Switzerland is a hiker’s paradise with the best marked trails in the world. With 60,000 km of hiking trails (compared to 71,400 km of roads, and 5,100 km of railways), not only is there an abundance of choices for hiking and walking trails, but the trails themselves are surprisingly easy to navigate due to the uniform system used by the Swiss to mark and differentiate trails.About 50,000 signs and trail markers inform hikers of the difficulty of the trail, its final destination, and the time estimated to arrive there. Yellow signs, often in the shape of a diamond, indicate a pedestrian or walking trail, red and white signs or paint marks on trees and rocks tell you that you are on a hiking or mountain trail with more significant elevation gains and losses than a pedestrian trail, and blue signs indicate technical alpine routes and require additional safety equipment.The signs are the work of the Swiss Hiking Association (Schweizer Wanderwege/Suiss Rando) which in 1934 designed and installed the first signs at junctions along popular Swiss trails. All trail signs and markers are installed and maintained by volunteer employees of the cantonal associations hiking or municipal employees, through a public-private partnership. Each sign and hiking trail is inspected in detail each year.