HIKING & TREKKING TOURS

Featured Adventures

Top Ten

Bargains

Visitor Guides

Just this Category Entire Site

Adventure Travel > Hiking & Trekking Tours > AlpineHikers > Meet Us

ALPINEHIKERS Prescott, Arizona United States www.Alpinehikers.com
Main Meet Us Photo Gallery Packages

Alpinehikers Philosophy

At Alpinehikers, we emphasize quality over size. Our goal is to offer the finest hiking tours available in the areas we know and love best. We keep our groups small and intimate, and you'll benefit from our own genuine excitement for the Alps and the knowledge that comes from years of personal experience.

We're committed to offering affordable, first-class vacations filled with exciting discoveries and the world's best hiking. On our tours, you will get a chance to meet new friends, dive into a different culture, and immerse yourself in one of the most beautiful places in the world. We've uncovered the best trails and most breathtaking vistas, found the most authentic restaurants and charming inns, tested the chocolate (it's all good!), and run through the fields to determine their Heidi factor. We're picky, and we've assembled, I believe, the very best that the Alps have to offer.

We'll strive to make our trip as ecologically sound as possible, using marked trails, staying in small local inns, and maintaining respect for the land through which we walk. Traveling as a small group (limited to 12) allows us to minimize our impact.

Owner and Guide Troy Haines

I was first introduced to the Alps while studying in West Berlin in 1989. On a break from my studies, I made the first of many trips to these wonderful mountains. It was love at first sight. The rugged, imposing power of the surrounding peaks combined with the peaceful, cultural allure of the villages below formed a powerful attraction for me that I have not been able to resist. Time and again I returned to walk the trails, meet wonderful people, and envy the lifestyle of those lucky enough to live in such a beautiful setting. Finally, I moved to the Alps myself, and spent many happy summers wandering the trails and discovering new places.

In the meantime, I've earned a degree in linguistics from Stanford University, taught First Aid and CPR classes for the American Red Cross, and led rock-climbing, hiking, and cross-country skiing trips. I love meeting and walking with new people in beautiful places, and hope to find many others on these tours that share the same love of life and discovery that I do.

Outstanding Guides Dedicated to Your Vacation

A great tour starts with great tour leaders, and I'm proud of the high quality and tireless dedication of Alpinehikers guides. New and returning co-leaders this year will be Johnnie Shows, Brant Kilber, Matt Brown, Titiana Shostak-Kinker, Louis Marino, and Marc Jones. They all bring considerable enthusiasm, professionalism, and a wide variety of knowledge to share with those around them.

For us, these tours are a labor of love. We'll be there every step of the way with support, encouragement, and (hopefully) interesting facts and stories of the country we'll be seeing.

Private and Self-Guided Tours

Self-Guided Tours: Self-guided tours provide a great balance between a guided group tour and planning a trip on your own. We'll organize all of the reservations and logistics, buy appropriate rail passes, recommend favorite hikes and sights, and arrange a trip that meets your specifications. There's no guide and no group, so you have the freedom to go at your own pace and enjoy Switzerland at your leisure. As Swiss travel specialists, you can count on knowledgeable advice and superb vacation planning. We offer self-guided sightseeing tours for non-hikers as well.

Self-guided tours are more flexible and affordable - generally running about 2/3 the cost of a comparable guided tour. We offer a variety of well-tested self-guided packages, self-guided versions of many of our guided tours that have proven to be very popular with our clients. We can also customize any of these tours to lengthen or shorten them, add inn-to-inn stretches or extended village stays, upgrade (or downgrade) accommodations. We only arrange self-guided tours in the areas we know and love best, and you'll benefit from the experience and expertise accumulated as a former year-round resident of Switzerland and long-time hiking guide. We know the inns and the locations, and will direct you to the best options Switzerland has to offer.

Our self-guided tours include prepaid hotels with breakfast and dinner, appropriate rail passes, hiking maps with highlighted routes, carefully detailed route descriptions (including longer, shorter, and rainy day options), instructions for independently sending luggage ahead, and lots of useful information that will help your trip run smoothly.

Private Guided Tours: If you have your own group and would like to arrange a private guided tour, please call or email us to discuss your plans. We are happy to arrange for private guides for your group, with an itinerary that suits your schedule, desire and abilities. Private guided tours are also possible for areas that we don't offer self-guided tours to, such as the Tour of Mont Blanc, Haute Route, Dolomites, and Engadine. Prices are based on the length and complexity of your tour, types of accommodations, and number of participants. A private group of only six people can expect a price comparable to our normal guided tours, while smaller groups can hire a private guide for a modest supplement.