Val d'Anniviers

Val d'Anniviers climbs south from Sierre to a head ringed by four-thousanders - the Weisshorn, Zinalrothorn and Obergabelhorn among them - and its villages are built of larch that the Valais sun has turned almost black. What set the valley apart historically was transhumance of an unusual kind: families did not just move herds, they moved themselves, holding property at several altitudes and shifting between vineyard, village and alp through the year, so the whole community migrated up and down the slope by season - which is one reading of the name, from anni viae, the paths of the year. The valley's six communes merged into a single commune, Anniviers, in 2009. Grimentz is the best-preserved village, with flower-covered timber granaries; St-Luc has a planetary path laid out along a trail with an observatory at the top; Zinal sits under the glaciers at the end.

Highlights

• Sun-blackened larch villages - Grimentz above all, with flowered granaries.
• A community that migrated - families moving between altitudes each season.
• The planetary path at St-Luc - a scale solar system along the trail.
• Four-thousanders at the head - Weisshorn and Zinalrothorn above Zinal.

When to go

June to October, or the ski season. A day.

Before you go

The valley road climbs steeply with hairpins. Villages are working places, and Grimentz in particular is busy in season. Postbus connections up the side branches are limited. Weather at the head is far colder than at Sierre.

Nearby

Sierre and the Rhone valley are below; Val de Moiry branches at Grimentz.

Key facts