Switzerland · Lake Geneva & Valais · Travel guide
What a few days above the largest glacier in the Alps really cost, why the three car-free villages are the better Valais for families, and how the guest card and railway pass keep you below Zermatt prices.
Photo: Oskar Gross / Pexels
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Estimates for orientation, not booking prices. Getting there means train or car from Switzerland, return, per person. Hotels vary strongly by season: current prices are behind the links below.
Money & payment: You pay in Swiss francs (CHF). Cards and the Twint app work practically everywhere, even on alpine pastures. Many shops accept euros but give change in francs at a poor rate. Service is included in prices; rounding up is customary. Getting there: By train (SBB) or car, 1 to 4 hours from Zurich.
Nine options in three price ranges, each among the best-rated on Booking.com.
Budget
Simple garni in the centre of Bettmeralp, a few minutes from the cable car and the pistes. Plain rooms with balconies, breakfast included, ski room. For skiers and hikers looking for a clean bed and the location, not the wellness area.
Family-run mountain house right by the Fiescheralp top station, the simplest and most honest hotel in the Arena, with a restaurant and sun terrace facing the Rhone valley. Plain rooms, half board good and cheap. Ideal as a starting point for the Eggishorn and the glacier trek.
Simple mountain house with restaurant and sun terrace on Riederalp, plain rooms, breakfast included. Uncomplicated and family-run, for hikers and skiers looking for an affordable bed on the quiet side of the Arena.
Mid-range
The Eyholzer family's four-star hotel in the middle of Bettmeralp, with a wellness area, good cooking and rooms with balconies facing the Rhone valley or the Valais Alps. Half board recommended, cable car and pistes within walking distance. The classic of Bettmeralp.
Several houses belonging to ski pioneer Art Furrer on Riederalp, from the Hotel Alpenrose to the Walliserhof, with an indoor pool, spa and a restaurant serving Valais specialities. Central at the Riederalp Mitte cable car, for families and skiers who want plenty of infrastructure under one roof.
Traditional chalet hotel near the chapel of Maria zum Schnee, the postcard motif of Bettmeralp, with a sun terrace, sauna and rooms in light Swiss pine. Half board with regional cooking, pistes two minutes away. For guests who want the village at the centre of things.
Luxury
Bettmeralp's four-star superior hotel with a large wellness area, panoramic sauna, a restaurant with refined Valais cuisine and rooms with views of the four-thousand-metre peaks opposite. Luxury in the Aletsch Arena means wood, quiet and service, not marble. The best house in the region.
Boutique chalet with a handful of suites in larch wood and natural stone, a spa with an outdoor whirlpool and views into the Rhone valley, restaurant with a set menu in the evening. For couples who want quiet, design and the mountains in peace; children are less the target audience.
Well-kept four-star hotel on Riederalp with a spa, pool and restaurant, rooms and suites with balconies and views of the Valais Alps. Quietly located but close to the Riederalp Mitte cable car and the golf course. For guests who want comfort on the gentler side of the Arena.
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Cable car from Fiescheralp in eight minutes up to 2,869 metres, return around CHF 60 (about EUR 64), considerably less with a Half Fare Card or guest card. The most complete view of the whole Aletsch Glacier from the Konkordiaplatz to the tongue, with the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau behind. Two hours with the summit circuit, dress warmly.
Gondola from Bettmeralp up to 2,647 metres, return around CHF 40 (about EUR 43), Half Fare Card and guest card valid, viewing platform directly above the ice and the "Gletscherwelt" exhibition on how the Aletsch Glacier formed. Less windy than the Eggishorn, the best choice for families. Two hours.
With a mountain guide, crampons and rope, three to six hours on the ice, to glacier mills, crevasses and meltwater streams, from Fiescheralp or the Bettmerhorn. CHF 90 to 150 (about EUR 96 to 161) per person, July to September, from ten years. The experience that makes the trip worthwhile.
