If you are looking for a Swiss mountain hut experience, the Cristallina hut in Ticino is a great choice for casual hikers and families. 

The hikes to and from the hut are a bit challenging, requiring endurance and steady footing. But they are not dangerous or excessively long, since you can use a cable car at the start and end of the hike.

The views on the hikes and from the hut are spectacular, visiting many lakes, rivers and waterfalls along the way.

The hut is friendly and comfortable, with small rooms with bunks instead of large dormitories. Watching sunset and sunrise from a hut is always treat.

We visited this hut with our teenage son and it was a special experience we’ll always remember.

Booking the hut

In 2024, overnight in the hut with dinner and breakfast costs CHF 90/adult, CHF 72/youth 15-21, CHF 52/child 8-14, CHF 30 child under 8. Discount with a SAC Member card. See current prices.

You cannot book a specific room. Beds are allocated by the hut based on bookings, trying to keep groups together. They have rooms of 4, 8 and 12 bunks, so usually groups would be all in the same room. If you have specific concerns, call the hut to make the reservation.

The hut is open for summer from about middle June to middle October.

A few things to note:

• They provide a blanket and pillow. But you must bring a sleeping bag liner or rent one from them

• They have warm showers for a CHF 5 fee.

• No wi-fi at the hut, but there is good mobile coverage in the area

Book the hut online.

How to get there

The Cristallina hut is located in the Ticino region in southern Switzerland. The hut is in the mountains at 2560m, accessible only by hiking, either from Robiei or Airolo.

Summary of the journey:

1. To reach the hut, we took a bus to the Robiei cable car station in Val Bavona.

2. At the top of the cable car, we visited Lake Robiei and had lunch at the nearby Capanna Basodino hut.

3. Then we followed the Sentiero Cristallina trail to the hut. 6.8km, 4 hours, 700m up

4. On day 2, we hiked down the other side of the mountain to the Pesciüm-Airolo cable car. Trail map. 11.9km, 4 hours, 180m up, 1020m down

5. We rode the cable car down and walked to the Airolo train station and rode home to Zurich.

Full details for this journey on SwissFamilyFun.com

Location: 6781 Bedretto

Hut website: www.capannacristallina.ch