5 Best Sights in Valais, Switzerland

Breasting the formidable barrier of the Alps at 8,101 feet, this pass is the oldest and most famous of the great Alpine crossings, and the first to join Rome and Byzantium to the wilds of the north. Used for centuries before the birth of Christ, it has witnessed an endless stream of emperors, knights, and simple travelers. Napoléon took an army of 40,000 across it en route to Marengo, where he defeated the Austrians in 1800.

On Valère, Sion's lower hill, the Église-Forteresse de Valère is a striking example of sacred and secular power combined—reflective of the church's heyday, when it often subjugated rather than served its parishioners. Built on Roman foundations, the massive stone walls enclose both the château and the 11th-century Église Notre-Dame de Valère (Church of Our Lady of Valère). This structure stands in a relatively raw form, rare in Switzerland, where monuments are often restored to perfection. Over the engaging Romanesque carvings, 16th-century fresco fragments, and 17th-century stalls painted with scenes of the Passion, is a rare organ, with a cabinet painted with two fine medieval Christian scenes. Dating from the 15th century, it's the oldest playable organ in the world (though it doesn't appear old, as it was restored in 2005), and an annual organ festival celebrates its musical virtues.

The château complex also houses the Musée d'Histoire (History Museum), which displays a wide array of medieval sacristy chests and religious artifacts. Expanded exhibits trace daily life and advances in the canton from these early centuries to the present day. Explanations are in three languages, including English. To reach the museum and church, you have to trek up uneven stone walkways and steep staircases, but you won't regret it.

The Fondation Pierre Gianadda rises in bold geometric shapes around the Roman ruins on which it is built. Recent retrospectives have spotlighted works by Renoir and Monet. The Musée Gallo-Romain displays Celtic and Gallo-Roman relics excavated from a 1st-century temple—striking bronzes, statuary, pottery, and coins unearthed from a time when Celtic tribes ruled Switzerland. Descriptions are only in French and German. A marked path leads through the antique village, baths, drainage systems, and foundations to the fully restored 5,000-seat amphitheater, which dates from the 2nd century. In the gracefully landscaped garden surrounding the foundation, a wonderful Parc de Sculpture displays works by Rodin, Brancusi, Miró, Arman, Moore, Dubuffet, and Max Ernst. There's also a sizable Musée de l'Automobile, which contains some 50 antique cars, all in working order. They include an 1897 Benz, the Delaunay-Belleville of Czar Nicholas II of Russia, and a handful of Swiss-made models. You may also spot posters for concerts by international classical stars such as Cecilia Bartoli or Itzhak Perlman—the space doubles as a concert hall.

At 14,685 feet, the Matterhorn's elegant snaggletooth form rears up over the village of Zermatt, larger than life and genuinely awe inspiring. As you weave through crowds along Bahnhofstrasse, the town's main street, you're bombarded on all sides by Matterhorn images—on postcards, sweatshirts, calendars, beer steins, and candy wrappers—while the original, slightly obscured by resort buildings, occasionally peers down at you. In town, it's better seen from side streets and the windows of hotel rooms. Break past the shops and hotels onto the main road into the hills, and you'll reach a slightly elevated spot where you'll probably stop dead in your tracks. There it is, a twist of snowy rock blinding in the sun. Catch it in the very early morning to witness its rare alpenglühen, when the rising sun bathes it in fragile pink light. It was Edward Whymper's spectacular—and catastrophic—conquest of the Matterhorn, on July 14, 1865, that made Zermatt a household word. After reaching the mountain's summit, his climbing party began its descent, tying themselves together and moving one man at a time. One of the climbers slipped, dragging the others down with him. Though Whymper and one of his companions braced themselves to stop the fall, the rope between climbers snapped and four mountaineers fell nearly 4,000 feet to their deaths. One body was never recovered, but the others lie in modest graves behind the park near the village church, surrounded by scores of other failed mountaineers. In summer, the streets of Zermatt fill with sturdy, weathered climbers who continue to tackle the peaks, and climbers have mastered the Matterhorn thousands of times since Whymper's disastrous victory.

Sporting expansive Palladian windows set in marble, the Alpentherme looks like a temple perched on the hill. Annexes contain a beauty center, shopping arcade, and bistro. The unique spa treatments here are the Roman-Irish bath, a two-hour succession of hot and cold soaks, vapor treatments, and a soap-brush massage; and the Valaisan sauna village, a course of steam rooms and saunas. Massage, herbal wraps, scrubs, and medical consultations are also on the menu. Children under eight are welcome with an adult at the pools for free, but they are not permitted in the sauna village or Roman-Irish baths.