Along the Rotten (Rhône), we hike to Reckingen, where in the mid-18th century local altar carvers and painters, organ builders, and bell founders built the baroque jewel of the Goms, the Marienkirche, within two years. We stay at the elevation of the villages on the sunny slope to pilgrimage to the solitary chapel in Ritzingerfeld. Together with the distant Weisshorn (4505 m), it is the photo subject of the entire route. After Niederwald, we leave the Rhône and railway line to find the Heidenhaus in Mühlebach, where Prince-Bishop and Cardinal Matthäus Schiner was born. He was a co-signer of the papal bull of excommunication against Martin Luther, papabile, and advisor to the pope and emperor. Over the three pillars of the Erner gallows, we find our way to the most beautiful village in Valais with a magnificent village square and one of the most distinguished rural village appearances in Switzerland. The mother church (St. Georg) of the lower Goms in Ernen holds some treasures; Jacobus is seen fragmentarily on the side wall.
- medium
- 17,53 km
- 5 hours 11 minutes
- 433 m
- 629 m
- start: Münster by the parish church
- destination: Ernen on Dorsplatz
Best Season
Good to know
- Cultural Interesting
- Stop at an Inn
Münster by the parish church
Ernen on Dorsplatz
On this alpine route to the Goms, frosty and windy conditions are possible even outside the winter months. Good weather protection is therefore doubly important.
Ernen received the Wakker Prize (Swiss Heritage Society) in 1979 for its well-preserved and well-maintained village appearance.
Further information and links are included in the POIs (Points Of Interest)