Hiking

Wilderness. The great outdoors. The beauty of solitude.

The Vals valley extends over 153 km2 and has roughly 1,000 inhabitants; that makes it as sparsely populated as Greenland. And if you’re willing to exert the energy to climb the many mountains, there is a lifetime of new territory to explore here.

The Valserrhein springs from the Rheinwaldhorn (3,402 m above sea level), the highest peak of the Adula massif. In addition to the main valley, there are also a number of side valleys: Tomül, Peil, Canal. Trails over high mountain passes lead to neighboring valleys: Safien, Rheinwald, Val Blenio, Val Lumnezia.

Vals is also one of the main stopping points along the “Grossen Walserweg” [Great Walser Trail], which extends across the Alps from Zermatt to Kleinwalsertal in Vorarlberg.

An extensive network of hiking trails and mountain paths crisscrosses the Vals valley. And alpinists can take their pick of rock, snow, or ice and an assortment of roughly 50 peaks in the part of the Adula massif on Vals territory.

Vals 3,000 plus

The trails to these three-thousand-meter peaks were inaugurated on July 15, 2007.

Visitors expecting a strenuous climb to the top of the Faltschonhorn will be surprised at the ease of this alpine hike, but they certainly won’t be disappointed because this peak doesn’t skimp on elevation difference and it clearly breaks the magic 3,000-meter mark.

Among the blazed three-thousanders in the Vals Valley, Pizzo Cassinello is without a doubt more alpine than the rest. As one might suspect from its name, it is part of the ridge that marks the border to Italian Switzerland and the neighboring Valle di Blenio.

The Fanellhorn has a special status among the three-thousanders of the Vals Valley: it is the highest of the blazed three-thousanders.

Passes

 Tomül Pass crosses over to the Safien Valley, and the people who live here are Walsers too.

Of greater historical interest, however, is the Valserberg.

It was over this mountain that Vals was settled. The histories of the pass and the mountain haulers are inseparably entwined.

Situated at the back of the valley, surrounded by the tranquil high alpine world of the Rheinwaldhorn, is the Länta Hut (2,090 m above sea level), which is operated by the Swiss Alpine Club almost all year round. From the Länta Valley you can cross over into the upper Blenio Valley via Passo Soreda (2,779 m). Soreda Pass was used by farmers and herdsmen from Ticino for centuries as a connection route to the upper Vals Valley, where they tended their cattle and sheep on the Lampertsch mountain farm and in the Länta Valley.

Patnaul Pass leads to our Romansh neighbors in the Val Lumnezia.

Canallücke will take you to the Zapport Hut.

Furggelti is the only pass you can cross and stay in the same valley.

Link to Offer / Packages hiking the path of the Valais