This mountain hike starts in Blitzingen. From the railway station, you go down to the Rhone river to the pretty hamlet of Bodmen on the other side of the valley.
The typical Valais houses and barns baked black by the sun stand closely together. Now, there is a steep rise, first through a spruce forest and then through the open larch forest. Above the forest, we reach Bodmeralp and not long afterwards arrive at the three small romantic mountain tarns: Mittle, Grundle and Grittlesee. After a four-hour climb, we reach the Ärnergale. The views reward you for your efforts. We walk along the broad back of the Ärnergale, past grazing sheep and cattle, on a gentle descent to Schäre. From here, there is a steep descent to Chäserstatt where an inviting mountain restaurant offers food and drink. You can also spend the night here. You then descend through the forest to Mühlebach, the village with the oldest village square in wooden construction in Switzerland.
In Mühlebach, twelve buildings built between 1381 and 1497 are located very close together. Here you can take the PostBus but buses run infrequently. A leisurely walk to Ernen makes for a pleasant last half hour. The old water course Ze Chännle is worth seeing. This used to channel the water high up above the ground to the fields on Galgenhügel (gallows hill). This is where they used to execute those sentenced to death. You can still see three pillars there to this day. In Ernen, it is worth taking a circular tour of the village which was awarded the Swiss Heritage Society’s Wakkerpreis for the preservation of its historical buildings and its village landscape in 1979. Ernen has also made a name for itself as a music village where first-rate classical music concerts take place every summer
All season
Even today, the small settlement of Bodmen displays all components of a genuine independent village; chapel, residential and utility buildings, trails, alleys and courtyards, scattered green area are integrated into a fascinating community.
Make a stop in the small hamlet and look at the sunburned houses: Mühlebach has the oldest village centre in Switzerland of timber construction. Here there is a signposted house trail leading to objects worthy of seeing.
Chäserstatt is a beautiful sunny spot in Switzerland. On the large sun terrace you can enjoy the overwhelming view of the Valais Alps and the Rhone Valley to the Weisshorn.
