Petit Mountet: a kid-friendly mountain hut near Zinal, Val d’Anniviers

This summer we had our great friends from Brittany who came to visit us for a week! Gégé, Nico and their little 2 and a half year old son. Every time we see them in Brittany, we tease them by telling them that their "hills" are cute (because yes the Breton people tend to say that the Monts d'Arrée are mountains), but that if they came to see us we would show them the "real" mountains 😉 So in July, they came to spend 7 days in Valais!

Before their arrival, we started looking for a program to make them discover our beloved little Switzerland. A lot of our "classic" hikes turned out to be a bit complicated with a little one. In short, this pushed us to widen our field of research. We absolutely wanted to take them to spend a night in a mountain hut, but huts are not necessarily compatible with babies (no easy access, big dormitories). In the end, our choice was the "Petit Mountet" hut, in the Val d'Anniviers.

If you're looking for a kid-friendly hut, we've decided to post our list of family-friendly huts at the end of the article.

Start of the hike in Zinal

From the parking lot we chose to start the hike on the left bank of the river; a gentle warm-up on a perfectly flat path along the water. As we started the hike around noon, we took advantage of a small piece of shade at the edge of the river to enjoy the panorama and to eat something before the climb in direction of the hut.

In the middle of summer, the Naviscence (name of the river) was all milky, a typical color of glacier meltwater. It's really a peculiar hue, but it clearly gives a little something to the landscape!

Climb to the Petit Mountet hut by the track

From the edge of the Naviscence, we continue on the wide track that goes up towards the bottom of the valley. This part does not present any difficulty; it is a track which climbs relatively gently. After, we will admit that some parts are a little bit steeper and I really felt sorry for the few mountain bikers who seemed to struggle to climb there (even those equipped with electrically assisted mountain bikes seemed to struggle a bit 😉

After 1 small kilometer of ascent, we arrive at a crossing. Here signs indicate us the 2 options to reach the Petit Mountet hut .

• On the right: the path. Itinerary a little shorter but also steeper
• Straight ahead: stay on the track

The time difference between the two options was only 5 minutes and as our friends had the little one on their backs we preferred to opt for the "less steep" variant and follow the track. After, it should be noted that the track is not opened to the traffic and it offers also some super nice views on the valley!

Night at the Petit Mountet hut

We arrived in the middle of the afternoon at the hut which left us plenty of time to enjoy their pretty terrace (and to make our friends taste the Rivella hihi). The end of the day was punctuated by little walks around the hut, naps in the deckchair and discussions around the table while enjoying a stunning view on the Weisshorn. In short, a perfect end of day as we like it! Here are some pictures of the mini walks around the hut:

Once we were settled in our dormitory for the night, it was time to eat. The meal at the hut was excellent (soup, main course and dessert) and the team was really great!

While Benoit came out of the hut after the meal to take some pictures, he had the chance to observe a family of ibex not far from there. 2 males seemed to have some "things to discuss" 😉

Well, here are some pictures taken from the hut at sunset (less funky than the ibex, but just as beautiful!)

Back to Zinal

The next morning, after a great breakfast at the hut, we put our backpacks back on and headed back to the parking lot. Rather than following the exact same route as the day before, this time we decided to take the trail.

Honestly, it was cool to do both versions but if I have to choose, I recommend the trail! More varied than the main track, it also offers some very nice views on the glaciers and the valley (as well as a view from below on the hut that we didn't have at all the day before).

The descent does not present any particular difficulty (our little hiker in the making even gave us a hiking demonstration that day by walking a good part of the trail!)

After 1,7 km, the path returns to the track at the place called "Le Vichiesso". From this point on, the itinerary is the same as the day before (even if, in order to to have a little more variation, we opted for the other bank of the river) 😉

Practical information for the Petit Mountet hike from Zinal

To do this hike, it is best to park at the large parking lot at the end of the road (just before the campsite). The places are paying (as everywhere in the resort). Unless I am mistaken, we paid 5 CHF for 24 hours (summer rate).

Note that it is also possible to arrive at the beginning of the hike by public transport. From Sierre, count 1 hour by bus to the stop "Les Plats de la Lée".

All in all, the hike is 10km round trip with 500m of elevation change. It's easily done in an afternoon to go for an ice cream or a slice of pie, but it's also very nice to take your time and divide it in two.

As an indication: we took about 3h30 to go up and 2h30 to go down (the little one was sometimes in portage and sometimes he walked)

Map of our hike to Petit Mountet

Sleeping at the Petit Mountet hut

• 40 beds available (cots available for free!)
• Shared Showers and toilets
• Dogs are allowed as long as they do not climb on the beds
• Rates for the night in half board: 72 CHF / adult, 39 CHF for children from 6 to 16 years old, 15 CHF for children from 2 to 5 years old.
• Infos and reservation on the Petit Mountet website

Other hikes to do from Zinal / le Petit Mountet

As you can see, we simply loved this little excursion with friends! Honestly, if it's your first experience of mountain walking or if you decide to hike with little ones, this outing is simply great and we recommend it with our eyes closed!

