The Rhine

7 October 2011 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  9 minutes

Distance marks along the Rhine indicate distances from this bridge in the City of Constance © Achim Lehle

Distance marks along the Rhine indicate distances from this bridge in the City of Constance © Achim Lehle

The Rhine flows from Grisons in the eastern Swiss Alps to the North Sea coast in the Netherlands and is one of the longest and most important rivers in Europe, at about 1,233 km (766 mi), with an average discharge of more than 2,000 m3/s (71,000 cu ft/s).   read more…

Route des Grandes Alpes

8 April 2011 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Bon voyage Reading Time:  3 minutes

© www.tratti.de

© www.tratti.de

A legendary trail for a unique adventure!
Unveiled in 1937, the Route des Grandes Alpes (Great Alps Route) is the most beautiful of mountain hiking trails. It runs from Thonon-les-Bains to Menton, from Lake Geneva to the Mediterranean, is 684 km long and includes 16 passes, among the highest in the French Alpine massif: six of them culminate above 2,000 metres. The trail guides car drivers, motorcyclists, cyclists, touring cyclists (and sometimes even … intrepid ramblers!) through a land whose natural and cultural heritage is exceptional.   read more…

Sustainable living in the Alps

23 November 2010 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Environment Reading Time:  7 minutes

© Thomas AMBLARD

© Thomas AMBLARD

The majority of us associate with the Alps romantic mountain cabins, scenic valleys, small villages, which blend into the mountains, of course winter sports, tourism, alpine horns, the Tour de France and wonderful diversity, species richness and originality, peace and serenity. The inevitably association with tourism by people from around the world, however, only contributes 3 – 4% to the over GDP of the Alps regions. Many do not know that the number of the inhabitants of the small towns are dramatically declining, so is the use of agricultural land and the people who live here are facing major challenges. What to do in order to not only use the relevant regions in Germany, France, Italy, Liechtenstein, Austria, Switzerland, South Tyrol and Slovenia as transit regions for the north-south traffic, to stop the depopulation and to keep and preserve the originality of the region? According to studies a minimum of 700 inhabitants are necessary for a healthy and sustainable community development. Most communities do not achieve these populations anymore so that there is a clear need for creative plans, based on local-and regional-specific cultural and traditional developments.   read more…

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