Fribourg Canton, Val-de-Charmey.
Distance: 8.86 km.
Elevation gain: 400m.
Walking time: 2h 40min.
Access: Car.
Parking: Parking at Chalet Buvette de l'Hautachia - 46.667358, 7.226658
The parking is reserved for customers, so it is also an excuse for a meal / drink out!
This is the second time we reached the top of la Berra & our preferred walk. We found that sometimes it is not easy to reach mountain peaks with kids, but this hike was very enjoyable. Our son rode his bike / walked for most of the time; unless it was too steep, in which case we carried him in his backpack.
Late spring / early summer seems to be an ideal time for this walk: plenty of spring crocuses on the East side of the walk and many summer flowers (such as alpine kidney-vetch, alpine gentian, dandelions, buttercups, camomile, wild daisies) on the West side. The ground and insect fauna were very rich and beautiful to watch around the flowers. We also saw many cows, which made our toddler happy! We passed a few runners, hikers, kids, babies in hiking backpacks and dogs. Listing all of them - it did not feel busy yet, perhaps thanks to the La Berra lift still being closed. There is large play park half way through the walk and boxes of toys at the parking restaurant.
Chalet Buvette de l'Hautachia (photo below) is at the parking area. Buvette de la Berra is midway through the walk and close to La Berra summit along with many picnic benches.
Most of the path follows the route no. 272. This walk is half way through the path Schwarzsee - La Berra. The other part of the walk is described in the "La Patta summit" post.
The path is very enjoyable and exposed to the sun for most of the way. I would describe the walk as steeper rolling hills. The walk continues to climb, however the flat sections help to catch the breath. The path covering varies between meadow paths and a tarmac/concrete blocks road. Following the route with our 2.5 yo, including stops at two buvettes and a play park - it took us half of the day. We often stopped to admire the views, flowers and insects. At many times, it felt like being in a natural papillorama with thousands of butterflies around us and above the flowers - I have not experienced seeing so many butterflies outdoors in one place until this point! The views continued on the West side throughout the walk. Perhaps half way through towards La Berra the views started opening up to the East side. The 360 panorama from the top of La Berra is the prettiest, with information boards and names of the visible mountains.
Apps we used on this hike:
- Picture this: to identify plants
- Switzerland Mobility: for hiking trail map
- Peak Lens: for identifying the mountains
Route no 272 can be viewed at SchweizMobil website here.
Lift openings and prices, events and activities around La Berra can be viewed on LaBerra website here. We found this hike on Nos Balades blogger website here.
