Its population is around 7,000. The two valleys are Mattertal and Saastal. It borders with Brig-Gils.

The majority of the population is German-speaking.

With its 24 authentic Valais mountain villages perched on the mountain slopes and nestling in the Rhone Valley, and its five skiing areas, this varied holiday region is often called ‘the Valais in pocket format’.

The pretty little old town of Visp in the Rhone Valley is one of the most important cultural and wine-growing centres in the Valais. With the opening of the Lötschberg base tunnel, Visp became a new railway hub for visits to the central and upper Valais, and excursions to Saas-Fee, Zermatt, Leukerbad and the Aletsch Glacier. Its wide range of accommodation including hotels, holiday apartments, group accommodation, mountain huts and two camp sites makes it a perfect place to stay, away from the bustle of the big resorts.

Summer

With 500 km of hiking trails, the Visp region is primarily hiking country in summer, but there are also a wide range of tracks for bikers. Because of the dry, almost desert-like climate on the sunny mountain slopes of the Rhone Valley, an extensive network of irrigation channels was built centuries ago by farmers of the region. This is why the area is so fertile today. Discover the 28 different flowers used for making Bach flower therapies along a special themed trail in Eggerberg; then visit the wild, romantic Turtmann Valley, where you can watch tasty mountain cheese being made the traditional way in the show cheese dairy.

Winter

The ‘Rund um Visp’ ski region comprises two main ski resorts: the Augstbord region and the head of the Vispertal, including Visperterminen. 28 ski- and chairlifts ascend from these high plateaus to 2540 m. The carousel of ski resorts made up of Bürchen/Törbel and Unterbäch with Eischoll revolves around the Augstbordhorn, and a free ski bus runs between them. Those in search of peace and quiet should make for the slopes of Gspon, reached by cableway from Stalden or Staldenried. One ski pass gives access to all these ski regions, where you will also find snow-boarding, carving, cross-country skiing and winter hiking trails as well as prepared sledge runs. Every resort also has marked snowshoe trails offering three levels of difficulty. There is also an indoor ice-rink in Visp while Bürchen, Raron and Visperterminen have natural outdoor rinks.

Highlights

• Old town of Visp: Visp is the centre of the region and has a pretty little town centre.
• Visperterminen: the highest vineyard in Europe at 1150 metres. This is where the fruity-spicy Heida white wine is pressed from Traminer grapes.
• Raron: fortified hilltop castles and a baroque church dominate the historic old part of the town where the poet Rainer Maria Rilke chose to be buried.
• Safrandorf Mund: the only village in central Europe where the precious spice, saffron, has been grown since the middle ages
• Birkendorf Bürchen: visitors can re-energise themselves here in the shade of the birch-lined avenue with some fresh birch juice.

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Pürumärt – traditional farmers’ market (September).

Its location close to the glaciers of the Dom and the Allalinhorn provides winter sport opportunities throughout the year, and neighbouring peaks such as the Weissmies, the Nadelhorn and the Lenzspitze are popular climbs in the summer season. The community is considered to be a very attractive winter sport destination in the Swiss Alps. Typical activities include skiing, carving, snowshoe trekking, canyon climbing and ice climbing.

Saas-Fee offers 22 lifts, including 3 cable cars, 1 funicular railway, 5 gondolas (1 dedicated to walkers), 2 chairlifts, the remainder being surface lifts (draglifts). The ski run has a vertical drop of 1,800 m (5,906 ft), a top elevation of 3,550 m (11,647 ft) and covers 100 km (30 km beginner, 45 km intermediate, 25 km advanced). Other activities include snowboarding (halfpipe and park), paragliding, hang gliding, and tobogganing.

Saas-Fee can be reached by car or bus—postal buses run during much of the day half-hourly from Brig and Visp, though none provides a service beyond the bus terminal through the length of the town during the winter. No cars are allowed to enter the city (they have to be parked in special car parks outside); only small electric vehicles operate on the streets (and some petrol-driven garbage trucks).

The resort offers many culture, sports and off-slope activities, including classical music, a sports and leisure complex, restaurants, and nightclubs. The resort features the highest underground funicular railway in the world up to the skiing area and the highest revolving restaurant in the world at 3,500 m (11,500 feet). The touristic slogan of Saas-Fee is “Die Perle der Alpen” (The pearl of the Alps). The campus of the European Graduate School, is located in Saas-Fee.

Thirteen four-thousand-metre peaks encircle the Valais glacier village of Saas-Fee and its smaller, neighbouring villages of Saas-Balen, Saas-Grund and Saas-Almagell. Thanks to its rustic chalets, Saas-Fee – often also termed the «Pearl of the Alps» – has retained much of its traditional charm.

Even the journey to reach Saas-Fee – a route passing through the Saas valley with its scarped gorges and mountainsides – is an experience in itself. In car-free Saas-Fee, private vehicles can be left in the car park at the entrance to the village. The holiday resort of Saas-Fee lies at an altitude of 1800 metres at the foot of the 4545-metre-high Dom. The former village of mountain farmers has become one of the most popular Meccas for snowboarders in Europe. The underground Metro Alpin funicular railway leads right up onto the 3500-metre Mittelallalin. In clear weather, the lights from the Italian metropolis of Milan are visible from the highest revolving restaurant in the Alps. The ski region around the Mittelallalin offers year-round skiing and the 20 glacier pistes serve as a training ground to teams from throughout the world.

