Via Alpina Red Trail Overview: Logistics, Time, GPS, Water 

I'm a through-hiker. This is a good review.

Great material, really useful👍 i've watched all videos of your trip, some of them couple of times☺ the fact that you accomplished that with the sandals makes me laugh about myself..- trying to find perfect shoes for my alpine quest 😅 cant wait to see video about your gear🙂

Hey Stefan, so happy I stumbled across your video, and that you liked Switzerland. We met on the PCT in 2022, I remember you well hiking in sandals, right? I think it was in the Sierras… well, if you plan to do the swiss part of the Red trail in the next years, get in touch, it would be a pleasure to meet again… 😊

Hi Stefan. Nice Video. The one about costs will be interesting too. I have done the ViaAlpina yellow, (old red) and blue (GTA) 2017 in a similar style. low budget, small tent, no huts and on a budget. 10 Eur a day is very tight. 15 Eur is okay. you are right, Switzerland and Liechtenstein are the most expensive. everybody here knows it. Slovenia the cheapest, but prices raised since covid a lot. Unfortunately hiking the red VA trail misses a lot of the dolomites. even the yellow one is not ideal thru there. For me, the dolomites have been one of the best spots in the Alps. Triglav NP is pretty nice too, but less variation and only a few stages. anyway. by the way, "Alpkäse" is just the term for a cheese from the mountains. a harder cheese made from (mostly) cow milk, which graze during the summer on the "Alp" (high quality food). "Hofladen" is what you mean. the "little" or "tiny" shops connected to a farm. direct selling from the farmer. By the way, I love your videos about this trail. well done!

Wow simply gorgeous. I’m surprised you had to buy food with all this eye candy 😉 Awesome post as always calves! 🤜🏼💥🤛🏼🥾♾

The Swiss Alpine Club apparently accepts non-residents as members, thus giving the ability to get the alpine club discount in huts in all the countries the VA goes through.

the missing (old) red trail is a tougher section of the red trail. probably I have that in my mind like this, cause I got (a little nit) sick on that part. but I remember more steep trails in Switzerland pretty straight up the "hills". lots of elevation meters too. sometimes steep downhill and a few ladders and cables too. harder for the dog, or me carrying him these tricky parts. on good weather no problem. bad in worse conditions everybody should be careful. the connecting blue VA (GTA) is a very nice trail to do too. lots of German 2 week hikers on that section. best (Italian) food in the mountain huts or post tappas.

Great advice Stefan, I'm going to get a club card (probably from the Austrian Club). I've had their card before. I forgot the fine details but I understand it does include some level of mountain rescue cover even heli' rescue. Good to know Slovenia is so dry. I'm also cheap AF, so hopefully I can stay out of refuges but it's good to have them available as a backup. Just one question; did you find some of them had a winter hut or another lesser luxurious hut where cheapskates could crash for free?

Hi Stefan, thank you for this great video! I wanted to add two comments because I think you misunderstood two points. First "Alpkäse" is just German for "Cheese produced in the Alps". That is never the name of a any kind of shop, it's a produce. So you can't buy yoghurt in an Alpkäse ;-) Second there are no via ferratae along the VA. What you encountered were secured paths that provide a fixed line to help you get support and safety. But they are still hiking trails. A via ferrata on the other hand is for climbing while you are self-securing yourself using a fixed line and some other installations like ladders, typically in vertical or even overhanging rock walls. Hope you can do the whole Red VA in future :-)

Baring in mind that some of the refuges won't let you inside without a reservation I'm guessing none of them would refuse to allow you to fill water bottles?

Nobody is hiking miles in europe!!!