Sights & Attractions in Valais

Valais Sights

Valais is an L-shaped valley with Martigny at its angle. Its long (eastern) leg, a wide, fertile riverbed flanked by bluffs, is the most characteristic and imposing. It's fed from the north and south by remote, narrow valleys that snake into the mountains and peter out in Alpine wilderness or lead to the region's most famous landmarks—including that Swiss superstar, the Matterhorn. Not all of Valais covers Alpine terrain, however. The western stretch—between Martigny and Sierre—comprises one of the two chief sources of wine in Switzerland (the other is in Vaud, along Lac Léman). Valaisan wines come from vineyards that stripe the hillsides flanking the Rhône.

The Val d'Entremont leads southward up an ancient route from key Roman crossroads at Martigny to the Col du Grand St-Bernard (Great St. Bernard Pass). Up the Rhône Valley, past the isolated eagle's-nest village of Isérables, two magnificent castle-churches loom above the historic Old Town at Sion. Val d'Anniviers, the valley winding south from Sierre, leads to tiny, isolated skiing and hiking resorts such as St-Luc and Grimentz. The most famous southbound valley, the Mattertal, leads from Visp to the stellar 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. From Brig, back at the Rhône, a valley mounts southward to the Simplon Pass and Italy.

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