History of the villages of the Westlich Raron district (Valais)
The 21 documented localities of the Westlich Raron district, in the canton of Valais. Each page covers the origin of the name, the main stages of its history and its remains, with sources.
Towns and villages 20
Ausserberg
In 1910 the building of the Lötschberg line brought Ausserberg to 1'020 inhabitants. On this slope, scattered farms gradually grouped around Trogdorf.
VSBlatten (Lötschen)
Highest municipality in the Lötschental, whose main village was largely buried by the collapse of the Birch glacier on 28 May 2025.
VSBürchen
Still purely agricultural in 1950, Bürchen had by 1990 just one person working full-time in the primary sector.
VSEischoll
Terrace village at 1'230 metres on the left bank of the Rhône, long a subject of the castellany of Niedergesteln and linked to the plain in 1946 by the first cable car in the Upper Valais.
VSFafleralp
On the Fafleralp, an alp of the municipality of Blatten at the head of the Lötschental, the hotel planned in 1906 is the only one of Blatten's four hotels still standing after the 2025 landslide.
VSFerden
A Lötschental village at the southern foot of the Lötschenpass. On its territory, Goppenstein briefly became the most populous place in the canton after Sion during the building of the Lötschberg tunnel (1906-1913).
VSGoppenstein
During the building of the Lötschberg tunnel, Goppenstein, in the municipality of Ferden, was briefly the most populous place in Valais after Sion.
VSHohtenn
While the Lötschberg line was being built, Hohtenn's population reached 499 in 1910. Its BLS station opened in 1913.
VSKippel
A priory of the Savoyard Abbey of Abondance from 1233, the church of Kippel remained the parish church of every municipality in the Lötschental until 1899.
VSNiedergesteln
Former fortified settlement of the barons de la Tour at the foot of a rock face in the Upper Valais, whose castle was destroyed in 1384 and whose priory depended on the abbey of Abondance.
VS · Lost villageOberhäusern
Oberhäusern, once the main place of what is now the municipality of Eischoll, was still inhabited around 1900. Its community house of 1656 fell into ruin in the 1920s.
VSRaron
As he wished, Rainer Maria Rilke has rested since 1927 beside the Gothic church that crowns Raron's fortified hill.
VS · Lost villageRied
Ried, a hamlet in the municipality of Blatten where the first hotel of the Lötschental was built in 1868, was completely destroyed by the landslide of 28 May 2025.
VSSt. German
With its 9th-century Romanesque church, St. German, a village in the municipality of Raron, was the centre of the large parish of Raron until the High Middle Ages.
VSSteg
In 1434 the villagers bought the seigneurial rights from the Raron family and formed the free jurisdiction of Benken, which the bishop and the Diet only recognised in 1553.
VS · Merger 2009Steg-Hohtenn
After a vote in December 2007, Steg and Hohtenn have formed the municipality of Steg-Hohtenn since 1 January 2009.
VSTurtig
A former staging post on the Valais road, Turtig, a hamlet in the municipality of Raron, saw its chapel of St Agatha moved in 2000 to the Ballenberg open-air museum.
VSUnterbäch
Village of hamlets on a high terrace on the left bank of the Rhône, nicknamed « Rütli der Schweizer Frau » (« Grütli de la femme suisse ») since its women took part in a federal vote in 1957.
VSWeissenried
The highest permanent settlement in the Lötschental, Weissenried, a hamlet in the municipality of Blatten, narrowly escaped the landslide of 28 May 2025.
VSWiler (Lötschen)
On 17 June 1900 a fire destroyed all or nearly all of this Lötschental village. Since 1972 the Lauchernalp cable car has made it the tourist centre of the valley.