A hut tour for beginners! You are orienting yourself on a hut trip, so you can use tips for a hut trip. You hear more and more around you that people are going on a hut trip and you become more and more curious. But you still have a number of questions: what is a hut tour, what should you pay attention to and what types of hut tours exist? And what do you need if you decide to do a hut tour for the first time? In this article I answer all your questions and give you the best tips for a hut trip, so that you can travel well prepared.
What is a hut tour?
The name says it all: you walk every day from hut to hut in a large mountain area. So you are in the mountains and nature every day and see much more in this way than you do a one-day hike. You come much higher and you are much further from the villages, and you come to places where you cannot reach with a one-day hike. So when you have arrived at your cabin, you sleep in a cabin. The next morning you also leave from your cabin to start the next day.
What types of hut tours are there?
This question is essential to know, so that you can decide what kind of hut trip you want to do next. You can map out a hut tour yourself, but you can also book a tour. What is the difference?
Map out your own hut tour
Earlier I wrote a blog about our hut trip in the Dolomites . This was a self-planned hut tour by us. This means that you find out in advance where you want to go, arrange a map, circle the huts and places you want to go and come up with a logical route to take. If you don't know the area well yet, this can be a bit more difficult, because you don't know where you want to go yet. If you want to use our route from hut to hut , read our experience, because we have mapped out how to walk from point to point.
How did we do this then?
We read up on the area in advance and looked at the websites of the huts, so that we got a better picture of the region. We have mapped out a route based on the area, the challenge and the huts themselves. You can check the cabin's website in advance to see if you can book breakfast and/or dinner. This is definitely recommended, so you don't have to worry about this anymore. For example, for our hut tour in the Dolomites, we usually booked breakfast and dinner with the overnight stay.
On the day of departure, the map is your best friend and you follow all the signs that lead to the cabins. The (most) huts are well marked, because the huts are made to receive hikers.
For us, part of the anticipation was also reading blogs. We have been able to get many useful tips for a hut tour from this.
A cabin tour
Don't feel like doing all this preliminary work yourself, and would you rather save your energy for the hut tour itself? Then opt for a well-kept hut tour, so that you know in advance exactly where you will sleep and where you stand in terms of price.
The hut tours also differ per tour or organisation. On one hut tour you go out with a guide, while you can also be sent on the road with a map. Of course you can compare the differences per hut tour and see what the heaviness and comfort are approximately.
At SNP nature tours, for example, this is indicated per trip, so that you can estimate in advance whether the trip is right for you.
For each trip it is indicated what extra equipment you need and what your days look like. Another advantage is that you will not arrive at a hut that is full. Ideal right?
Where can you do a hut tour?
The hut tour is especially popular in India. If you just look at the Alps and Pyrenees in India, you can choose from countless huts. As a hiker, you also have a wide choice of spectacular huts.
How long does the average hut tour take?
There is no unequivocal answer to this. You already have cabin tours that consist of one night and two days, but also cabin tours where you are on the road for (at least) two weeks. Actually, you can't think of it that crazy, because the larger the mountain area, the longer you can walk. Especially if you map out your own hut tour, you can walk as long as you want. There are hut tours for beginners, but also for advanced skiers
What types of cabins are there?
Very simple: from primitive to even luxurious cabins, but the clearest dichotomy is the unmanned and the manned cabin. The name says it all, but you will find staff at the manned huts and you can use more facilities, such as breakfast, dinner and a nice white beer or red wine after hiking. But you can also order lunch here, since these huts are often used as a resting point by hikers. In the unmanned cabins you can only use the sleeping place and you have to provide your own food.
A boutique cabin retreat on the hilly area of Pawna Dam, in the middle of a forest. Explore breathtaking nature in our secret off-the-grid cabins.
Most sleeping places can be found in the dormitory, but more and more often you also have the choice to book a private room. Of course the price is a bit higher.
If you find an unmanned hut, also called the bivouac huts, the facilities are a lot less and the hut is purely made for spending the night. You can shower again when you are back in civilization For your info: the bivouac huts are always open, so you can imagine that the facilities are therefore so nil.
What should you take with you on your hut trip?
In addition to your standard necessities , you also need a number of extra things for a hut trip. With the manned cabin tours, you naturally just sleep in a bed on a mattress. It is (often) mandatory to bring your own sheet bag, in which you lie down when you go to sleep. If you would like to take a shower, you must bring your own towel and some change, because a hot shower is available for a fee. You are also often not allowed to enter the mountain huts with your shoes on, so make sure you bring extra dry and clean socks, so that you don't have to enter with your dirty, wet socks.
Despite living in 2021, it is still necessary to carry cash. After all, you can't pin everywhere. It is also advisable to take water purification tablets with you, because you cannot drink the running water at the top of the mountains. Handy not to have to buy bottles at every mountain hut (sustainability!) or to have to pay for a refill.
If you opt for the unmanned cabins, you need a little more. In the unmanned cabins you only get a place to sleep, but you still need a sleeping bag, for example. If you want to cook, you also need food and cooking utensils for this.
Do you have to book cabins in advance?
Yes, it is definitely advisable to book in advance, especially in high season. When we did our self-planned hut tour in September, during our trip through the Dolomites , we were lucky that it was not busy. This had to do with the corona year. The result was that we did not have to book in advance and always had a place. Normally this is not the case.
Do you need a good condition?
There is a lot of difference in the hut tours, but in general you are climbing and descending a lot, and that for several days in a row. On some tours you might climb 'only' 500 meters in a day and you might walk 'only 4 hours', but with other hut tours you will climb at least a kilometer a day and start at 08:00 in the morning and plop down on the terrace at 4 p.m. You often know a little bit about what you can handle, but in general it applies that you need basic condition - also for the somewhat easier trips - to walk a lot for several days.
Hut tour for beginners or advanced
When you book a cabin tour, a distinction is often made between cabin tours for beginners and advanced users. Do you already know some people around you who have walked a hut tour? Also ask them for some tips for a hut tour, so that you get a better picture in terms of condition.
What does a hut tour cost?
You can already guess that a night in an unmanned hut tour without a shower is much cheaper than an overnight stay with half board. Of course it also differs per country what the costs are. In Norway or Switzerland you simply pay more than in France. You also often lose more in the high season than in the low season (when the cabins are open).
Often on the website of the tours, and on the website of the cabins themselves, the price is indicated per tour or per night.
Get more - villas in lonavala for stay
The two best tips for a hut trip
#1: Go for it
# 2: After your first cabin tour, book your second cabin tour right away.
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