Valais - Lonely Planet

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144
Valais
As melt-in-your-mouth as the chocolate-box angles of Matterhorn, as cool as the slopes
in Verbier, as intoxicating as the wines of Salgesch – Valais is a salacious natural beauty.
Wedged into a remote corner of southern Switzerland, this is where farmers were so poor
they didn’t have two francs to rub together a century ago and where today luminaries
sip Sfr10,000 champagne cocktails at Coco Club.
This fickle canton can be as earthy as a vintner’s boots in September and as clean as the
aesthetic in Zermatt’s lounge bars, as splintery as a blackened barn and as smooth as velvet
ropes in Verbier. Although united in matters of cantonal pride, wine and glorious fromage
(cheese), the French- and German-speaking towns reveal idiosyncrasies. To the west Martigny
hides Henry Moore sculptures and slobbery St Bernards, while tracing the curves of the Rhône
east brings you to castle-topped vineyards in Sion and the baroque grandeur of Brig.
Marvellously eccentric and deeply traditional, Valais is a one-off. In snowbound winters
of yore, locals amused themselves with feats of weirdness. Today you’ll still find friendly
cow fights and dung-whacking festivals, hairy Tschäggättä prowling the lonesome Lötschental come carnival time and dreadlocked, black-nosed sheep patrolling pastures in
summer. Even the ubiquitous granaries are unique – built on stilts with stone slabs to
outwit thieving rodents.
Peculiarities aside, Valais’ landscapes will leave you dumbstruck: from the unfathomable
Matterhorn (4478m) that defies trigonometry, photography and many a karabiner to the
Rhône valley’s tapestry of vineyards, the polished teeth of Dents du Midi rising above
Champéry to the shimmering 23km Aletsch Glacier. Valais is a tale of rags to riches, of
changing seasons and celebrities, of an outdoors so great it never goes out of fashion.
HIGHLIGHTS
„ Striding, climbing or schussing in the
shadow of Switzerland’s pyramid-perfect
Matterhorn (p162)
„ Getting gooey over the tribe of slobbery St
Aletsch
Glacier
Bernards at Musée et Chiens du SaintBernard (p148) in Martigny
Leukerbad
Salgesch
„ Quaffing Pinot Noir at the source and
strolling sun-dappled vineyards in Salgesch
(p157)
VALAIS
„ Melting over the views of 4000m peaks
rearing above the seemingly never-ending
Aletsch Glacier (p168)
Musée et Chiens
du Saint-Bernard
Matterhorn
„ Drifting in the thermal baths of Leukerbad
(p160) set against a canyon-like backdrop
„ POPULATION: 298,500
„ AREA: 5224.5 SQ KM
„ LANGUAGE: FRENCH & GERMAN
Lake
Dix
Grand Combin
(4314m)
Lake
Mauvoisin
Fionnay
Mauvoisin
Dam
Great
St Bernard
Tunnel
nt
To Courmayeur
(2km)
Great
St Bernard
Pass
Bourg
St Pierre
Bourg
St Bernard
N21
mo
VALAIS
Mont Blanc
(4807m)
tre
Mont Blanc
Tunnel
En
Chamonix
l d'
Dranse
Va
To Saint Gervais (4km);
Le Fayet (5km)
Val d'Hérémence
Orsières
Champex
Vichères
Grande
Dixence
Dam
Euseigne
s
Le Châble
Mont Fort
Bruson
(3329m)
en
ér
Sembrancher
Nendaz
Mont Gelé
(3023m)
Verbier
Saxon
H
Martigny
e
ôn
Rh
Chandolin
Leuk
Arolla
Les
Haudères
St Luc
ITALY
Cervinia
Ferpècle
Zinal
Matterhorn
(4478m)
Ayer
La Forclaz
Evolène
Lake
Moiry
Grimentz
Vissoie
Vercorin
Sierre
Salgesch
N9
Torrenthorn
(2998m)
iers
FRANCE
Dents
du Midi
(3257m)
Les
Marécottes
d'
Val
Vex
Aproz
Hérémence
Sion
Montana
Crans
Leukerbad
Gemmi
Pass
Kandersteg
nniv
Dents
Blanches
(2728m)
Champéry
A9
Vétroz
Gstaad
N11
échy
Avoriaz
Bex
Villars
FRIBOURG
Ovronnaz
St
Maurice Lavey-les-Bains
Leytron
A9
Aigle
Le Sépey
VAUD
Montreux
Monthey
Troistorrents
Morgins
Lake
Geneva
(Lac Léman)
Vevey
A12
z
To Lausanne
(16km)
lie
'Il
ld
nta
che
Saas Fee
Gornergrat
(3090m)
Zermatt
Täsch
St Niklaus
Grächen
Stalden
Visp
Aletschhorn
(4195m)
Mönch
(4107m)
Jungfrau
(4158m)
Eiger
(3970m)
Lauterbrunnen
Vallée du Rhône
s
Löt
Goppenstein
Blatten
Fafleralp
l
Stechelberg
BERN
To Spiez
(8km)
rtal
Bulle
de R
Va
Val
d'A
erret
Val
rolla
N9
Saas Grund
Simplon
Pass
Brigerbad
Brig
Bettmeralp
Riederalp
Mörel
stal
Val d'A
Saa
Val F
Matte
Gondo
Simplon
Tunnel
Fiesch
Fiescheralp
Eggishorn
(2927m)
ne
ô
Rh
G la cie r
sch
et
Al
VALAIS
Niederwald
N19
Münster
Ulrichen
To Milan
(71km)
Domodossola
ITALY
Gletsch
Furka
Pass
Nufenen
Pass
Grimsel
Pass
0
0
To St Moritz
(172km)
Airolo
To Andermatt
(2km)
20 km
12 miles
Camedo
To Locarno
(13km)
Cevio
Bignasco
Cimalmotto
Bosco
Gurin
TICINO
St Gotthard
Pass
URI
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