In the pipeline
Alpine Exploratory's exploration 2026-27

Alpine Exploratory exists as a system for exploration, systematised yet thoroughly human. This is The Exploratory System. For the moment we apply ourselves to the Alps, the UK and the rest of Europe.

September 2026
We are settling into our scheme of adding 2 or 3 new routes per year, which is letting us realise our dream to explore more of the world. The more we see, the more there is to see. We keep our focus on the intense and extensive Alps and we gradually spread across Europe. Please look forward to exciting announcements soon, that will accord with our transition to the Alps, the UK and the best of Europe.

New for 2027!

These have been our explorations during Summer 2026, and in the case of the Maritime Alps earlier, which are trips that can be booked for Summer 2027.

Jura Crest Trail East (Switzerland)

Swiss Jura
First season 2027
Booking opens October 2026
Simon Stevens walked in May 2026
Pete Ellis walked in June 2026

Across trips in May and June 2026 we extended our Jura knowledge by walking the Jura Crest Trail: East. Thus for 2027 we offer the full Jura Crest Trail in Switzerland. The JCT East is the 8-day stretch from Dielsdorf, a village outside Zurich, to Vue des Alpes, a road pass on a bus route above La Chaux-de-Fonds.

The last 8 stages to Nyon are already covered by our Jura Crest Trail: West.

... plus, of course, the full Jura Crest Trail:

The Lechweg (Austria and Germany)

Austrian and German Alps
First season 2027
Booking opens October 2026
Pete Ellis walked in 2025
Eve Fawcett and Katy Thomson walking in September 2026

This route of 9 stages and at a less challenging level of hiking, follows the river Lech through the Lechtal, in the West of Austria, and emerges in Germany at Füssen. Füssen is the home of the famous castle Neuschwanstein. Lech itself is a smart village, a bus ride from St Anton on the Adlerweg. Pete walked this week for Alpine Exploratory in 2025 and we are planning to make it into a trip! Eve and Katy will walk the route together in September 2026.

The Maritime Alps, part of the GR52 (France)

Southern France
First season 2027
Booking opens October 2026
Simon Stevens visited in June 2024
Pete Ellis walked in July 2024
Lucy Harvey walked in July 2024

In 2024 we visited the Maritime Alps, those hills within a week's walking or so to the North of Nice in the South of France. Pete Ellis, Lucy Harvey and Simon Stevens have all visited separately in June/July 2024, and we have a plan for how we'll offer this week-long partial-GR52 trail for 2027.

The Southern location gives us a mountains-to-the-sea adventure in warm heat. The scenic mountain railway runs from Turin to Ventimiglia in Italy; and the towns of Nice, Monaco and Menton are in reach at the end.

(One key hut will be closed in 2027 to be rebuilt. We know of the nearest option, which sadly is a long (doable but long) walk, and we will give advice on the options to enquirers who are looking at a 2027 hike.)

New for 2026!

Jura Crest Trail: West (Switzerland)

Swiss Jura
First season 2026
Pete Ellis and Steph Ward walked in 2025

The Jura Crest Trail is 16 stages between Dielsdorf (outside Zurich) and Nyon (near Geneva). For 2026 we started by offering the 8 stages between Vue des Alpes and Nyon, the West, which both Pete and Steph visited separately during 2025. The whole JCT is a pan-Swiss trail that's less of a challenge than our Via Alpina and across an intriguing part of Switzerland, more rolling and pastoral, more small towns, more woods, still very much in the hills.

The Arran Coastal Way (Scotland)

Scottish Highlands
First season 2026
Pete Ellis and Ben Hughes walked in 2025

The Arran Coastal Way jumps out as a circuit of Arran, that island to the West of Glasgow. Easy to reach, and hilly, Arran is a popular holiday and walking destination. Our route is 7 stages long. Pete and Ben have each walked this route in 2025, Pete in Spring and Ben in Summer.

Dolomites Highlights (Italy)

Italian Dolomites
First season 2026

Alpine Exploratory is thrilled to bring in its week-long Dolomites Highlights trip... which does exactly what it says on the tin! Ever since our first Alta Via 1 season in 2012, we have wanted to be able to offer Dolomites highlights in one trip. The AV1 contains some highlights of the Dolomites, and others are reachable in the area (the Tre Cime), but the AV1 cannot be thought of as a roll-call of the highlights itself. Similarly, the AV2 and AV9.

Now, combining the AV1 and AV9, we offer the Dolomites Highlights and hope that it will give the visitor a lot of the main Dolomites sights in one trip... Passo Sella, Corvara, Marmolada views, Falzarego, Cortina, and Tre Cime. All in hotels!

The not-so-far future...

... and knowing that the far future comes pretty soon.
This now means our walks in 2027 for offerings in 2028.

Tour des Combins (Switzerland and Italy)

Swiss and Italian Alps
First season (provisionally) 2028
Booking opens (provisionally) October 2027
(Team member to be decided) walking in June 2027
Simon Stevens walking in June 2027

As we are so keen on Switzerland, as well as keen on the important trails of the Alps, we are looking to introduce the Tour des Combins. This circuit, mostly in Switzerland and a little in Italy, sits to the East of La Fouly on the Tour du Mont Blanc and to the South of Verbier on the Walker's Haute Route. Provisionally in a week, or a little more, we will apply our Alpine Exploratory treatment to the route and see what comes out. The huts look super!

Munich to Venice (Austria and Italy)

Regular readers of this page will recognise the Munich to Venice (Munchen-Venedig or Traumfpad in German, or Dreamway) which first appeared in our thoughts perhaps 5 years ago, and which has been the subject of recces by separately Pete, Ben and Rob in the past 3 years.

Essentially we are searching for a route that links Garmish-Partenkirchen in Germany with Dobbiaco in Italy, the start of our Alta Via 1. This would then give us the crossing of the Alps in a little over 2 weeks, leaving those flatter sections from Munich to Garmisch and from Belluno (the end of the AV1) to Venice to people for their own explorations.

We are somewhat stalled and perhaps not everything that is at one time in the pipeline, comes out. We keep thinking!

The Laugavegur (Iceland)

To the East of Reykjavik we find this 4-day trek from Landmannalaugar to Þórsmörk. The self-catering huts might limit the appeal of this route, but we hope that the volvanic landscapes will be enormously attractive. At this stage, we will just have a look, having been to Iceland for our 2019 team trip.

Peaks of the Balkans (Albania, Kosovo and Montenegro)

Alpine Exploratory is at the early stages of planning for this intriguing-sounding hike across 192km in a loop across these three countries. Please watch this space!

Tweaks to our existing trips

Davos to St. Moritz (Switzerland)

Recces planned for June/July 2026
Lou Stone walked in June 2026
Lucy Harvey walked in July 2026


Our Davos to St. Moritz trip is a small delight in Switzerland, linking these two famous towns on a jolly little route. Currently 4 walking days including 1 hut overnight, we will look into a 2-day extension in the Engadine Valley to make this a 6-dayer with 2 huts... with more walking above St. Moritz with cable cars of help.

The Julian Alps (Slovenia)

Recce planned for Summer 2027
(Team member yet to be determined) to revise this route

To encourage our Julian Alps Hut-to-Hut in Slovenia, a lovely route in a charming area, we will look into variations of the route: we have two in mind, one to extend slightly the route and the other to bring in a new route between Bled and Bohinj. The town of Bled is easily reached by coach from Ljubljana.

Please ask us for more information on any of our routes. Thank you.

Guided & self-guided holidays