Panoramic trail along the glacier from the Moosfluh (lift from Riederalp) to the Bettmerhorn and on to Fiescheralp, four to five hours, 400 metres of ascent, the most beautiful hiking trail in the region. Free apart from the lifts, July to mid-October. Guided with a hiking leader from CHF 50 (about EUR 54).
Circular trail from the Riederfurka through the Swiss stone pine forest on the glacier's edge with trees up to 1,000 years old, two to three hours, free. In the Villa Cassel the Pro Natura Centre with a glacier exhibition, alpine garden and tea house on the veranda, CHF 10 (about EUR 11), guided excursions in summer.
Walk from Riederalp across the 124-metre suspension bridge 80 metres above the Massa to Belalp, four to five hours, with views of the glacier tongue; return by the Belalp cable car to Blatten and PostBus to Brig. Free apart from the lifts, not for people with a fear of heights.
From Fiescheralp in an hour and a half through the tunnel or over the ridge to the former glacial lake at the foot of the Eggishorn, with a stop or an overnight stay at the Gletscherstube. Free, three to four hours return, the quietest place in the Arena. July to September.
104 kilometres of pistes between 1,900 and 2,900 metres, south-facing, sunny and made for families, linking all three villages. Day pass CHF 70 to 80 (about EUR 75 to 86), cheaper online and from five days, children under 9 free. Mid-December to mid-April.
On the Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn from Fiesch in 10 to 40 minutes through the Goms: Ernen with its village square and baroque church, Münster with its Gothic altar, in summer the Furka steam railway from Oberwald (from CHF 60, about EUR 64). Half to a full day, Half Fare Card valid.
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On the Aletsch sun terrace you eat Valais alpine cooking: raclette from Gomser cheese, dried meat, rye bread, Cholera from the oven and Fendant from the Rhone valley. The villages have few but honest restaurants, half board at the hotel is usually the best choice, and a picnic from the Coop with alpine cheese on the ridge above the glacier beats any terrace.
Valais raclette AOP, here often from Gomser cheese made in the alpine dairies in the valley, melted over the fire and scraped onto Gschwellti (boiled potatoes in their skins). CHF 8 to 9 (about EUR 9 to 10) per portion, all you can eat CHF 30 to 36.
Tip:Ask for the cheese from the alp you are standing on; Bettmeralp and Riederalp have their own alpine dairies with shops.
The Goms pie of potatoes, leek, apples, cheese and bacon in puff pastry, named after the epidemic of 1830. Hearty and filling, CHF 18 to 24 (about EUR 19 to 26) as a main course, CHF 6 to 8 for a slice to take away.
Tip:The Goms is where it comes from, and that is where it is best and cheapest.
Air-dried beef, smoked raw ham and the Valais house sausage with beef, bacon and red wine, on a wooden board with rye bread. Walliser Teller CHF 22 to 28 (about EUR 24 to 30), at the butcher CHF 7 to 10 per 100 grams.
Tip:The house sausage is the cheaper and often better cut, raw or lightly fried.
Raw-milk cheese from the summer alps of the Goms and the Aletsch terrace, mild to spicy depending on age, bought from the herder or at the alpine dairy. CHF 2.50 to 4 (about EUR 3 to 4) per 100 grams.
Dark, dense sourdough rye bread with protected origin, once baked only twice a year and kept for months, today refined with nuts or dried fruit. CHF 5 to 7 (about EUR 5 to 7) a loaf.
Tip:With butter, alpine cheese and a piece of dried meat, the perfect glacier picnic.
Fendant is the Valais Chasselas for raclette, Heida the Savagnin from Visperterminen at 1,150 metres, one of the highest vineyards in Europe, with nuts and herbs on the palate. Fendant CHF 6 to 7 (about EUR 6 to 7) per decilitre, Heida CHF 9 to 11.
Tip:Heida is the wine to try if you already know Fendant.
