WT01: Haute Route of Europe

Day 1: Brig. Fly to Geneva and take the train to Brig, exploring this small, charming city that owes much if its importance to the railway line, which is one of the main links between Northern and Southern Europe.

Day 2: Brig – Simplon. A short bus ride brings you to Brig-Ried, where you board a cable car up to the village of Rothwald, which is located on a mountain spur high above the valley. From here, the Simplonpass seems to be so close that you can almost touch it, however the walk to this pass takes a lot longer than it seems. Long it may be, however this walk is also extremely rewarding. Through a highly beautiful landscape, high above the Ganter valley you skirt through airy forests of larch trees until you reach the Bortelhut – a perfect place to take a long rest. From here, continue to the tiny village of Rosswald, situated at the Simplon pass road, from where you may take the bus to shorten the day. If you prefer to continue, you first descend down to the wild mountain river Taferna whose banks you follow now uphill on the historic “Stockalperweg” which finally takes you in wide bends up to the Simplonpass, where your first walking day ends.

Day 3: Simplon – Gspon. The day starts with a minor ascent, since you have to get across the Bistinepass (2417 meters) in order to reach the absolutely wonderful, untamed, lonely Nanz valley. The route takes you down to the bottom of this cleft, which is embedded into a marvellous mountain range, before you climb yet another pass, named Gebidum, from where the path gently drops to the small village of Gspon, high above the Matter valley, where a bed is booked for you.

Day 4: Gspon – Saas Fee. From Gspon, you have to work your way up to the small settlement of Oberfinilu, from where the track closely follows the bush line, which mainly consists of larks, that take a beautiful, yellowish colour in September or early October. Slowly, you ascend to the highest point of the day whilst crossing the steep slope of the Weissmies, before you drop down to the bottom of the Matter valley, to Saas Grund, from where you either continue your walk or take a bus for the final dis-tance to Saas Fee, your destination for tonight.

Day 5: Saas Fee – Grächen. It’s a popular route that you follow today, which is no surprise, as you walk high above the Matter valley, right opposite your yesterday’s walk. Your efforts are more than rewarded with a panorama that includes views deep down into the valley and over to magnificent, snow-covered mountains, glowing bright and white in the sun. An abundance of flowers accompanies you as you slowly ascent the Hanningalp, from where you have the choice to either walk to Grächen or take the cable car, which glides high above the tree tops down to your hotel.

Day 6: Grächen – Europahütte. As of today, you follow the “Europaweg” – at least during the first part of the walk, until you reach the village of Gasenried. From here, the regular “Europaweg” used to climb uphill and then con-tinued high above the valley to the Europahütte. However, due to intensive rockfall, this part track has been closed in 2018. However, since 2022 there is a new track ascending from the village of Heerbriggen back to the Europaweg and on to the hut. Which means, that from Gasenried your walk leads you through forest downhill to the bottom of the valley and onwards to Herbriggen. Now a fairly steep climb starts, the track leads you first to a small, summer-only settlement called “Geisstrift” where the newly built track starts, leading you first to a narrow gorge which can be overcome with the help of ladders and stairs. After this spectacular part, the walk continues, steeply in places and brings you back to the original Europaweg track. Once you have reached it, the Europahut is only half an hour away.

Day 7: Europahütte – Zermatt. Immediately after your start from the Europahütte, a new exciting feature awaits you. Due to a notorious area of constant rockfall, in the year 2017 a new suspension bridge was built to get safely across this area. So now, only a short distance from the Europahütte, you may enjoy the views from a bridge which is considered to be the longest suspension bridge for pedestrians in the world, stretching an incredible 550 m!

After this exciting start of your walk, you soon reach the original “Europaweg” again, which con-tinues to which to follow the mountain slope, high above the valley. The track in places leads through short tunnels and through sections where the track had to be built into the rock face. Eventually you reach the Täschalp, a place with a small restaurant and a fantastic view of the impressive Weisshorn. From here you continue on the regular high route, enjoying marvellous view of the surrounding mountains to Sunegga above Zermatt. Descend to Zermatt either by walk-ing downhill through the forest or by taking the funicular train.

Day 8: Return.