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Central Europe
Switzerland

Valais

The Valais is exactly that: a long, narrow, L-shaped valley in the . The main cities in this region are along the river Rhone which cuts through the bottom of the valley, between its source at the Rhone glacier in the east and its temporary destination of in the west.
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Photo: Espandero, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Photo: Debugman, CC BY 3.0.

Essential Destinations

Top destinations include Sion and Zermatt.

Photo: Belappetit, CC0.
is the capital of the canton of Valais in . With a population of 35,000, it is the biggest city in the canton and a regional centre. The cantonal administration as well as many of the higher schools are located here.

Photo: Paul Asman and Jill Lenoble, CC BY 2.0.
is one of the most famous mountain resorts in , and attracts people from around the world. Located in the German-speaking part of Valais, its most popular sight is the iconic , one of Switzerland's most famous mountains.

Photo: Wikimedia, CC0.
is a town in the French-speaking part of Valais. It lies in the Rhone valley and is one of the economic centres of the region.

Destinations to Discover

Explore places such as Brig and Sierre.

Photo: JoachimKohlerBremen, CC BY-SA 4.0.
, officially Brig-Glis, is a municipality of 13,000 people in Valais in . The municipality is made up of two neighbouring towns, and Glis, with a third independent town Naters across the Rhone river to the north.

Photo: Famberhorst, CC BY-SA 4.0.
is a city in Central Valais. While the city is in the French part of Valais, there is a large German-speaking population and you will encounter many people being fluent in both languages.

Photo: Gürkan Sengün, CC BY-SA 3.0.
is the biggest town in the Saas valley in the canton of Valais. The valley is a destination for winter sport, with the slopes in being one of the few places in the region where skiing in summer is possible.

Photo: Chinalace, CC BY 3.0.
is a mountain spa and ski resort in the canton of Valais in . It is best known for its thermal springs and unique mountains scenery.

Photo: Fabienp, CC BY-SA 3.0.
is a German-speaking town in the canton of Valais. It is located in the Rhone valley and is a major industrial centre in the region. Its location at the intersection of three train lines and a big bus interchange make it a gateway to many of the towns and resorts in the upper part of the Valais.

Photo: Björn S..., CC BY-SA 2.0.
is a cosy small town in Valais, . It looks back on a long history, with the first mention in the year 200 as a Roman outpost. It is famous for its abbey.

Photo: Pvt pauline, CC BY-SA 3.0.
is a town in Canton Valais, . Although everyone knows the name , the area is actually made up of three communes - Crans, Montana and Aminona.

Photo: Tobi 87, CC BY-SA 3.0.
is a village in the Valais. It is the access point for the nearby villages of Fiescheralp, Fieschertal and Bellwald.

Photo: KlausFoehl, CC BY-SA 3.0.
is a resort town in the eastern part of the canton of Valais near . It has cable car access to a huge network of ski trails which are perfectly suited for intermediate and advanced skiers.

Photo: Carsten Steger, CC BY-SA 4.0.
is a protected area and a UNESCO World Heritage Site between the Valais and the in the . It was known as Jungfrau-Aletsch-Bietschhorn until its name was changed in 2007.

Photo: Xenos, CC BY-SA 3.0.
is a municipality in the district of Leuk in the canton of Valais in .

Photo: Mo4jolo, CC BY-SA 2.5.
is in the canton of Valais in . It is one of the most beautiful valleys in Switzerland. The larger villages are: Ferden, Kippel, Wiler and Blatten. It is also an access point to the UNESCO heritage site.

Photo: Storkk, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Val d'Illiez is a valley near Monthey in the region of Valais. Other than the town of Val-d'Illiez, Champéry is the most important town in the valley, being one of the pioneers of early tourism in Switzerland.

Valais

Latitude of center
46.2303° or 46° 13′ 49″ north
Longitude of center
7.6606° or 7° 39′ 38″ east
Population
349,000
Elevation
1,350 metres (4,429 feet)
Abbreviation
“VS”
Open­Street­Map ID
node 760018466
Open­Street­Map feature
place=­state
Geo­Names ID
2658205
Wiki­data ID
Q834
This page is based on OpenStreetMap, GeoNames, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons, and Wikivoyage.
We’d love your help improving our open data sources. Thank you for contributing.

Satellite Map

Discover Valais from above in high-definition satellite imagery.
© Stadia Maps, Airbus DS, CNES, PlanetObserver, and Copernicus

