Rhône Valley

Cantons: Valais (VS), Vaud (VD) and Geneva (GE)

The Rhône rises in the Bernese Oberland, flows through Swiss territory for 260km/162mi and then enters France, eventually reaching the Mediterranean after a total course of 810km/503mi.

The best way of seeing the Rhône valley is to travel upstream. In this direction the route passes through a great variety of scenery, rising to a culmination in the majestic landscapes of the High Alps.

The Rhône valley, which with its lateral valleys occupies the whole of the canton of Valais (German Wallis), is a longitudinal trough up to 3km/2mi wide between the steeply scarped southern slopes of the Bernese Alps, from which tumble a succession of short and swift mountain streams, and the main ridge of the Valais Alps, some 30-40km/19-25mi away, the deep side valleys of which originate for the most part on terraces above the Rhône valley. The valley floor, originally littered with rock debris, has mostly been brought into cultivation through the regulation of the river and is now covered with fields of maize and vegetables and fruit orchards. On the higher slopes and terraces, fields, forests and Alpine meadows. Irrigation is necessary due to the shortage of rain and is provided by a network of channels (bisses), mostly fed by glacier water.