Summer

In addition to around 300 km of walking paths and numerous themed trails, it is an extraordinary experience to encounter the tame marmots that can be found beneath the Spielboden mountain station. More adventurous visitors might wish to cross the Alpin gorge, the brook gorge between Saas-Fee and Saas-Grund, passing along steep rock walls accompanied by a mountain guide. In the “adventure forest” in Saas Fee, those with a head for heights will be able to venture on various obstacle courses, swinging from a steel cable and passing from tree to tree across rope bridges, as well as whiz through the forest landscape on the «Feeblitz» summer and winter toboggan run. The Saas valley also has a 70-km-long network of mountain-bike tracks and a 3.5-km-long push-scooter route.

Winter

With its 22 lifts and 100 km of prepared pistes, the winter ski region of Saas Fee forms the heart of the entire ski region. In addition to Saas-Fee, there is a further ski area in the nearby region of Kreuzboden-Hochsaas above Saas-Grund. Twenty kilometres of winter walking trails and an 8-km-long cross-country ski trail are provided for non-Alpine skiers. Various toboggan runs, such as the 11-km-long toboggan run from Kreuzboden to Saas-Grund offer alternatives to skiing, while husky sled tours in which you can even control the sled yourself by using the necessary instructions are an unforgettable experience.

Highlights

• Allalin ice pavilion – the secrets of the glacier are vented for visitors within the permanent ice.
• Revolving restaurant – a far-reaching vista across the mountainscape is offered up by the revolving restaurant on the glacier of the Mittelallalin.
• Alpin gorge – fixed rope route crossing of the spectacular brook gorge using rope bridges and tyrolienne cables; only with a mountain guide.
• Adventure park – suspension rope park with courses of varying degrees of difficulty, in front of an impressive glacier backdrop.
• Feeblitz toboggan run – with its 55-degree incline, the tobogganing fun already starts during the ascent. Evening tobogganing on the illuminated route is a special experience.

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• Ice Climbing World Cup – the world’s most skilled ice climbers scale the 30-metre-high ice wall in the multi-storey car park of Saas-Fee (February).
• International Alpine Music Festival – the entire village of Saas-Fee becomes a stage for leading names from the world of folk music (July).

The history of Brig is closely linked with the Simplon Pass, one of the most beautiful alpine passes which starts immediately beyond the city gates. Napoleon built a road through the Simplon Pass in the 19th century to move his armies, thus creating the first man-made road in the Alps.

Brig is a perfect starting point for an excursion to Zermatt or Saas-Fee, for example. It also lies along the route of the famous Glacier Express, which links Zermatt and St. Moritz. Going south, Brig is the most northerly border station for the Simplon railway tunnel to Italy. To the east, you pass through Goms, and the Furka Pass leads to central Switzerland; the Grimsel Pass into the Bernese Oberland; and the Nufenen Pass into the Ticino.

Blatten above Naters near Brig, with its timber houses burnt a deep brown by the sun, is an authentic little Valais village. From here, a cable railway ascends the Belalp to a sun-drenched, traffic-free high plateau with the ‘Families Welcome’ seal of quality. Its attractions include the Massa Trail and Gorge, the Aletsch climbing path across the reservoir and ‘suonen walks’ along the historic Valais irrigation channels.

Summer

There are over 150 km of marked hiking trails on the Simplon and Lötschberg and in the Aletsch region. Cycle and mountain bike routes also abound. Experts will enjoy the tour to the Rosswald viewing plateau. The Brig Baths, one of the biggest open-air thermal centres in Switzerland, are thoroughly exhilarating.

Winter

On the Belalp above Blatten there are eleven lift facilities dotted all round the Hohstock (3100m) and 60 kilometres of sometimes quite challenging pistes, where there is guaranteed snow. The biggest attraction is the Hohstock ski tunnel: the gateway to a white paradise for deep snow skiers and freeriders.

There are small skiing areas near Brig on the sunny terrace of Rosswald and in Rothwald on the Simplon road. The ski areas of the Aletsch are also close by as is Goms, a veritable paradise for cross-country skiers.

Highlights

• Stockalper Palace: a baroque place built by the merchant prince Kaspar Jodok von Stockalper. He made his fortune by trading in salt, silk and other goods along the mule track he had extended through the Simplon Pass.
• The old town of Brig: interesting old town with aristocratic houses, a pilgrimage and collegiate church and Sebastians Chapel.
• Brig Baths: one of the biggest open-air thermal spa centres in Switzerland, just 6 km from Brig. It has a spa grotto swimming pool, water chute (182 m), fresh water and Olympic pools.
• Simplon Pass: the 35-km-long Stockalper road from Brig to Gondo is the backbone of the ‘Simplon Ecomuseum’, dedicated to the history of the Pass from the time of Stockalper to Napoleon.
• Aletsch Glacier: the longest glacier in Europe and part of the Jungfrau – Aletsch – Bietschhorn UNESCO world natural heritage site.
• Lötschberg south slope: a mountain walk along the dry, hot, step-like southern slope of the Lötschberg railway line: a walk famous for its panoramic views.
  • Belalp Derby: 12-km ‘descent of the witches’. 1000 participants, male and female, descend the mountain dressed as witches (January).
  • Sheep Festival: traditional festival with yodling competition and sheep-shearing on the Aletsch side of the Belalp (August).

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