After, if you read us from time to time, you know that we also like the little trips that "hurt a bit more" 😉

2 alternative hikes from Zinal

This outing gave us some ideas for future escapades in the Val d'Anniviers and we thought we'd share them here:

1. Do as we did by starting at the end of the day, sleep at the Petit Mountet and the next day: return to the parking but passing by the lake of Arpitettaz and the Roc de la Vache (yellow itinerary below). A more sportive variant for the return trip that we actually considered but finally we gave up because the Arpitettaz area is a pastoral area where there were sheep with their protection dogs. It is STRONGLY recommended to avoid areas protected by guard dogs if you hike with a pet dog!
2. Go sleep at the Arpitettaz hut! Located just below the Weisshorn, we had a beautiful view of this hut. Its location on the western slope must be incredible at sunset! Be careful, to go up to the hut there are 2 itineraries from Zinal, the one by the pas du chasseur is marked white blue (more difficult) while the other one goes almost by the hut of the petit Mountet. (I put the two routes below, red and blue according to the marking)

Map of alternative hikes to Arpitettaz, Zinal region

• Yellow: Itinerary "Metit Mountet - Zinal" by the roc de la Vache. Medium difficulty. Adds about 5km and 600m of D+ and D- to the return trip we did.
• Blue: Alpine route to the Arpitettaz hut, Difficult
• Red: "Classic" route to the Arpitettaz hut, medium difficulty.

There are of course many other options, but be aware that in the area, many routes are marked in blue (alpine hiking, potentially requiring equipment and adequate experience).

Swiss mountain huts for families (kid-friendly huts)

Finding a hut to sleep in with a little one was not something we were used to, but we already had some ideas. And well, as often in these cases, Google is your friend. 🙂 If you're interested, here are the criteria we had defined for our search:

• Easy access path (ideally difficulty T2) and an official walking time of less than 2h30 (knowing that it would take much more with a little one)
• A breathtaking panorama (well, we had to make sure that our friends would want to come back to see us in the future)
• The option of having a private room (or a small dormitory)
• Bonus: a hut which accepts dogs (we could have found someone to take care of Winchy but we'll admit that we really like it when we can bring him along )

We had made a small selection and in the end, we chose the Petit Mountet hut which ticked absolutely all the boxes. Especially since we had never been to the Val d'Anniviers before, so this was our chance.

If you're also looking for a hut to go to with your family, here's our shortlist of huts that we came up with (we figured that since we did the research we could also share the result).

• L'auberge de Salanfe: A place that we know well and that we particularly like! You can book private rooms or mini-dormitories (dogs are allowed in rooms). You can get there from Van d'en Haut in 1h30-2h (3km, 460m of D+)
• La Gelten Hütten: Located above the Lauenensee, this hut is ideal for families. We had already been there with friends and their children and it's great! To get there, park at the Lauenensee, 2h-2h30 of walking (4km and 650m of elevation gain). Dogs not allowed
• Cabane de la Tourche, located on the Muverans tour, it can also be reached by a 1h30 walk from the Martinaux parking lot (T2, 470m of elevation gain). Dogs: no information, you should call
• Weissmieshütte in the Saas Valley: a crazy panorama on the 4000m of the Valais and dormitories from 4 to 8 persons. The access is easy (T2) if you take the cable car. You can choose to go out at Kreuzboden and climb 320m of elevation gain or go out at Hohsaas and descend 470m of elevation. Dogs are allowed under conditions (please call)
• La Cabane du Mont Fort: superb panorama on the Mont Blanc and the Grand Combin. Access in 45min from the alpage de la Chaux, private rooms. Dogs are not allowed for the night.
• La Cabane des Violettes: located at the arrival of a gondola the access is super easy and you can simply go for a walk around. Private rooms and dormitory. Dogs: no info, you should call
• Lämmerhütte, 1h30 walk from the Gemmipass, 260m of elevation gain (access by cable car). No private rooms but small dormitories of 6 persons. Dogs: they accept 1 dog per evening (except weekends), it is imperative to call before.
• And of course the cabane du petit Mountet that we told you about in this blog post.

The alpage de la Chaux, departure for the Mont Fort hut.
NB: this alp is simply the best! Why is that? Oh… it's Benoit's uncle, auntie and cousins who manage it and make the cheese, the best in the world in our humble opinion 😉

Note: there are probably many others! For our search, we limited ourselves to those that were not too far from our home (Valais and Bernese Alps). If you know of others that meet the criteria of "family" huts, don't hesitate to leave us a comment and we'll update the list!

That's it for today. We hope that you liked this slightly different articleand that it will give you ideas for a nice walk with your family or with friends who have little ones 😉

See you soon!

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