Raron, Valais, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss Alps in winter means snowy peaks and rosy-cheeked skiers to many of us, but the image doesn’t match everyone’s needs.

Photo: (click image to view larger) Raron is mostly flat but narrow old streets leading up to the church have a charming mix of buildings from several periods.

The mountains can be hard going for older people who have trouble walking on slopes or whose health problems mean they should stay at low altitudes, as well as other people with physical disabilities. Some young children are too big to carry or put in strollers, but their endurance is short.

Raron and Sankt German in Valais make a good weekend or even day outing from the Lake Geneva region, particularly with visiting grandparents from abroad who are uncomfortable going high in the Alps in winter. Raron is on the Sierre-Visp train line and Sankt (St) German, a short 2 km away, has regular Post bus service, even on weekends. By car, Raron is 4km beyond the new Loetschberg tunnel turnoff, coming from Geneva or Lausanne. If you’re driving, the Pfyn (Finges in French) national forest between Sierre and Salquenen/Salgeschan offers lovely walks on flat shoreline along the wilder stretches of the Rhone. An exhibit on endangered birds runs until September at the park’s new (2007) museum.

Compared to the grand resorts nearby, such as Saas Fee, Zermatt and the Bettermeralp with the Aletsch glacier, a visit to the Rhone and Raron, Sankt German is quiet stuff. But the Alps rise magnificently around you, the weather is often balmy and dry, there are few if any icy patches for people who have to worry about slipping.

Raron is touted by the Valais tourism office as the resting place of poet Rainer Maria Rilke, whose burial place is in the shadow of the town’s magnificent rock-top church.

Rilke,
Austrian, is considered one of the great German poets of the 20th
century but he also wrote hundreds of poems in French in honour of the
Valais, where he chose to spend much of his adult life.

Raron it is also a wonderfully, mostly flat village on the northern
edge of the Rhone River, with several informal as well as sign-posted
walks. An easy one with someone who is unhappy climbing hills is a
10-30 minute meander through the architectural treasures of the old
town.

A little more energy is required to walk up to the church, with
its magnificent views. For those with the health and a bit more energy,
a climb up the path directly behind the village is relatively easy.
Within 10 minutes you’re in uninhabited terrain with spectacular views
towards the southern Alps. For the true hikers in the family there are scrambles, gorges and more in the neighbourhood.

Or you can walk to St German, a pleasant half-hour stroll along a
flat stretch between a narrow canal and the Air Zermatt airstrip. On a
sunny day you are as likely to find kite fliers as small planes, and
horses across the canal barely pause in their grazing to look at you.
Trains come by frequently. St German is built into the hillside, 500
metres above the road, so you need to be able to walk up this last
stretch or wait for the bus and take a two-minute ride.

However you get there, a short wander among the old houses, with their piles of hay for goats and sheep, neatly stacked wood is in order. The village has dozens of vineyards, which date back to Roman times. Longer hikes are always an option, but count on climbing. A cup of foamy coffee or an excellent
ham sandwich sitting on the terrace of the Restaurant Lauber is a nice reward.

Small planes buzz down the runway and lift into the
air below you and gently fly over the white mountains in front of you,
disappearing towards the Matterhorn.

You don’t even miss that famous peak, just out of sight, because this is so
pleasant.

Photo: sunny pause above the Rhone Valley, at the Restaurant Lauber in St German.