Until the seventeenth century the narrow Gondo Gorge was considered to be impassable. It was the Brig merchant prince Kaspar Jodok von Stockalper, who began to use the Simplon Pass for bringing salt on the backs of mules from the Mediterranean. Today hikers will experience the transition from the alpine Valais to the Italian flavour of the southern side: the typical stone plate roofs in Simplon Village, and the village square reminiscent of an Italian piazza. The trail’s highpoint continues via galleries and tunnels through the narrow Gondo Gorge that is hemmed in by granite walls.

Simplon village is part of the network of the most beautiful Villages in Switzerland.