A guest post by Cristina from Honest Travel Stories.

Cliché as it might sound, hiking is what Switzerland is mostly known for (plus cheese, chocolate, and, of course, the Swiss army knife).

Skiing comes in as a very close second when we talk outdoor activities, and that’s because it depends on the season, while hiking doesn’t.

Popular as it might be, hiking on trails that are not in the heart of the mountains is a totally different thing. Few locals will be able to tell you about a hiking trail that’s on flatter land. But for someone who doesn’t take pride in a fitness level that would make hiking in the Alps a breeze, hiking on these trails that are not uphill is exactly what we’ve been looking for. That’s why, at least right after we moved here, our hikes were planned to be in areas that are flatter rather than hilly. And boy was that hard to achieve!

There’s even a saying in Switzerland: “Wanna know why people are so slim here? Well, the food is expensive and everything’s uphill”. But rest assured, I found the perfect trail for people like me: endowed with more will power than fitness level.

In this article, I’m sharing everything you need to know to plan an awesome hike on the Saint-Ursanne to Soubey Trail in Switzerland.

Where is Saint-Ursanne?

Saint-Ursanne is known for its old, medieval buildings that are very well preserved. This small village is pretty close to the French border, in the canton of Jura, and it makes for a nice day trip from Basel.

When it comes to sightseeing, you are left with exploring the insanely picturesque Old Town. Oh, and Saint-Ursanne is a great place to start your hike.

How do you get to Saint-Ursanne?

My advice would be to get here by train. The Swiss train system is good and you get to see a beautiful aqueduct (Viaduc de la Combe Maran). This is also one of the beautiful sights you’ll see on this trail.

To get there from Basel it’ll take you about an hour and you have two options:

• Take the local train (S3) towards Porrentruy, which is also the fastest one as it’s direct. The only downside is that you don’t have an assigned seat on local trains. But let me tell you a secret: Basel is the beginning of the line (this is where the country ends, as they say), so you’ll have no problem finding a seat.
• Take the nicer train, where you’ll also have an assigned seat, but you’ll have to change trains in Delémont, and your trip will look like this: Basel – Delémont using IC 51, direction Biel/Bienne; and Delémont – Saint-Ursanne using RE 18172, direction Delle.

Booking.com

Both options cost the same: 21 CHF (19.70 EUR) one way/adult, and both have departures on an hourly pace, so you have two options per hour to leave Basel and get to Saint-Ursanne. I advise you to install the SBB app (it’s also available in English), as you can buy your tickets online and can see the schedule in real-time, which is very important if you have to change trains. You can also do a simulation and find more options using the SBB website, but keep in mind that the initial estimations for the fares are calculated with a Half price ABO that most people don’t have, so just multiply all prices by 2.

After you stroll around Saint-Ursanne for a bit, get ready for the fun part. While the initial part of the hike will look boring, as it only gets you out of the town, you’ll have the view of the beautiful aqueduct that you can see in any travel video about Switzerland. But once you get further away, you’ll see that you’ll start to get used to the wilderness little by little.

Saint-Ursanne to Soubey trail – What you need to know

This trail is as easy as it gets. The estimation provided by Google almighty is 3.5 hours, but I can assure you it can be done even faster if you have a better fitness level. The total elevation gain is just 293 meters, and the distance between the two points is 15.4 km / 9.6 miles, so you won’t even feel that elevation.

The most “difficult” part is actually at the beginning, right when you get out of town. After that, it’s only green fields and River Doubs. And well, cows, but you’re in Switzerland, I’m sure you were expecting that. The river is right next to the hiking trail for the bigger part of the hike, but you can rarely get close to it as the shore is quite high. There are still a few places where you can try to enter the water if you care for a swim.

Another thing to know is that Google Maps doesn’t have this up to date. The trail seems to be on the other side of the river here, so don’t worry if you get there and it seems like it doesn’t match what you see in the app. For better reference, use AllTrails instead. It has more accurate information for this particular hike and you can use it for other hikes as well.

