This high, windswept, iconic portion of Switzerland has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage site for multiple reasons, but unless you’ve a head for mountain outlines, you’ll recognize its three highest simply because their images have adorned the wrappers of countless chocolate bars.

It’s true that the region is famed for its many, outstanding examples of glacial features, which seem to have been forged by nature for the purpose of being photographed to feature in Geography textbooks: moraines, U-valleys, cirques and horn peaks to name a few. It’s also celebrated for its great biodiversity: to match the magic of the chalets and bell-wearing cows in the meadows on the lower slopes, you’ll find Alpine jewels such as Edelweiss, Gentian Eyebright and Rockrose higher up, as well as salamanders, ptarmigans, chamois goats and ibex, who live along the snowline. The successive layers of ecosystems that overlap and alter with altitude are in fact so affected by climate change that their shifting boundaries also afford valuable opportunities for extremely valuable research. However, the main reason to visit is simply to plunge yourself into a world of crisp, perfect beauty that’s increasingly difficult to find in Europe. The chocolate wrapper pictures really don’t compare.

Written by  larapiegeler.

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