Valais supplies almost all Swiss apricots, fresh from July to August, otherwise as jam, dried fruit or in Abricotine brandy. Fresh CHF 6 to 9 (about EUR 6 to 10) per kilo at the stalls in the valley, Abricotine CHF 5 to 7 a glass.
Macaroni with potatoes, cream, cheese and fried onions, served with apple sauce, the herders' meal and the children's favourite at the mountain restaurants. CHF 20 to 24 (about EUR 21 to 26).
Tip:Portions are large, share one between children.
Through markets and eateries with a guide, tastings included.
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The Great Aletsch Glacier, around 20 kilometres long and holding 10 billion tonnes of ice, is the largest glacier in the Alps. It forms at the Konkordiaplatz below the Jungfrau and Mönch, where three firn streams merge and the ice is up to 800 metres thick, and sweeps in a wide arc south to the Massa Gorge above the Rhone valley. Its two dark medial moraines, which look like tyre tracks from the air, make it the best-known glacier in the world. The sun terrace above it, Riederalp, Bettmeralp and Fiescheralp at 1,900 to 2,200 metres, was purely a summer pasture for the villages in the valley until the 20th century: in June the farmers from Ried, Betten and Fiesch drove the cattle up, in September back down. The Aletsch Forest on the glacier's edge, with its Swiss stone pines up to 1,000 years old, was placed under protection in 1933 after a hotel project had been fought off; the Villa Cassel on the Riederfurka, built in 1902 by the English banker Ernest Cassel and where Winston Churchill holidayed as a young man, is now the Pro Natura Centre. The first cable cars reached Riederalp and Bettmeralp in 1951, and the villages decided early to remain car-free. In 2001 the Jungfrau-Aletsch region became the first natural heritage site in the Alps to be added to the UNESCO World Heritage list. The glacier now loses around 50 metres of length a year and has shrunk by more than three kilometres since 1870; forecasts predict the loss of most of it by 2100. If you want to see it, do not wait.
The three villages each have a valley station in the Rhone valley: Mörel for Riederalp, Betten Talstation for Bettmeralp and Fiesch for Fiescheralp. All three are on the Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn between Brig and Andermatt. From Zurich you travel via Bern to Brig (2 hours 10 minutes) and on in 15 to 25 minutes to Mörel, Betten or Fiesch, a good 3 hours in all, from Bern 2 hours 15 minutes, from Basel 3 hours. With a Half Fare Card, Zurich return costs around CHF 110 to 120 (about EUR 118 to 128) including the cable car up, which costs CHF 12 to 16 each way and half with a Half Fare Card. By car you drive via Bern and the Lötschberg car shuttle (CHF 29) or in summer over the Grimsel to Mörel or Fiesch, 3 hours from Zurich; in Mörel, Betten and Fiesch there are covered car parks right at the cable cars for CHF 8 to 12 a day, and your luggage goes up by cable car, where an electric taxi or the hotel vehicle collects you. Which valley station? Riederalp is the gentlest village with the Aletsch Forest and the Villa Cassel, Bettmeralp the liveliest with the Blausee and the chapel from the postcard, Fiescheralp the highest and quietest, directly below the Eggishorn, with the best access to the glacier.
From the villages themselves you cannot see the glacier; it lies behind the ridge. Four lifts take you up: Moosfluh from Riederalp (2,333 metres), Bettmerhorn from Bettmeralp (2,647 metres, with a glacier exhibition) and Eggishorn from Fiescheralp (2,869 metres), plus the Hohfluh. Each costs CHF 25 to 40 (about EUR 27 to 43) return individually, half with a Half Fare Card; with the guest card from your accommodation you ride the lifts within the Arena free or heavily discounted in summer from two nights, though the model changes by season and year, so ask at the hotel. The most beautiful view is from the Eggishorn: you see the whole arc from the Konkordiaplatz to the glacier's end and behind it the Jungfrau, Mönch and Eiger from the back. The Bettmerhorn has the viewing platform directly above the ice and is less windy, the Moosfluh is the gentlest with a circular trail and benches. The classic is the high-level walk from the Moosfluh to the Bettmerhorn and on to Fiescheralp along the glacier, four to five hours, a trail that ranks among the most beautiful in the Alps. You only get onto the ice itself with a mountain guide: the guided glacier treks run by the mountain guide offices in Fiesch and Riederalp cost CHF 90 to 150 per person with crampons, three to six hours, and are manageable for children from ten. It is worth the money, because you do not see the blue of the ice from above.
