The name of the village, Gletsch, says it all: it is clearly a place near a glacier. That was indeed the case 150 years ago. Today, the Gletsch Nature Trail bears witness to the once mighty presence of the Rhone Glacier.

The icy tongue of the Rhone Glacier once extended as far as the valley floor and guests at the “Grand Hotel Glacier du Rhône” were able to dine with a view of the ice flow.

Lasting just under half an hour, the nature trail runs from the “Glacier du Rhône” hotel in Gletsch by the Furka Pass through the foreland of the Rhone Glacier. Six information points describe moraine walls dating from various eras, pioneer plants, the dynamics of a glacier river (the Rhone in this case), fauna in and alongside the stream, wetlands and low-moor bogs.

The “Grand Hotel Glacier du Rhône”, where the atmosphere of the golden age of Alpine passes at the start of the 19th century lives on, is well worth a visit.