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Hotel Belalp and the Aletsch Glacier, summer 2023

Bivio / Valais

Hiking in Valais

What to see, what flowers up high, what to eat, and 11 hikes to get there on foot, from 2 h 20 to 5 h 25 of walking.

See first

The spots not to miss, and the hike that takes you there.

The MatterhornGrande Dixence DamPfyn Forest (Bois de Finges)Trient Gorge1Stellisee2Charles Kuonen Suspension Bridge3Aletsch Forest and Villa Cassel4Moiry Dam5Grand Bisse d'Ayent at Torrent-Croix6Lac de Champex7Emosson Dam

The numbers are the places just below. The white dots are where the hikes start.

The Stellisee and the Matterhorn

1Stellisee

The Matterhorn is reflected in it, a 20-minute walk from the Blauherd gondola.

Getting there on foot

5-Seenweg Zermatt3 h 15From Zermatt, Blauherd to Zermatt, Sunnegga

Panorama of the Charles Kuonen suspension bridge, with the Weisshorn in the background

2Charles Kuonen Suspension Bridge

494 m long, 65 cm wide, and up to 85 m of empty air under your feet, above the Grabengufer.

Getting there on foot

Randa Hängebrückenweg3 h 10Loop from Randa

Aletsch Glacier and the Aletsch Forest Nature Reserve in autumn

3Aletsch Forest and Villa Cassel

More than 400 hectares of Swiss stone pines and larches, left to themselves since 1933. The Pro Natura centre welcomes you in the Villa Cassel, just above the Riederfurka.

Getting there on foot

Blatten, Belalp → Riederalp, Riederfurka3 h 45From Blatten, Belalp to Riederalp, Riederfurka

Lac de Moiry and the Moiry Dam

4Moiry Dam

A wall 148 m high, finished in 1958, with 77 million m³ of water behind it.

Getting there on foot

Tour du Lac de Moiry4 h 45Loop from Moiry, Barrage

The passage on boutsets (wooden brackets) at Torrent-Croix, along the Ayent bisse

5Grand Bisse d'Ayent at Torrent-Croix

The bisse runs along the Torrent-Croix cliff on rebuilt wooden walkways, with a handrail. Only for people with no fear of heights.

Getting there on foot

Grand Bisse d'Ayent3 h 10From Tseuzier, Barrage to Arbaz, Etang-Long

Champex (Valais)

6Lac de Champex

Rowing boats, pedal boats, an alpine garden and an artillery fort by the water. In summer, the village of Champex-Lac is a stage on the Tour du Mont-Blanc.

Getting there on foot

La Fouly → Champex-Lac4 h 30From La Fouly to Champex-Lac

The Emosson area, looking towards the Tour Sallière

7Emosson Dam

Building it flooded the old Barberine dam, from 1920, and moved the border with France. Behind the wall: 225 million m³ of water.

Getting there on foot

Sentier du Balcon du Mont-Blanc3 h 15From Finhaut to Emosson, Barrage

A little further away

  • The Matterhorn

    First climbed on 14 July 1865 by Edward Whymper's rope team; four of the seven climbers died on the way down.

    It shows up in the panorama of 4 of our hikes, including the five lakes of Zermatt.

  • Grande Dixence Dam

    A wall 285 m high. Valais/Wallis Promotion calls it the "highest gravity dam in the world". Tours from early June to late October.

    Our nearest hike, the Lac de Moiry loop, is 12.7 km away.

  • Pfyn Forest (Bois de Finges)

    A pine forest and a floodplain, protected since 1997. The Pfyn-Finges park counts it among "the largest pine forests in the Alps".

    Our nearest hike is 5.7 km away.

  • Trient Gorge

    From the bottom of the gorge, you see the Gueuroz bridge 200 m above you. Open from May to October.

    Our nearest hike is 4.9 km away.

Nature, month by month

When things flower, when the animals show up: the mountains, month by month.