The Aletsch Arena is a holiday apartment region: of 14,000 guest beds, 11,000 are in apartments, and that is good for your budget. A two-room apartment for four people costs CHF 120 to 180 (about EUR 128 to 193) a night in the low season, CHF 200 to 300 in the sports holidays and in August, usually with a minimum stay of a week in winter. The hotels are small and family-run, mid-range double rooms CHF 160 to 220 with breakfast, often with half board for CHF 35 to 45 extra, which is worth it because the choice of restaurants in the evening is limited. Location also plays a part: on Riederalp the nicest spot is in the west towards the Riederfurka with a view into the Rhone valley, on Bettmeralp centrally around the chapel or by the Blausee, on Fiescheralp you have the least village and the shortest route to the Eggishorn. When booking, check how far the accommodation is from the cable car; your luggage is driven, but in winter you walk in ski boots. There are few price traps, only the visitor's tax of CHF 3 to 5 per night that appears on every bill and in return brings the guest card. For the sports holidays (February) and Christmas you book by October, for summer spring is usually enough, and the second half of September is often still available at short notice.
The Aletsch Arena is cheaper than Zermatt, but it is still Switzerland. First: the guest card from your accommodation is the most important piece of paper; in summer from two nights it covers the lifts within the Arena, in some years entirely free, and gives discounts on the indoor pool, glacier treks and the bus; ask at reception on the first day what currently applies. Second: the multi-day Aletsch Pass (from around CHF 60, about EUR 64, for two days with a Half Fare Card) covers all the viewpoint lifts, including the access cable cars from the valley, and is cheaper than single tickets from three rides. Third: food at the summit restaurants costs CHF 22 to 28 for rösti or cheese toast, in the village at lunchtime CHF 18 to 24, and every village has a Coop or Volg for the picnic, which here, with dried meat, rye bread and alpine cheese, is honestly better than much of what is served on the terrace. Fourth: for families there is a children's programme in all three villages in summer and free childcare on certain days; children under 9 ride many lifts free. Fifth: the ski pass costs CHF 70 to 80 a day and therefore 25 to 30 per cent less than in Zermatt, cheaper again online in advance and from five days, and in the pre-season in December there are ski-and-hotel packages. The cost trap is the water bottle: on the summits it costs CHF 6, at any village fountain you fill it for free.
The summer season runs from mid-June to mid-October, and the best time is July to mid-September: the high trails are free of snow, the alps are worked, the lifts in full operation. September is the quietest and clearest month, with larches turning yellow in early October, which makes the Aletsch Forest the most beautiful place in Valais. In August there can be thunderstorms in the afternoon; plan the glacier walk for the morning. Winter runs from mid-December to mid-April with 104 kilometres of pistes between 1,900 and 2,900 metres, south-facing and therefore sunny, snow-sure from January, in recent years not always in December. The February sports holidays are the busiest time, March has the best conditions for families with sun until 6 pm and spring snow in the afternoon. The shoulder seasons from mid-April to mid-June and from mid-October to mid-December are more noticeable here than in Zermatt: most hotels and restaurants close, the viewpoint lifts are under maintenance, only the access cable cars run. In return the region is then deserted and the apartments cost half, which has its appeal for a week of reading with a view into the valley. Two dates: mid-August is the Aletsch half marathon weekend on Bettmeralp, the end of June the cattle drive up to the alps, and in early October the villages hold Älplerfeste, alpine herders' festivals with cheese, raclette and music.
