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 The western region of Switzerland and Valais extends to the east from the Furkastock mountain, the source of the Rhone river and the Rhone glacier at the Hotel Belvedere. To the canton of Vaud (french Geneva) in the west it does include most of the Swiss Alps area west of the Furka Pass. In the upper part, the upper Valais and Goms valley is Welsh or Schwyzer German spoken, while from Brig “westward” outweighs the French language. This area can be toured easily from two starting points in a day trip. On the one hand from Raron and the hotel Rarnerhof near Visp, located nearly in the center of the Valais and on the other side from the Berggasthaus Beverin at Glaspass
The Wallis or Valais, the valley of the Rhone, which bends slightly at Martigny north to Lake Geneva does supply easy crossover transit with the passes La Croix and Pillon over the Buendner Alps to Thun and Brienz with its lakes.
Also, Zermatt, Saas Fee and Leukerbad can be included in the tour, where these places are however heavily frequented by tourists. The canton of Valais is the most sunny canton of Switzerland and has the most sunny days in the year together with the canton of Ticino. Since it is very warm in the summer, we suggest traveling in the Western Switzerland region around Pentecost or at the beginning of October. The temperatures are then more pleasant for riding, the number of tourists become manageable and the prices are lower. If the weather should play a crazy role and snowfall should by a sudden start, which happend to us in in 2000, then you still have many escape options either by train car loading through the Loetschberg to the north, or through the Simplon or Furka pass railway car roll-on, roll-off. So you can even make it back to “civilization” at the end of the Valais valley up in Ullrichen.
The travel magazine "Alpentourer" and the portal "Biker beds" offer a wealth of places to stay in this region. The following recommendations are therefore purely our personal favorite and match purely our opinion.
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Hostel with 30 bedrooms with single-, double and multiple beds. Bathroom on the floor. Rustic old mountain house. Garage for motorbikes. Host rides motorbike himself. Located at Glaspass at 1.850m / 6.070ft above sea level.
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room charge incl. breakfast starting from
47,- SFR
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CH-7428 Glas/Tschappina
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www.berggasthaus-beverin.com
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GPS N46°40’39” E009°20’47”
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20 bedrooms with bathroom - some with balkony, TV. Terrace with beer garden, parking garage. Loctaed central in the Upper Goms in the middle of Grimsel-, Furka- and Oberalbpass. Tooling area with lifting platform. Touring advisor and guided tours.
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bedroom with breakfast starting at 70,- SFR, half course at 105,- SFR
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CH-3988 Ulrichen/Obergoms
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www.astoria-obergoms.ch
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GPS N46°30”27’ E08°18”24’
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6 single rooms and 9 double rooms in Valais style, shower, TV, WLAN. Beer garden. Located right in the center of Valais, therefore short access to the French passes. Getting ideal through the Loetschberg train car transport.
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bedroom with breakfast starting at 75,- SFR, half course at 100,- SFR
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CH-3942 Raron/VS
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www.rarnerhof.ch
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GPS N46°18’36” E007°48’0”
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Alpine pass name
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period opened
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altitude
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from - to
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driving time
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distance
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Col de la Forclaz
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the whole year
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1,527m/5,010ft
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Martigny - Chamonix Mont Blanc
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45 min
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42 km/26.1mls
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Col de la Croix
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June - October
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1,779m/5,837ft
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Les Diablerets - Villars-sur-Ollon
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30 min
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17 km/10.6mls
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Col du Grand St. Bernard
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June - September
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2,469m/8,199ft
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Martigny - Aosta
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90 min
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74 km/46mls
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Col du Pillon
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the whole year
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1,546m/6,072ft
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Les Diablerets - Gstaad
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40 min
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23 km/14.3mls
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Furkapass
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May - October
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2,431m/7,976ft
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Hospental - Gletsch
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90 min
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29 km/18mls
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Grimselpass
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June - October
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2,165m/7,103ft
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Innertkirchen - Gletsch
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120 min
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33 km/20.5mls
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Nufenenpass
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June - October
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2,478m/8,130ft
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Ulrichen - Airolo
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90 min
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37 km/23mls
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Simplonpass
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the whole year
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2,005m/6,578ft
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Brig - Domodossola
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55 min
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58 km/36mls
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Loetschberg Alp Transit
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the whole year
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1,200m/3,937ft
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Kandersteg - Goppenstein
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20 min
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34.6km/21.5mls
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We are member of the Alpentops 20, a platform of websites that cover travel in the Alps regions and supply significant additional information for trips in the European Alps. Owner of the site is Stephan Fennel from the agency DP Destination Publishing KG - the well known Alpentourer Magazin - which we highly recommend. The website has a translation engine for multiple languages and provides up to date information for travel in the European Alps.
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