Realp - Gletsch

Our topographic highlight is the Furka Pass at 2430 m. The times when Sean Connery filmed James Bond’s Goldfinger here or when Richard Long and Max Bill let their artistic freedoms run wild are over. Only the original steam locomotives, which were repurchased in Vietnam, steam again on the old mountain route thanks to hundreds of thousands of hours by volunteer steam railway fans. The Furka tunnel, opened in 1982, is open all year round. When descending from the Furka Pass, the Rhône Glacier is no longer visible. It is melting away at a dramatic speed. The ice-blue glacier grotto, which is rebuilt every year, can still be visited. When descending from the Furka Pass, we can study the glacier forefield. We stay overnight at the Grand Hotel Glacier du Rhône, which 100 years ago offered 320 guest beds. That was also the time when a church was built for the noble English guests.