Fodor's Expert Review L'Hospice du Grand St-Bernard

In operation since the Middle Ages, the monk-run L'Hospice du Grand St-Bernard has played host to kings, princes, and writers like Charles Dickens. Within these walls you'll find cozy, inexpensive guest rooms and a stone dining hall where you can revive yourself with bowls of warm soup, slabs of creamy Bagnes cheese, honey-sweetened tea, and carafes of red Dôle wine produced in the Valais. The facility includes an excellent museum with exhibits about the history of the pass and the devoted monks of the Order of St. Augustine, who live here. Displays of church treasures—chalices, crosses, and altar clothes in gold, silver, and jewels—are on view in another wing. The bones in the crypt add a macabre touch. The fresco-bedecked baroque church remains open for daily prayers.