Guides / Hut to hut
Mountain Hut Etiquette: Your First Night in an Alpine Refuge
Staying in mountain huts is one of the joys of trekking in the Alps and Dolomites. It's also a little confusing the first time. Here's what to expect.
Arriving
- Boots off at the entrance. Most huts have a boot room with racks, and many provide hut slippers.
- Check in with the hut keeper and pay, often in cash. Many huts in remote places don't take cards.
- Poles and ice axes stay outside or in the boot room.
What to bring
- A sleeping-bag liner is required in most huts. Silk or cotton liners are lightest.
- Earplugs. Dormitories and snoring go together.
- A headlamp with a red light, so you don't wake everyone at 5 am.
- Cash in euros or Swiss francs.
Food and drink
Most people book half board: dinner and breakfast. Dinner is served at a set time, often around 6:30 or 7 pm, and it's usually hearty: soup, pasta or polenta, and dessert. Tap water may not be drinkable at high huts, so bottled water or tea is sold.
House rules
- Lights out is usually around 10 pm.
- Pack your bag the night before so you don't rustle bags in the dark.
- Carry your rubbish down. Huts have to fly waste out.
- Book ahead and cancel if your plans change. Someone else is waiting for your bed.
Plan your hut trek with our packing list, and see which treks use huts.
Where to book huts
- Alpine club hut reservations: many Swiss, Austrian, German and Italian club huts.
- Montour du Mont Blanc: refuges on the Tour du Mont Blanc.
- Ferðafélag Íslands: huts on Iceland's Laugavegur trail.
- Swedish Tourist Association: huts on the Kungsleden.
Joining an Alpine club (such as the Austrian Alpenverein or the Swiss SAC) usually gives you a discount on hut nights and includes mountain rescue insurance.