We are grateful to Markus, a traveller from Germany, who wrote this stellar review of his experience walking the first stage of Italy's Via Francigena in July, 2021. Read on to discover the review of his journey that took him from Lausanne and the Great St Bernard Pass in Switerzland, over to Ivrea in Italy. Find the affordable self guided walking tour here.

 

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My four friends from the US and I decided to use UTracks for our self-guided walk along the Via Francigena from Lausanne to Ivrea this summer, after our plan to do the walk in 2020 was thwarted by the pandemic and our original agent withdrew the itinerary for 2021. 

 

 

UTracks arranged a bespoke walk for us, arranging  accommodation which ranged from 4* hotels to agriturismos, after we asked that no stage should be longer than 25km. (In 2019 we were caught out by the heatwave in France and often struggled with some of the very long stages.) The logistics of the tour worked very well: luggage transfers all went off without a hitch, and every hotel had our reservations. The mix of hotels was interesting, too, and all had clean rooms and bathrooms where everything worked. 

 
As for the walk itself, it was simply stunningly beautiful, and even my friends from Colorado, who have walked the Tour de Mont Blanc, were impressed by this section of the Via Francigena. There was good signposting everywhere, and we also had our route apps, as well as maps and route guides supplied by UTracks. Moreover, unlike our experience in France, we always found opportunities to stop for water and refreshments along the way. 

 

 

The Via Francigena is much less well travelled than the Camino de Santiago, and often the path is no more than a narrow track. Over the whole fortnight we encountered only four other pilgrims walking the VF! However, we found that the deeper we walked into Italy the more like the Camino the walk became: signs became larger and more evident, and the locals more appreciative and supportive. Some sections have the reputation for being ‘difficult’: our experience was that it was all manageable but we were indeed grateful for waterproof boots and walking poles. 

 

 
This walk is very highly recommended, and UTracks did a great job for us. Given the uncertainties surrounding all aspects of travel this summer, due to the pandemic and countries introducing quarantines, vaccination certificates, locator forms etc, UTracks were as flexible and helpful as anyone could ask for. Right up until a few weeks before the start date of our trip it was still unclear whether travellers from the US would be allowed into Europe this year, yet UTracks accommodated us. Thank you, Gordon and Nicola! 

 

In the end, we were never asked to produce a vaccination certificate, nor to fill out a locator form nor check in to a single restaurant. Europe is open for travellers.

 

 

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There are multiple ways to discover the Via Francigena in Switzerland and Italy with UTracks.