Trail on Google Maps :

What you need for this hike, except for the gear listed below, is a reusable water bottle. There are not many water fountains on this trail, but you’ll find plenty in Saint-Ursanne right before leaving. Use this opportunity to fill your bottle. Tap water is drinkable everywhere in Switzerland (and it doesn’t taste like chlorine) and this includes public water fountains. If it’s not drinkable, it’ll have a sign on it, but this rarely happens.

The first part of the hike is taking you through some green fields, as green as you can only find in Switzerland (I honestly suspect they paint it somehow, I don’t even need filters when I’m taking pictures here). While going through these fields, you might find some closed gates from time to time.

Don’t panic. This is pretty normal here. Your hiking trail goes right through someone’s field. But the gate is not to keep you out, it’s only to keep the cows in. They have an easy to use system to open and close, and you only have to remember not to leave the gate open as those cows need to stay inside.

Now, don’t worry that you’ll meet plenty of cows and you’ll be surrounded by them. These cows have it going for them. They have more square meters of delicious grass only for them than we have square meters per person in any bigger city. They also don’t care that you’re there as long and you don’t bother them in any way. And I urge you not to, as I urge you to do so for any other animals you may encounter on your trips.

After you pass the area with the fields, you’ll get to see the nice forested area next to the river. Most of the rest of your journey is through the woods which is nice if the sunshine is strong. And I know this because when we did this hike, it was 38 °C / 100.4 F during the heatwave that hit Europe in the summer of 2019. We wanted to come here to “escape the heat”. As if that worked!

The hike is great, and it gets cooler after you reach the trees, but up until that level I had almost finished all my water and the only thing that helped me was to get to the river and dip my T-shirt and bandana in the cold water and wear them soaking wet after. It may sound weird and embarrassing, but I’d rather do this than get sunstroke.

And while we are it, don’t forget to wear sunscreen!

>>Read more about How to Stay Healthy & Hydrated During the European Summer Heat

You can come back from Soubey directly by train, and you’ll pass through Saint-Ursanne on your way back. Or you can do the trip back by foot again and maybe choose a different trail, if you don’t want to repeat the same trip. Here are a few options to do so.

But what about the gear?

You don’t need much, to be honest. We don’t have hiking poles, and I don’t think you’d need them here, except if you have problems with your knees and they’re easing your pain. In this case, by all means, do what your body says it’s better.

The best advice I can give you is to pay attention to what you buy when it comes to hiking boots. There’s saying: Buy nice or buy twice. I am a big fan of Ecco when it comes to shoes in general and I can recommend them for hiking as well. They also have hiking sandals and more lightweight sneakers, but for hiking, I recommend buying something that will protect your ankles

Also, you want to pay attention to the hiking socks you wear. I considered this to not be so important but was proven wrong on a hike we did just last month: my socks had a stitch that ended so badly on top of my small toe that it produced intensive pain for the last hour of the hike. Also, you want something that lets your blood flow, so avoid anything with tight stripes at the end. Plus, always try to buy something that absorbs humidity well as you don’t want a wet fabric rubbing your feet during the hike.

And last, but not least, this is for you ladies: there’s nothing in this world better than having the perfect sports bra. I mean it, the way I feel while hiking is very much dependent on how often I have to do small changes to my gear. And wearing a sports bra splits this time by at least two. And after I tried Triumph (and not only for sports, I might say), I can never go back.

Also, remember that you need a small but sturdy day pack to keep your valuables, water bottle, camera, and so on. It’s best to always carry some over-the-counter medicine, such as an antihistamine and anti-inflammatory pill (ibuprofen).

Final thoughts

So this is the Saint-Ursanne to Soubey trail. It’s a beautiful Swiss hike that doesn’t take you through the Alps, and there’s no reason to not do it: it’s easy, it shows you a nice landscape, it’s convenient and, more importantly, you’ll see plenty of cows. In the end, this is what you get if you come to Switzerland.

About the author:
Cristina calls herself the one woman show behind Honest Travel Stories. She is a Romanian IT geek that moved to Switzerland two years ago and started writing because buying a domain name was cheaper than going to therapy. She is passionate about her job, loves dogs (has said “I love you!” to about 1037 dogs until now) and has an unhealthy relationship with coffee. Follow her on Instagram and Facebook.

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