The Aletsch Forest is the real treasure of Riederalp: a forest of Swiss stone pine and larch on the glacier's edge with trees older than the Swiss Confederation, bilberries in August and chamois in the morning. The circular trail from the Riederfurka takes two to three hours, and if you carry on you come down to the glacier tongue. On the Riederfurka stands the Villa Cassel, the Pro Natura Centre with an exhibition on glacier and climate change, an alpine garden and a tea house on the veranda, CHF 10 (about EUR 11), an hour. Between Riederalp and Belalp, the village on the other side of the Massa Gorge, a 124-metre suspension bridge has spanned the glacial stream 80 metres up since 2008; the walk across and the cable car down to Blatten make a day with glacier views and few people. The Märjelensee at the foot of the Eggishorn was once a glacial lake with icebergs, today a small lake in a lunar landscape that you reach from Fiescheralp in an hour and a half through the tunnel or over the ridge, with the Gletscherstube as a hut to stay overnight. And down in the valley lies the Goms: Ernen with its village square and baroque churches, Münster with its altar, cross-country skiing from Oberwald to Niederwald in winter and the Furka steam railway in summer; all reachable on the Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn from Fiesch in 10 to 40 minutes.
By train from Zurich in a good 3 hours via Bern and Brig to Mörel, Betten Talstation or Fiesch, where you change to the cable car. With a Half Fare Card around CHF 110 to 120 (about EUR 118 to 128) return including the cable car. By car via the Lötschberg car shuttle or in summer over the Grimsel, car park at the valley station CHF 8 to 12 a day. Up top all three villages are car-free, your luggage goes up by cable car, and electric taxis and hotel vehicles collect you. You only need a car if you want to explore the Goms or the Rhone valley, and even that works by train.
Three days are enough for the essentials: one day Eggishorn with the Märjelensee, one day the high-level walk from Moosfluh to Bettmerhorn, one day Aletsch Forest and Villa Cassel. With a fourth day you can add the glacier trek, which is genuinely worth it. Families stay a week in summer and winter alike, because the apartments are let by the week and the children's programme is built around that. A day trip from Bern to the Eggishorn is doable, 2 hours 45 minutes each way.
With a mid-range hotel for two, lifts with the guest card or Half Fare Card, lunch on the summit and half board, expect CHF 170 to 210 (about EUR 182 to 225) per person per day. In a holiday apartment for four with picnics and self-catering that drops to CHF 90 to 120 including lifts. That is around 40 per cent below Zermatt with a comparable backdrop. In winter the ski pass adds CHF 70 to 80, the glacier trek a one-off CHF 90 to 150.
Riederalp if you want it gentle: Aletsch Forest, Villa Cassel, golf course, family-friendly and with the most hotels. Bettmeralp if you are looking for the liveliest village with the Blausee, chapel, indoor pool and the widest choice of restaurants, and as a ski base in the middle of the area. Fiescheralp if you want quiet, the quickest route to the Eggishorn and the glacier and the highest village, but with little infrastructure. All three are connected by paths and, in winter, pistes, so you will see them all.
Only with a mountain guide, and you should do it. The mountain guide offices in Fiesch, on Bettmeralp and Riederalp offer glacier treks from July to September: descent from Fiescheralp or Bettmerhorn, then three to four hours on the ice with crampons and rope, to glacier mills, crevasses and meltwater streams. CHF 90 to 150 (about EUR 96 to 161) per person, equipment included, for children from ten and normal fitness. On your own the glacier is life-threatening; the crevasses are invisible under snow.
Yes, better than many ski resorts. There are 72 kilometres of winter hiking trails, including the panoramic paths between the villages and to the Moosfluh, snowshoe trails in the Aletsch Forest, sledging runs on all three alps, cross-country skiing down in the Goms and the indoor pool on Bettmeralp. The viewpoint lifts also run for pedestrians, with walkers' tickets from around CHF 25 (about EUR 27) return. The villages are car-free and quiet, the southern aspect brings sun into the afternoon, and the apartments are cheaper than at the Matterhorn.
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