Trient Valley
Intro
The Trient Valley (Vallée du Trient) links Martigny in Lower Valais via the border town of Le Châtelard with Chamonix, the well-known French resort at the foot of Mont Blanc. The Trient Valley is an untouched natural paradise with wild gorges, grottos, dinosaur tracks, and one of the Alps’ most beautiful glaciers.
From Vernayaz in the Rhone Plain, the Trient Valley seems almost unreachable. The narrow-gauge tracks of the cogwheel train “Mont-Blanc Express” Martigny - Châtelard - Chamonix conquer the valley-step in tight bends and ascend the sunny high plateau. Here you will find the small, tradition-rich resorts of Salvan, Les Granges, Les Marécottes and Finhaut. A cable car whisks guests to the hiking and skiing area of La Creusaz (1777 meters). An Alpine zoo and a beautiful swimming pool in the rocks await your visit.
At the entrance to the valley the first highlight of the Trient Valley can be found: a 200-meter deep gorge near Vernayaz that has carved the wild Trient stream’s path through the rocks. A bridge, built at a dizzying height in 1934, links the two rock walls that face each other. Deep below, near the stream, a spectacular footpath leads across wooden footbridges.
Take a side trip to the impressive 114-meter-high waterfall near Vernayaz, it’s well worth your while. In 1779 Goethe wrote: “At last we stood before the waterfall, which had earned its fame before all others.” Shortly before Le Châtelard, the magical Nymph Grotto in the Tête-Noire Gorge (Grotte aux Nymphes / Gorges mystérieuses de Tête-Noire) is reached by foot via an adventure trail.
