Brig - Surroundings

On the north bank of the Rhône is Brigerbad (alt. 655 m/2,149ft; pop. 185) with the first thermal swimming bath in a cave (air-conditioned, 38- 42 deg C/100-108 deg F) and the largest open-air thermal baths in the country.

About 14km/9mi west of Visperterminen is Raron (640 m/2,100ft) with a pretty 16th C. castle church where the poet Rainer Maria Rilke lies buried.

9km/6mi southwest of Brigerbad is Visp (alt.660 m/2,165ft), a little town of 4,000 inhabitants beautifully situated at the mouth of the Vispa valley, up which runs the road to Zermatt and Saas Fee. Remains of town walls; old houses with coats-of-arms. On a crag above the Vispa is a large church of 1761 with a Romanesque tower, and higher up the hill St Martin's church (1651, altered 1963), with an arcaded porch.

From Visp a road winds its way up the east side of the Vispa valley for 10.5km/7mi to the village of Visperterminen (1,340 m/4,397ft), surrounded by a network of irrigation channels. From the village a path, with Stations of the Cross, climbs to the pilgrimage chapel of the Visitation (17th C.: old organ). Chair-lift from Visperterminen to Giw (1,925 m/6,316ft).