Gorges

Romainmotier - La Sarraz

Wonder and explore... Visitors are treated to an impressive water display at the wild Choleren Gorge in Adelboden augmented by bridges and stairs.

Along a gallery of rocks and crossing under the Rhine. The path into the gorge was hewn is a seven-year labor of love (1907 - 1914) by Christian Pitschen-Melchior.

Sparse, Alpine and rocky, yet welcoming, too. Spread out beneath the visitor's feet, Ursern looks surprisingly peaceful, especially when you have just emerged from the hairpin bends of the Schöllenen-Schlucht ravine.

Healing hot water jets, up to 37° C warm, surge from the ground in the Tamina Gorge, sometimes forming geysers up to 70 m high. The first guests were lowered in baskets, and soon a spa came into existence.

Over thousands of years, ice and melt water of the Aletsch Glacier have carved fascinating forms and formations in the rock: the Massa Gorge.

Wherever the waters of the Jura tried to carve their way through the pleats of the Jura, gorges were created. And so it is with the Gorges de l'Areuse.

A natural catastrophe that happened about 14,000 years ago is responsible for the interesting landscape at the entry of the Surselva. When the mighty Rhine Glacier retreated in the interglacial period the Northern flank of the mountain, where the village of Flims is these days, lost its hold: 15 billion cubic meters of rocks and mud slid into the valley and dammed up the Rhine.

Less than one kilometer from the Village Square a thermal source footbridge crosses the Dala Gorges at Leukerbad.

In the olden days, those that crossed the Gotthard Pass still had a long way to the plains far below. There was another barrier in Rodi in the Upper Leventina: the narrow Piottino Gorge carved out of the Monte Piottino by the Ticino River.

The Durnand Gorge has been made accessible thanks to a network of tunnels, staircases and galleries that is 1 km long.

The trail leading through the gorge was completely renovated in 1995. It is a good job that the trail is so sturdy: the gangways, galleries and stairs lead across some vertigo-inducing heights.

Over thousands of years the tumbling waters of the young Aare gradually eroded a passage by rushing and gurgling their way ever deeper into the rock until the present gorge with its niches, grottoes and hollows was formed.

The Rosenlaui Glacier Gorge has attracted romantics from near and far for more than a century. The Weissenbach River has carved a way into the slate and limestone. A narrow hiking trail follows the rushing mountain stream step for step. In some areas, the gorge is so narrow that the highly polished cliffs seem to nearly touch, leaving only a sliver of sky.

A canyon experience of a special kind is the crossing of the Gorge Alpine between Saas Fee and Saas Grund.

The Via Mala Gorge, 5 km from Thusis, is the largest gorge in the canton of Graubünden, in parts only a few meters wide, with rocks up to 300 m high forming its walls.

The Blenio Valley is where the "Sentiero Basso" is, a hiking path following the valley from Biasca to Olivone. It passes through Aquarosse, and touches some nearly virginal parts of the Ticino. Every once in a while one will find a hidden treasure, such as the Romanic belfries, the baroque churches and the medieval castle ruins.

The Trient river, which rose from the glacier of the same name, gouged the 200 metre-deep gorge in the rocks. A bridge built in 1934 connects the 187 metre-high walls on either side of the river, and a path has been constructed along the river itself, turning the area into a real paradise for climbers and botanists.

Fun, adventure, adrenalin rush and nature in the wild - the promise of a canyoning adventure in the Wolfs Gorge.

A romantic hike leads from Grellingen on the river Birs through the green, densely forested gorge of the river Ibach to the little village of Meltingen.

An ideal starting and finishing point is the train stop and the inn at Schwarzwassergraben, where at the end of your hiking tour you can expect a wholesome repast.

The rugged Arnon Gorge between Vuiteboeuf and Ste-Croix in the Jurassic mountains of Vaud beckons not only with myriad adventures in pristine nature, but also with very potent energy sources. A map describes the way.

Along the river Orbe, across bridges and foot-bridges and through tunnels.