The Tour of the Bernina. Gillian Price

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      Piz Bernina (right) from the south (photo: Jonathan Williams)

      It’s enormously rewarding to circle a giant of the Alps, entirely under your own steam, and return to where you started. Thanks to this new long-distance route – the Tour of the Bernina – glorious day after glorious day can be spent on foot around the Bernina, an awesome glaciated massif belonging to the Rhaetian Alps and straddling the Swiss-Italian border. Global warming notwithstanding, bevvies of magnificent peaks are still draped with vast frozen rivers of ice that are sliding silently downhill and shaping a succession of scooped-out glens as they go.

      Stunning variety comes into play as the trek progresses. In the words of RLG Irving, ‘No part of the frontier Alps offers a more striking illustration of the contrast between the snowy beauties of the northern slopes and the great bare walls that extend along the south side of the watershed’ (The Alps, 1938). Walkers will have ample opportunities to test this out. The trek is as exciting and as scenic as the immensely popular Tour of Mont Blanc, but without the crowds.

      And there’s more good news: as a bonus, the multi-day Alta Via Valmalenco trek is also described here. This is a circular route round the southernmost valley, in close contact with another awesome icy giant – Monte Disgrazia.

      Both of these superb treks meander on clear marked paths through glaciated valleys, sweet-smelling forests alive with squirrels, and meadows brilliant with wildflowers. They also visit serene pastoral landscapes dotted with traditional stone-roofed hamlets and tiny age-old alpine farms, still very much active in the 21st century, where cows and goats are milked by hand and delicious cheeses are crafted.

      While the Tour of the Bernina is a great choice for first-time alpine trekkers, preferably with some basic experience, the Alta Via Valmalenco includes several tougher stages requiring a surer foot. However, for both, enthusiasm is the main requisite – although that is hardly going to be in short supply once you’ve glimpsed the scenery. A string of excellent refuges is perched on belvedere ridges at convenient points the whole way round, so that long spells can be enjoyed in these awe-inspiring surroundings. Alongside cosy village guesthouses and hotels, they offer hospitality and meals to walkers, who can set out with minimum baggage. Almost every stage of both treks can be accessed from a valley floor and public transport, opening the door to multiple variants, excellent short walks and memorable bespoke walking holidays.

The Tour of the Bernina