If castles, cuckoo clocks, and bell-laden cows dominate your image of the Alps, you are - like most travelers - missing out on one of Mother Nature's greatest gifts. It's a secret Europeans like to keep to themselves. In addition to its wealth of cultural sights, the European Alps offer a wider range of outdoor recreation than any other similarly-sized region in the world. Adventurers of all ages hike hut-to-hut on multi-day treks, skiers slide year-round on glacial slopes, and Sunday walkers stroll forested trails. Bikers loop icy blue lakes, and mountaineers scale up waterfalls and down canyon cliffs. Modern adventurers run the gamut from rich to poor, young to old, and native to transient foreigner. So take a look around. That bus driver. This tour guide. Your hotel concierge. They may just be showing you the Europe they think you want to see. Take a moment to ask how they spend their own free time - odds are that each will spend a day outdoors this weekend. Europeans cherish their wilderness areas, and none more so than the pristine forests of the Alps.

Here is a guide to the best adventures in the mountainous regions of Switzerland. Based on experience gained through more than a decade of living in, traveling around, and writing about the Alps, we spotlight the best outdoor adventures. This is a guide that's ideally suited to on-the-go travelers who seek the best of the Alps - those sights and adventures most worthwhile, most easily reached, and most indicative of the Alpine experience. What all our readers have in common is this: the desire to experience rather than simply look at the Alps. Want to know where you should go? All the details are here!