Sion, VS & the Suonen Trail
 

Is Sion in Wallis worth a visit? Absolutely! Here's our two day itinerary:

Hotel: Hotel du Rhone: Perfect hotel with one of the best breakfasts around. Highly recommended for its location, rooms and breakfast buffet

Weather: WARM with wind in the evening. Sion can get quite hot due to its location but we were glad to have our windbreakers with us in the evening when the wind blew through the town.

Sion history: once home to Celtic tribes, Romans and later became a seat of a Catholic bishop, which is why it has a small cathedral.

Day one:
- visited the lively market in the middle of the intact old town and was delighted with its food stalls.
- went to tourist information and got a map of a recommended walk around the town and up to the Chateaz de Tourbillion (castle ruins with fabulous views) and Valere Basilica (ancient church still used today). Bring GOOD walking shoes for the trails up the hills.
- Dinner at Grand Pont which was a delight! Reservations recommended

Day Two
Took the bus up to Bini for a stunning and relatively easy hike along one of the ancient waterways of the Walliser, called Suonen. Recorded as far back as the tenth century, these handmade waterways guided the water from the glacier or waterfalls into the dry parts of the valley. These waterways were often made of wooden canals attacked to sheer cliffs. They needed to be maintained constantly and many men lost their lives repairing or adding on to these mazes of wooden canals.

The suonen we visited was called Torrent Neuf, which led us along babbling streams, narrow trails along cliffs (all quite safe) and three suspension bridges. Seriously highly recommended!

Hope this motivates you to visit this lively and lovely town on your tour through Wallis!

It’s already on my itinerary for my next trip.
Copying your suggestions into my notes, thanks.

Bisse du Torrent Neuf got very popular in the last years, may be because it's the only bisse where you have to pay a entrance fee.
If you want to do a full day hike allog the whole Bisse (Bi in local French dialect, Suon in German dialect), you best begin at the bus stop Grimisuat Zegeard-Valan (bus from Sion) and hike then first along the BISSE DE GRIMISUAT up to the bridge over the Sionne river, then via the bridge over the Drahin to and along the BISSE DE DEJOUR to the bus stop Saviese Prafirmin (bus from Sion) where begins the BISSE DU TORRENT NEUF. Walk then all along the Bisse up to Restaurant Brac where you leave the Bisse on a signmarked trail up to Pont rouge bus stop (bus to Sion at 18.17 only from June 26th until August 17th, plus weekends until Oct 2nd). For a longer hike, go up to Coppet bus stop and then all along the BISSE DE LA TSANTRA up to Aven (buses to Sion every 1-2 hrs until 18.39).

Other Bisse hikes around Sion:
Les Mayens de Sion Les Plans bus stop - BISSE DE VEX - Planchouet (bus to Sion from 25.6 until 25.9.) - BISSE DU MILIEU - Haute Nendaz (bus to Sion),
La Vernaz bus stop - BISSE DE SALINS - Beuson bus stop,
Sion - BISSE DE CLAVAUX - Bridge over la Lienne - Chemin des Clives - Pt 923 - Chemin de Sarmona - GRAND BISSE DE LENS - Diogne bus stop - Tovachir - Darnona rope railway station - Retana bus stop (5min from Hotel Panorama) - BISSE NEUF DE VENTHONE - VARNER SUON - Varen bus stop,
Euseigne bus stop - Chouzet - La Vourmatte - BISSE D'ERNEYA - Praperrot bus stop (June 26th until October 23rd) - Les Masses (bus stop,)
Siviez bus stop ( 25.6 until 25.9.) - BISSE DE SAXON - La Tzoumaz (some hotels, sleep there) - BISSE DE SAXON - La Boveresse (end of the BISSE) - Col des Planches - Chemin, sommet du village (bus to Martigny),
Les Rousses (Rawil bound seasonal bus from Sion) - BISSE DE SION - Anzere (bus to Sion) - BISSE DE TSAMPE - Monteiller bus stop,
Niouc Les Saints Innocents bus (from Sierre) stop - rope bridge (check whether it's open ( https://pontsuspendu.ch/contact/) - Crouje - Les Voualans - BISSE DES SARRASINS - Pinsec - Mayoux bus stop,
etc, etc, etc,............

Neckervd, that's an incredibly well detailed route planner. I need to save that somewhere.

1) We didn't pay an entrance fee and I'm not sure where you usually would unless it's at that first little restaurant.
2) We had to switch buses at from Sion to Saviese Garage and then took a separate bus to Bini. We then walked back towards the information center and then onto the trail. On the way back, we ended up in Prafirim and took the bus back down a stretch and then continued along the Bisse de Lentine.

I found it a bit difficult figuring out which bus to take but luckily, one woman spoke perfect French in our group and we managed to find our way.

Here's a link that shows some of the suones listed above: Suone von Sitten | Suonen erleben in Sion/Sitten | Wallis Schweiz (valais.ch)

The best stop of a pubölic Post bus is Monteiller, along the Saviese - Chandolin s/Saviese line.

....or of course Prafirmin (Mayens de la Tzour line), but there aren't many buses.