LarchIt flowers in May and June; its needles turn gold in autumn.
Alpenrose (rusty-leaved)It flowers on heaths and in mountain woodland.
EdelweissIt flowers on stony grassland and limestone rocks.
Alpine ibexSummer up high, winter lower down.
birthsfightsrut
Alpine marmotFrom late September, it goes underground for the winter.
hibernation
Spotted nutcrackerAll year round; it's the one that plants the stone pines, by hiding their seeds.
Bearded vultureAll year round, but rare: 24 to 30 pairs in Switzerland.
A marmot in the Val de Moiry, above Lac de Moiry

Marmots

There are lots of them on the rocky slopes of the Panorama 4000, and they disappear in late September to hibernate.

Sentier Panorama 40004 h 30

What to eat in Valais

Local produce, the ones with an official designation.

Weekend ideas

Two hikes close together, the train or bus in between, and a good reason to do both.

The Mattertal, from the bridge to the five lakes

Randa Hängebrückenweg3 h 10then5-Seenweg Zermatt3 h 15

Train, funicular and gondola from Randa to Blauherd: about 45 min. Check the timetable on the day.

Same valley, two giants: the Weisshorn above the bridge, the Matterhorn in the lakes.

Val d'Anniviers, from the bisses to Lac de Moiry

Vercorin → Grimentz5 h 25thenTour du Lac de Moiry4 h 45

Bus from Grimentz to the Moiry dam: about 20 min, summer service: in 2026, daily from 27 June to 11 October, weekends only before and after. Check the timetable on the day.

Two faces of the Val d'Anniviers: the old villages along the bisses, then the dam and its lake.

Two 15th-century bisses

Sentier Panorama 40004 h 30thenGrand Bisse d'Ayent3 h 10

Bus from Aminona to the Tseuzier dam: about 1 h 30. The Tseuzier shuttle runs from 20 June to 1 November 2026: Wednesday to Sunday until 23 August, then on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays. Check the timetable on the day.

Two 15th-century bisses, whose starting points are less than 4 km apart.

When to go

The lifts and summer buses that take you to the start, with their dates.

At altitude, there can be snow even in summer, and in late autumn some bridges or cables are taken down. For the Randa bridge, check the municipality's page first. Randa council information

Stories from the region

What happened where you're about to walk.

The Moiry Dam, with its lake and glacier in the background

A wall built from 1954 to 1958

Four years of building work, from 1954 to 1958, for a 148 m wall. With it, Grimentz turns to industry, then to tourism. And it could still grow by nine metres.

Tour du Lac de Moiry4 h 45
Tyndall monument, looking towards the Great Aletsch Glacier

Belalp, Tyndall's summer retreat

From 1877 to 1893, the Irish physicist John Tyndall spends his summers at Belalp, in a villa he had built there. He studies how glaciers flow, and he had made the first ascent of the Weisshorn in 1861.

Blatten, Belalp → Riederalp, Riederfurka3 h 45
The Fee Glacier in Saas-Fee.

Glacier Clara's café

In 1885, a café opens at the edge of the Fee glacier, its materials carried up on the back of the village's only mule. Clara goes up every summer, and her brother Cäsar digs a new ice cave every year.

Gemsweg Saas-Fee2 h 20

The 11 hikes

From shortest to longest.

Questions people ask

How many hikes are there in Valais?

11 hikes, from 2 h 20 to 5 h 25 of walking according to SwitzerlandMobility: Gemsweg Saas-Fee, Grand Bisse d'Ayent, Randa Hängebrückenweg, 5-Seenweg Zermatt, Sentier du Balcon du Mont-Blanc, Blatten, Belalp → Riederalp, Riederfurka, Gampel → Ausserberg, La Fouly → Champex-Lac, Sentier Panorama 4000, Tour du Lac de Moiry and Vercorin → Grimentz.

Which is the shortest hike in Valais?

Gemsweg Saas-Fee: 2 h 20 of walking according to SwitzerlandMobility, 7.9 km, 190 m of climbing.

Which is the longest hike in Valais?

Vercorin → Grimentz: 5 h 25 of walking according to SwitzerlandMobility, 16.8 km, 900 m of climbing.

Which hikes are technically easy in Valais?

SwitzerlandMobility rates these stages as technically easy: Gampel → Ausserberg, La Fouly → Champex-Lac, Sentier du Balcon du Mont-Blanc and Vercorin → Grimentz.

Can you do these hikes by public transport?

10 of the 11 hikes end at a public transport stop; each page shows the next departures from the finish.