Extending in huge arc of more than 1000km (620 miles) from the Mediterranean coast near Nice to the low, wooded foothills outside Vienna, the Alps display the full gamut of mountain landscape features. All of the routes in this guide have been specially selected to show the amazing diversity of this wonderful mountain chain.

There are walks to suit every taste: gentle and undemanding, long and tough, and everything in between. Most of the routes avoid climbing of a technical nature except the odd scramble aided by a fixed rope. Glacier crossings where crevasses lurk for the unwary have also been avoided in the main, although just a small handful of walks stray onto ice in order to reach a distant hut.

Located in some of the most breathtaking locations in the Alps, mountain huts provide welcome facilities and a focus for all the walks in this guide