Brig combines a striking Baroque landmark with city tours and the historic ViaStockalper. This offers several different ways to explore the town: the rooms of Stockalper Palace, stories from its lanes, a meal as part of a tour, or a route spanning different generations of roads. Brig is a district of Brig-Glis in the canton of Valais and lies in the Rhône Valley.

Stockalper Palace: building, museum and tour

The three-towered Stockalper Palace is the landmark of the town of Brig and the largest private building in Baroque Switzerland. Its significance is reflected both in its architecture and in the museum's themes. The “Passage Simplon” exhibition explores the varied history of the Simplon Pass through seven themes. The museum also features collections on the Stockalper family, the history of the Simplon Pass and the route of the Simplon railway lines, as well as exhibits on the folk culture and cultural history of Upper Valais. This brings family history, the history of transport and the pass, and regional culture together.

A one-hour guided tour of Stockalper Palace leads from the arcaded courtyard to the small inner courtyard of the Old Stockalper House, then on to the Three Kings Hall and the palace chapel, and across the arcaded bridge into the 17th-century Baroque palace. You can visit the interior of the palace only as part of a guided tour. The courtyard and garden of Stockalper Palace are also accessible without a tour. So if you want to see the interior rooms, plan to take a tour; this access restriction does not apply to the courtyard and garden.

City stories and culinary tour

A public city tour takes you through the lanes of Brig. Along the way, sights, historic buildings and monuments are explained, while stories and anecdotes round out the program. Unlike the palace tour, the focus shifts from the interior rooms of a building to various places around the city. The Old Post Office is one of the historic buildings around the town square. The Saltina Bridge is the first bascule bridge that can raise itself during flooding.

A culinary city tour takes you through Brig's Old Town and includes a three-course meal of starter, main course and dessert; drinks are not included. The different tour formats each have their own focus: palace rooms and chapel, stories from the lanes, or a meal as part of a visit to the Old Town.

ViaStockalper and Stockalper Garden

ViaStockalper is a historic Alpine crossing that follows four generations of roads: the Roman road, the Stockalper road, the Napoleonic road and the national road. From Brig and Stockalper Palace, it leads along the historic Roman road through open meadows and the hamlet of Brei. This route brings both the history of the roads and specific stretches featuring meadows and a hamlet into focus.

Stockalper Garden features vineyards, a fragrant rose garden and a pleasure garden with water features and geometric flower beds. A park with an orchard and rare plants completes the grounds. Its design thus ranges from planted areas to water features and geometrically arranged flower beds.

Brig and its rail connections

Brig station is a Swiss-Italian border station. It lies on two international transit routes through Switzerland: the Simplon line and the Lötschberg line. Brig is also an important stop on the narrow-gauge Matterhorn Gotthard Railway. The Glacier Express runs from there towards Zermatt and via Furka–Oberalp–Disentis/Mustér to St. Moritz. The rail connections are therefore another aspect to consider when choosing where to stay, alongside the historic buildings, tours and routes.

Discover more destinations: Rosswald, Naters, Simplon Hospice, Belalp, Rothwald, Termen, Mund, Zwischbergen.

For the main travel overview: Brig.