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Sights & Attractions in Valais

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Valais Sights

The Rhône has carved Valais into a valley the shape of a checkmark, with the town of Martigny at its angle. Beginning with the eastern shores of Lake Geneva, the short leg extends along the Val d'Entremont southward to the Col du Grand St-Bernard. There, in a near ninety-degree turn, the long, eastern leg stretches all the way upriver to the glacier-source, Gletsch. This wide, fertile riverbed is flanked by bluffs and is fed from the north and south by remote, narrow valleys that snake into the mountains. Some of these valleys peter out in desolate Alpine wilderness; some lead to famous landmarks—including that Swiss superstar, the Matterhorn.

Our tour of Valais follows the checkmark from west to east, focusing on the long leg from Martigny to Gletsch, where all the area's skiing happens. Not all of Valais covers Alpine terrain, however: the middle of the eastern leg—between Martigny and Sierre—comprises one of the two chief sources of wine in Switzerland (the other is in Vaud, along Lake Geneva).

Up the valley, past the isolated eagle's-nest village of Isérables, two magnificent castle-churches loom above the historic Old Town at Sion. From Sion, the Val d'Hérens winds up into the wilderness past the stone Pyramides d'Euseigne and the Brigadoon-like resorts of Évolène and, even more obscure, Les Haudères.

The most famous southbound valley, the Mattertal, leads from Visp to stellar, car-free resort of Zermatt and its mascot mountain, the Matterhorn. A fork off that same valley leads to spectacular Saas-Fee, another car-free resort in a magnificent glacier bowl. Back at the Rhône, the valley mounts from Brig to the Simplon Pass and Italy or northeastward to Gletsch and the Furka Pass out of the region.

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