The hike begins in the old Valais village of Inden, which can be reached by bus or on foot from Leuk or Leukerbad. Inden was an important place as far back as the late Middle Ages. The Romans used the route to get to the Alps’ richest thermal springs in Leukerbad. In addition, due to the mule trail across the Gemmi Pass, the Dala Valley was one of the most significant trade routes between the Bernese Oberland and the Valais for centuries.

From the former train station the walk heads slightly downhill along the Dala-Raspille cultural trail and the track of the old Leuk-Leukerbad railway (1915-1967). An old lime kiln and turbines for a power plant are remnants from times gone by. From here the trail goes up moderately and continues directly along the vertical cliff. In 1779, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe described this trail as “not a dangerous, but a dreadful looking path”. About 300 m of it are exposed, but the trail is wide, easy to hike and secured with steel cable where exposed. The view into the untamed Dala Valley and to the other side of the valley, however, is simply awesome.

Once you arrive at the edge of the gorge (Schattuflüe) the scenery changes. The views open up across the Pfyn-Finges nature park, the meandering Rhone and the lovely winegrowing area. Through the Varner forest, you reach the hamlet of Taschunieru and a short climb later you come to the entrance to the irrigation channel of Varen (Grossi Wasserleitu). Compared to the rather barren southern slopes the vegetation here is lush. Following the straight course of the irrigation channel, the trail crosses the landslide area on Varneralp. Near La Proprija you cross the German-French language border, defined by the Raspille river for which this hike is named. The trail then descends to the French-speaking village of Miège (Muzot Rilke), where you can catch a bus back to Sierre.