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Packing well is half the journey
Your water bottle goes in your backpack, and you’ve got an app for navigation. What else should you take? Our tips for a light backpack and a relaxing outdoor experience.
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Backpack
Whatever you choose to bring – it goes into your backpack. Your backpack should be light and stable, ideally with rain protection. An open outer compartment for a water bottle is especially practical.
Water
Whether you’re walking in bright sunshine, up steep hills or at a leisurely pace along the river – hiking makes you thirsty. That means you should take enough water with you.
Snacks
Granola bars and trail mixes are great sources of energy, an apple can be eaten while walking and a piece of chocolate will help you enjoy every summit you conquer just a little bit more.
Pocket knife
A pocket knife can be used for a lot more than cutting bread and sharpening branches. The tweezers help with skewers, and fancier models even boast a compass.
Rain and sun protection
Blue skies? Excellent hiking weather! But whether you’re in the mountains or the lowlands: headgear, sunglasses and sunscreen are essential.
In the mountains, the weather can also change quickly – rain protection is always sensible and is also ideal for sitting on.
Plasters
What should you do when your shoe suddenly starts rubbing your heel and you feel a blister coming on? One or two plasters can help – so make sure you pack them, as they hardly take up any space.
Tissues
Tissues are useful for all occasions – for blowing your nose, cleaning dirty hands and mouths or stopping the bleeding if you get any scratches in the countryside.

Smartphones and apps
Smartphones are essential for so much more than just taking a photo once you’ve reached your destination. Don’t forget to charge your phone before your hike. Once loaded with the right apps, it will help you with planning, provide you with useful information when you’re out and about, and prove useful in an emergency.
- SwitzerlandMobilityTarget not accessible: This app offers maps of the entire sign-posted hiking trail network with route suggestions, information on huts, public transport stops with links to SBB timetables, and much more.
Target not accessible - MeteoSwissTarget not accessible: This app helps you decide whether you’d be better off wearing long sleeves or shorts for your hike.
Target not accessible - SBB MobileTarget not accessible: Anyone who hikes will usually arrive at their starting point by train and Postbus. This app will make it easy for you to find out which type of public transport to use and when.
- In the bergfex Touren & GPS Tracking app (Google PlayTarget not accessible / App StoreTarget not accessible) you can find 70,000 tours from all over Europe. The app is equipped with a compass, indicates the exact longitude and latitude of your current position, knows the altitude and gradient of a slope, contains emergency numbers and can also be used as an activity and fitness tracker.
- Say goodbye to guessing which mountain you’re looking at: with PeakFinderTarget not accessible, every peak can be easily identified. Simply point the camera at the mountain panorama, and the app will tell you the names and heights of the mountain peaks.
- Thanks to PlantNetTarget not accessible, you can identify plants as well as mountains. Simply upload an image, and the app will instantly compare your picture with its database.
- In case of emergency, there are several apps that will help you, and you should be sure to have at least one of them on your mobile phone: Echo112Target not accessible (App StoreTarget not accessible / Google PlayTarget not accessible), the Rega appTarget not accessible App StoreTarget not accessible / Google PlayTarget not accessible or the Uepaa appTarget not accessible (App StoreTarget not accessible / Google PlayTarget not accessible). All the apps are very easy to use. Rega and Echo112 can forward your GPS location in Switzerland or abroad to the local rescue services; Uepaa uses peer-to-peer technology developed by ETH Zurich for this service.