Alpine traverse trip, visit my blog site at <a href="http://www.inspirationpointstudio.com/IPS/Gallery/0EA3A189-08D6-4592-841E-D61095B802D1.html" rel="nofollow"<b>Inspiration Point Studio</b></a>.

<P>For anyone interested in the write up of the Alpine traverse trip, visit my blog site at <a href="http://www.inspirationpointstudio.com/IPS/Gallery/0EA3A189-08D6-4592-841E-D61095B802D1.html" rel="nofollow"<b>Inspiration Point Studio</b></a>.