Switzerland offers countless options for day trips and we make the best out of it. A couple of weeks ago we went to Toggenburg which is one of our favorite regions in the Alps. We stayed close to the Churfisten and explored the surroundings for two days. It was cold, wet and not that much snow yet, but we still enjoyed that. We walked through large fields, thick forests and we got to enjoy beautiful views of majestic mountains. Well, when they were not hidden behind the clouds.
Toggenburg is located in the eastern part of Switzerland. It doesn't matter if you like hiking, mountain biking, swimming or skiing as Toggenburg offers something for everyone. It's one of the most popular places in Switzerland but if you choose the right time of the year you can enjoy amazing nature without many tourists around you. We went there between the summer and the winter season and we didn't come across anyone during our several hours long hike.
It is also well known for its Toggenburg Mountain Tour trail which is a total of 87 kilometers going from Wildhaus to Wil. We haven't done this one yet.
Toggenburg has a total of 20 sign-posted routes, each between 13 and 44 kilometers long, and there are also some mountain lakes you can hike to. Some of them are the Gräppelensee, the Schönenbodensee and the Schwendi lakes.
Let's have a look around!
We didn't even feel like leaving our room as it had such an amazing view of Churfisten. But our active spirit won over our laziness, and we put on our scarves, gloves and caps and went outside.
We planned this trip in advance as we haven't been in that particular part of Toggenburg before and we were not sure about the signs, so we even took our map with us. At the end it was not needed because we could see some peaks that we recognized which helped us with the orientation.
The weather was changing quickly, and we had all seasons of the year in one day. The sun was shining, then it was raining, we also had fog and later in the afternoon it was snowing as well.
I like the first snow as the country keeps its other colors as well. You can see some snow, some green, even blue in the sky. It was a beautiful view.
I've traveled across many countries but only in Switzerland I saw many lonely farms built so high in the mountains. I wonder how it is to live in a house like this. I can imagine that your priorities here are very different. I think that they spend all summer preserving their food in case that the road would be closed due to the snow in the winter. And that happens regularly. Once, we also had to turn around on the road as it was closed, and we couldn't continue.
Imagine how it feels when you are above these clouds. It must look like the country was drown in a whipped cream from above 😊
You might have noticed that I like taking photos of nature wonders. You could argue that these aren't wonders but if you think about how complicated is everything what happens in nature then you realize that these are indeed wonders. And here are a couple of them.
The snow was melting already and it created a nice effect on the tree.
Just a few hundred meters away, on the sunny side of the hill, there was no snow anymore. It was also much warmer there and we stayed there for a few minutes to warm up and dry our shoes.
We were coming from the woods to the fields all the time. We didn't enjoy walking in the woods as the snow was melting and it was like a cold rain falling on us.
Here we have a picturesque abandoned hut surrounded by nature.
And another one... Look at that wavy ground - beautiful but not very comfortable for hiking.
The view from the cottage to the other side. Many people ask me if I prefer mountains or sea. I always say that mountains are deeply in my heart and this is why.
We realized that we should hurry up as the sun was going down but we preferred the experience and went to a nearby village for a cup of tea.
And here is that village. I don't even know if it's a real village, but I couldn't find another word for it. It was very quiet, and I guess that these houses are mainly used during the skiing season. I was surprised that there was an open restaurant. We were of course the only guests there 😊
I guess that you wouldn't mind such a view, would you?
We also made some new friends. They were so curious! When we came there was just one of them outside but they kept coming. I wish we had some apples for them...
The weather was getting better and we were sad that we had to go back...
We were lucky to enjoy the sun all the way back to the hotel. We came right on time for dinner and then we went directly to bed as there was not much to do in the evening and we were too tired after such a long day outside.
I hope that you had a great start of the year! I'm still at home with my family hoping that the weather will get better in the next couple of days.
Thank you for reading!
Cheers!
Martina
