On foot, on horseback or by car? For a good part of the Helvetians, it seems that it is on foot that we like to spend our holidays. Preferably in Switzerland, on paths lovingly maintained, cared for, pampered throughout the weeks and months of the year. And also carefully marked out, in order to be safe.
The Swiss-style school children’s path doesn’t have to mean messy and unplanned – it has to lead somewhere, if possible in an orderly fashion, with clear and neat markers and wooden signs indicating the kilometers to be covered. to the goal and the time required to achieve it.
Today, the 41,293 square kilometers of the Confederation are crisscrossed by a tight network of 50,000 kilometers of marked footpaths, adding to the spider’s web of roads and highways, not to mention the railways. And, in this country where politicians are sorry to see abstentionism swell during electoral consultations, 78% of citizens overwhelmingly approved, in February 1979, a new constitutional article aimed at promoting the creation of paths open to walking enthusiasts. ..
The Swiss Association for Pedestrian Tourism, which celebrates its fiftieth anniversary this year, knows something about it: it has 30,000 members, and a survey has revealed that 90% of tourists in the summer devote themselves to what can be doubt considered the national sport par excellence. However, walking is not everything: you still have to know where and how.
Admittedly, there is no shortage of places to visit, so much so that a brochure from the association offers enthusiasts no less than three hundred suggestions for various itineraries. Starting from the observation that “walkers are probably the only tourists who really have time to appreciate what passes before their eyes”, the people in charge of this healthy and good-natured activity launched the motto “Each kilometer covered on foot is a drop of medicine”.
If you walk throughout Switzerland, on Sundays or on holidays, the participation rate is significantly higher among German-speaking people than among French-speaking people. According to the statistics, the average is about fifteen excursions per year and per household. Classic hikes in forests and valleys are no longer enough, they are now supplemented by new ideas.