Switzerland Trip - July 10 to 22, 2024

In July 2024 I spent twelve days traveling solo through Switzerland — my third visit in five years. This is the hub for that trip: I journaled each day, and I’ve since broken those entries into individual posts. Use the More from this trip links below to read day by day.

The route

I arrived in Zurich jet-lagged, then worked my way through the mountains before circling back toward the airport:

• Zurich (Days 1–2) — a rough, low-energy start while shaking off jet lag.
• Wengen (Days 3–4) — the Panorama Trail from Männlichen to Kleine Scheidegg, and a look across the valley at Mürren.
• Brig (Days 5–6) — a lakeside detour to Spiez, then stumbling onto the Aletsch Glacier above Riederalp.
• Zermatt (Days 7–8) — the Gourmet Trail beneath the Matterhorn and the Riffelalp–Sunnegga nature trail past Grünsee.
• Bettmeralp (Days 9–10) — a car-free village, rest days, and one more look at the glacier.
• Thun (Day 11) — Schloss Thun and a more local Swiss feel before the long journey home (Day 12).

A note on solo travel

About halfway through I started making a conscious effort to capture not just what I was doing but how I was feeling as a solo traveler. Switzerland is clean, safe, easy to get around, and staggeringly beautiful — and yet Zermatt, surrounded by so much of that beauty, is where I felt the most acute loneliness of the trip. The older I get, the more convinced I am that it’s the people that matter, not the places. On this trip I had the places but not the people. If any theme runs through the daily entries, it’s that.