At the very end of the Lötschental road, the Fafleralp mountain pasture attracts many hikers who love the wilderness. There is a large car park, two restaurants in season, a campsite without comfort, a romantic hotel, a chapel, two tiny hamlets and a breathtaking scenery.

This extraordinary place became a tourist attraction at the beginning of the 20th century, following the construction of the Hotel Fafleralp in 1908, when there was still no road.

In the 1950s, Charlie Chaplin regularly travelled to Fafleralp during the summer months with his family, on the back of a mule! The construction of the road in 1954 wiped out those heroic days, but you still feel at the end of the world...

The road ends at a huge car park, which unfortunately has to be paid for, giving rise to fears that we've arrived at a place designed for mass tourism, but you only have to stray a little to plunge into unspoilt wilderness.

To the east, a path passes the hamlet of Gletscherstafel, crosses the Lonza River and climbs towards the Langgletscher (‘long glacier’), one of the tongues of the great ice area of which the Aletsch glacier is a part. To the west, other paths lead to the hamlet, hotel and chapel of Fafleralp, then to the village of Blatten, further down the valley.

The photos that illustrate our page are extracts from two series of panoramas that we shot in July 2021 and November 2024. In summer, they take you eastwards along the Lonza River, while in autumn they plunge you into the golden atmosphere of the larch forests around Hotel Fafleralp.

These two panoramic walks are sure to inspire you to discover Fafleralp with your own eyes!

Useful links

Swiss Canton of Valais (iSwitzerland Guide) - Wikipedia