100 Hut Walks In The Alps - Cicerone
4th Oct 2017
Cicerone have an army of guidebooks to adventurous stuff in Europe (they do cover other parts of the world too, but Europe is their main focus). This guide is a welcome addition to our collection. With our boys at the ages they are - 8 and 11 - most of the huts covered are within walking range, especially if combined with a stop over in the hut. We used the guide this summer in the French Ecrin for a memorable visit to the Refuge Du Glacier Blanc. Truth be told on this particular walk the trail was so well marked and sign posted that the guide wasn't really necessary whilst actually walking, but it was absolutely invaluable in the planning of the trip. For each of the huts covered there is a set summary of information including the altitude of both the start and the hut, the distance and time required to get there, which area and map you need for more detail, and where necessary, a phone number to make a booking. There's then a basic map, a photo or two, and a detailed description of the hut and the route.
If I had one quibble with the guide it would be that it could do with bigger images. These huts are amongst the most spectacularly located buildings in the world and deserve more page-space. By keeping the images small the book is consequently pocket sized, but we opted to photograph the relevant pages for the actual walk to save weight anyway.
Retailing at £14.95 it's a bargain given the wealth of information that it provides. These walks are free, though staying in the huts themselves is most definitely not. It covers the Alps in France, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, and Slovenia, each easily identifiable by colour coded pages. It's 249 pages long.
More info on the Cicerone website.
