Valere and Tourbillon at Sion

Two rock hills rise straight out of the Rhone valley behind Sion, and each carries a building. On Valere stands a fortified church, part basilica and part stronghold, with thick walls, a walled precinct of canons' houses and an organ in the nave that is among the oldest anywhere still played, used for a recital series in summer. On Tourbillon, the higher and barer of the two, the bishops built a castle that burned in the eighteenth century and was never rebuilt, so what remains is walls, gates and a chapel open to the sky. The paths up are short, steep and dusty.

Highlights

• The basilica of Valere - a church built as a fortress, with carved choir stalls and painted walls.
• The old organ - the instrument in the nave, still played at concerts in summer.
• Tourbillon's ruins - curtain walls, gate towers and a roofless chapel on the bare upper hill.
• The valley view - the Rhone plain, the vineyard terraces and the peaks on both sides.

When to go

Spring and autumn are best, since the Valais is hot and dry in high summer and both hills are exposed rock with almost no shade. Tourbillon closes over the winter months. Morning is cooler for the climbs; the organ concerts on Valere run through the summer on set days.

What to expect

Both climbs are steep, on loose stone and uneven steps, and doing the pair in an afternoon in July is genuinely hard work. Tourbillon is an empty shell with little interpretation once you are up there. The basilica is charged and visited partly by guided route, and photography rules inside are strict.

Nearby

Sion's old town lies at the foot of the hills, with the Valais vineyard slopes above the town.