Leukerbad

Leukerbad sits at fourteen hundred metres in a bowl closed on three sides by cliffs, with the Gemmi wall rising a thousand metres directly behind the village. Its springs deliver very large volumes - several million litres a day at up to fifty-one degrees - and they have been used since Roman times, with the water reaching the pools without chemical treatment. Around thirty pools across several complexes make it the biggest thermal resort in the Alps. Goethe, Mark Twain and Maupassant all wrote about the place. A cable car climbs the cliff to the Gemmi pass, from where the old mule route descends to Kandersteg, and the village is also known to readers of James Baldwin, who wrote Stranger in the Village here.

What you actually see

• Millions of litres a day - untreated thermal water at up to 51 degrees.
• The Gemmi wall behind - a thousand metres of cliff closing the valley.
• Around thirty pools - the largest thermal complex in the Alps.
• A literary trail - Goethe, Twain, Maupassant and Baldwin all wrote here.

When to go

All year. Two days.

Honest expectations

The baths are busy at weekends and in holiday periods. The village is functional rather than pretty, dominated by spa buildings. The road up is steep and winding. Prices are resort level.

Nearby

The Gemmi pass is above by cable car; Kandersteg is over it on foot.