A few facts about the mountain villages

  • The world-famous hotelier Caesar Ritz came from the Niederwald municipality of Goms.
  • Fieschertal is one of the largest municipalities in Valais in terms of surface area. It is home to both the Jungraujoch and its railway station, which is the highest in Europe.
  • Mühlebach in the municipality of Ernen is home to the oldest village centre in Switzerland consisting of wooden structures.
  • Bister (32) and Gondo-Zwischbergen (77) are the smallest municipalities in Valais with fewer than 100 inhabitants.
  • The highest football stadium in Europe is located in Gspon in the municipality of Staldenried.
  • Delicious Heida wine flourishes in Visperterminen, the highest vineyard in the Alps.
  • With its variety of different rocks, the municipality of Binn is one of the richest mineral regions in the world.
  • One of the oldest trees in Switzerland stands in Obergesteln in the municipality of Obergoms.

Mountains and valleys

Attractive jobs are just as important and valuable for a region as space for leisure and recreation or a productive agricultural industry. Mountain regions or agglomerations? Valais needs and lives from both.

Urban character, mountain air

Cities are the engines of economic and social development. In Upper Valais, the agglomeration based around the valley communities of Brig-Glis, Visp and Naters fulfils this role and in the Francophone part of Valais, it is the cities of Sierre, Sion, Martigny and Monthey. The cultural and leisure activities on offer in the largest municipalities are very broad in terms of their population density. If you still want to feel the pulse of a big city, Zurich, Basel, Geneva, Lausanne, Bern and Milan are just a short journey away. Access to these hubs allows Valais’s towns and cities to stay connected to the world, while still being able to breathe fresh mountain air day in, day out.
 

 

The idyll of village life

Village life is becoming more attractive, even for born and bred city dwellers. In addition to rural tranquillity and inexpensive real estate, improved mobility and the Internet are making a strong case for settling down in a village. The standard of living hardly differs from that in the valley, and there’s plenty of space to enjoy outside your own four walls. Far removed from the hustle and bustle of the urban centres, mountain villages offer a direct connection to nature. Life in a small community is multi-generational and multi-layered, and meeting new people is as easy as can be. Above all, village life is about tranquillity and manageability.