The Best Glacier Hut-to-Hut Traverses
Some of the most spectacular ice travel on Earth happens between mountain huts, where you walk all day on glaciers but sleep with dinner and a real bed. This guide assumes basic alpine skills — rope-team movement, crampons, glacier rescue — but no tent.
1. Haute Route, Chamonix to Zermatt
The classic. Six to eight days, ten huts, twelve glacier crossings. Ski version mid-March to early May; summer trekking version is harder to find but exists.
2. Adamello traverse, Italy
Two to three days across the largest Italian ice plateau. Ridolfi to Mandrone huts, often skied as a single push.
3. Otztal Round, Austria
Five to seven days through the Otztal glaciers from Vent. Excellent ski-touring or summer ice traverse depending on conditions.
4. Bernina circuit, Switzerland
Three to four days around the Bernina-Bellavista massif. Tschierva- Marco e Rosa-Diavolezza is the classic chain.
5. Aletsch traverse, Switzerland
Two days from the Konkordia hut down the longest glacier in the Alps to the Belalp side.
6. Dachstein traverse, Austria
Two days across the Dachstein plateau, with the Simony and Adamek huts. The plateau is small enough for a half-day actual ice walk but the views are big-mountain.
7. Tour des Ecrins, France
A loop around the Glacier Blanc / Glacier Noir cirque with the Caron and Selle huts.
8. Vanoise traverse, France
Pralognan to Val d'Isere, with multiple glacier crossings and the Felix Faure and Vallonbrun huts.
9. Kungsleden glaciers, Sweden
Not strictly hut-to-hut on ice, but the STF huts along the Kungsleden include several glacier viewpoints and the Storglomvatnet glacier spur.
10. New Zealand alpine huts (Tasman traverse)
Multi-day NZAC hut routes across the Tasman and Murchison glaciers, guided only.
When to go
Late March to early May for ski versions. Mid-July to early September for summer trekking on the same routes — but check hut availability months ahead; the Haute Route fills 6+ months out.
Where will you go first?
Filter to "hut-to-hut traverse" in the interactive map to find each leg with hut bookings, glacier crossings and the difficulty rating.