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Leukerbad, Switzerland
Switzerland

Things to do in Leukerbad

Why you should go

Ninety seconds on Leukerbad

A spa village at 1,411 metres in a closed bowl under the Gemmi wall, where 3.9 million litres of thermal water come out of the ground every day at 51 degrees. The Romans used it and it has been a cure town since the sixteenth century. The cliff behind it is climbed by a cable car to the Gemmi pass, which was the mule road to Bern and is still a walking route over the top. Goethe, Mark Twain and James Baldwin all wrote about the place.

6 places on record

Things to do

6
  1. Dala Gorge

    Dala Gorge

    Canyon · 1.5 hr

    A gorge below the village carrying the Dala down towards Leuk, with a walkway pinned to the rock and bridges crossing it. The path continues to the valley floor and can be done one way with the bus back up.

  2. Daubensee

    Lake · 2 hr

    A shallow lake on the Gemmi plateau at 2,207 metres with no visible outflow, draining through the karst instead. The walk around it from the pass station is flat and takes about an hour, which is unusual for anywhere at this height.

  3. Gemmi Pass

    Viewpoint · 4 hr

    A pass at 2,314 metres reached by cable car straight up the cliff behind the village, on the old mule road from the Valais to Bern. The path down the far side to Kandersteg is a full day and the one down the cliff face is a series of galleries cut in the sixteenth century.

  4. Les Sources des Alpes

    Hotel

    A small hotel with its own thermal pools fed from the springs, in a garden at the quiet end of the village away from the public baths. It is the address that treats Leukerbad as a cure town rather than a water park.

  5. Leukerbad Therme

    Landmark · 3 hr

    The largest thermal spa complex in the Alps, with pools indoors and out fed straight from the springs at about 36 degrees in the bathing basins. Sitting in the outdoor pool with the Gemmi wall directly above is the whole point of coming here.

  6. Torrenthorn

    Viewpoint · 3.5 hr

    A summit at 2,998 metres above the village that sees the whole Valais chain from the Mischabel round to Mont Blanc, reached by lift to Rinderhutte and then about two hours of walking. It is the clearest single view of the four-thousanders on this side of the valley.

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