In Other Languages

From Afrikaans to Yue Chinese—“Valais” goes by many names.
  • Afrikaans: “Kanton Valais”
  • Albanian: “Kantoni Valais”
  • Arabic: “فاليه”
  • Arabic: “كانتون فاليز”
  • Arabic: “كانتون فاليه”
  • Aragonese: “Cantón d’o Valais”
  • Armenian: “Վալե”
  • Arpitan: “Canton du Valês”
  • Asturian: “Cantón del Valais”
  • Asturian: “Valais”
  • Balinese: “Kanton Valais”
  • Basque: “Valais kantonamendua”
  • Basque: “Valais”
  • Belarusian: “Вале (кантон)”
  • Belarusian: “Вале”
  • Belarusian: “Валіс”
  • Belarusian: “кантон Вале”
  • Bengali: “ক্যান্টন অব ভ্যালাইস”
  • Bengali: “ভালে ক্যান্টন”
  • Bengali: “ভালে, VS”
  • Bosnian: “Valais”
  • Breton: “Valais”
  • Bulgarian: “Вале”
  • Catalan: “Valais”
  • Cebuano: “Canton du Valais”
  • Central Kurdish: “کانتۆنی ڤاڵێ”
  • Chinese: “Valais Chiu”
  • Chinese: “瓦利斯州”
  • Chinese: “瓦莱州”
  • Chinese: “瓦萊州”
  • Chinese: “華麗州”
  • Chuvash: “Вале”
  • Croatian: “Valais”
  • Czech: “Valais”
  • Danish: “Valais”
  • Danish: “VS”
  • Danish: “Wallis”
  • Dutch: “Wallis”
  • Egyptian Arabic: “كانتون فاليز”
  • Esperanto: “Kantono Valezo”
  • Esperanto: “Valezo”
  • Esperanto: “VS”
  • Estonian: “Valais‘ kanton”
  • Estonian: “Valais’ kanton”
  • Finnish: “Valais”
  • Finnish: “Wallis”
  • French: “canton du Valais”
  • French: “Canton du Valais”
  • French: “Canton Valais”
  • French: “République et canton du Valais”
  • French: “Valais”
  • French: “VS”
  • Galician: “Valais”
  • Georgian: “ვალეს კანტონი”
  • German: “Canton du Valais”
  • German: “Kanton Wallis”
  • German: “VS”
  • German: “Wallis”
  • Greek: “Βαλαί”
  • Greek: “Καντόνι του Βαλαί”
  • Gujarati: “વાલાઇસ કેન્ટન”
  • Hebrew: “ואלה”
  • Hebrew: “קנטון ואלה”
  • Hindi: “वाले कैन्टन”
  • Hindi: “वैलाइस कैंटन”
  • Hungarian: “Valais”
  • Hungarian: “Wallis kanton”
  • Icelandic: “Valais”
  • Iloko: “Valais”
  • Indonesian: “Kanton Valais”
  • Interlingue: “Canton de Vallais”
  • Irish: “cantún Valais”
  • Italian: “canton Vallese”
  • Italian: “Canton Vallese”
  • Italian: “Vallese”
  • Italian: “VS”
  • Japanese: “ヴァレー”
  • Japanese: “ヴァレー州”
  • Javanese: “Valais”
  • Kannada: “ವಲಾಯಿಸ್ ಕ್ಯಾಂಟನ್”
  • Kazakh: “Вале”
  • Korean: “발레 주”
  • Korean: “발레”
  • Korean: “발레주”
  • Kurdish: “Valais”
  • Ladin: “Cianton de Valais”
  • Latin: “Valesia”
  • Latvian: “Valē kantons”
  • Limburgan: “Wallis”
  • Lingala: “Kanton ya Mbwaku”
  • Lithuanian: “Valė”
  • Lombard: “Canton Vales”
  • Luxembourgish: “Kanton Wallis”
  • Macedonian: “Вале”
  • Malay: “Valais”
  • Marathi: “व्हाले”
  • Mazanderani: “والیس کانتون”
  • Min Nan Chinese: “Valais Chiu”
  • Neapolitan: “Cantone Vallese”
  • Northern Frisian: “Wallis”
  • Northern Sami: “Valais”
  • Norwegian Bokmål: “Valais”
  • Norwegian Bokmål: “Wallis”
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: “Valais”
  • Norwegian: “Valais”
  • Occitan (post 1500): “Canton de Valés”
  • Ossetian: “Вале (кантон)”
  • Ossetian: “Вале”
  • Persian: “کانتون وله”
  • Persian: “وله”
  • Piemontese: “Canton ëd Valais”
  • Polish: “Valais”
  • Portuguese: “Cantão de Valais”
  • Portuguese: “Valais”
  • Portuguese: “Vallesi”
  • Portuguese: “Wallis”
  • Pushto: “والیز”
  • Romanian: “Cantonul Valais”
  • Romansh: “Chantun Vallais”
  • Romansh: “Vallais”
  • Russian: “Вале”
  • Russian: “Валлис”
  • Saterfriesisch: “Kanton Wallis”
  • Scots: “Valais”
  • Scottish Gaelic: “Valais”
  • Serbian: “Кантон Вале”
  • Serbo-Croatian: “Valais”
  • Sicilian: “Canton Vallisi”
  • Sinhala: “වලයිස් පළාත”
  • Slovak: “Valais”
  • Slovenian: “Kanton Valais”
  • Slovenian: “Valais”
  • Slovenian: “VS”
  • Slovenian: “Wallis”
  • South Azerbaijani: “وله”
  • Spanish: “canton del Valais”
  • Spanish: “Cantón del Valais”
  • Spanish: “Valais”
  • Swahili: “Valais”
  • Swedish: “Valais”
  • Swedish: “Wallis”
  • Swiss German: “Kanton Wallis”
  • Tachawit: “Tamurt n Vali”
  • Tamil: “கண்டோம் ஆப் வலைஸ்”
  • Tamil: “வலெய்ஸ்”
  • Telugu: “కాంటన్ ఆఫ్ వాలెయిస్”
  • Thai: “รัฐวาเล”
  • Tosk Albanian: “Kanton Wallis”
  • Turkish: “canton du Valais”
  • Turkish: “Valais kantonu”
  • Turkish: “Valais”
  • Turkish: “Valesia”
  • Turkish: “Vallais”
  • Turkish: “Vallese”
  • Turkish: “VS”
  • Ukrainian: “Вале”
  • Urdu: “والے”
  • Venetian: “Canton Vałexe”
  • Vietnamese: “Valais”
  • Vietnamese: “VS”
  • Waray (Philippines): “Valais”
  • Welsh: “Valais”
  • Western Panjabi: “ویلائس”
  • Wu Chinese: “瓦莱州”
  • Yiddish: “קאנטאן וואליס”
  • Yue Chinese: “華麗州”

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About Mapcarta. Data © OpenStreetMap contributors and available under the Open Database License". Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license, except for photos, directions, and the map. Description text is based on the Wikivoyage page “Valais”. Photo: Debugman, CC BY 3.0.