Brig is a town that has always lived off other people's journeys. It sits in the upper Rhône valley in the Valais, at the northern foot of the Simplon, and for centuries merchants hauling goods over the pass to Italy needed somewhere to rest, change animals and pay their bills. One of them, a seventeenth-century trader named Kaspar Jodok von Stockalper, grew so rich on salt, mining and transport that he built the palace that still dominates the town, with three towers topped by gilded domes. It is among the grandest private houses in the Alps, and a short walk from the station.
The setting is sunny and dry. The Valais sits in the rain shadow of high mountains, and Brig basks under a sky that is often clear when the north side of the Alps is under cloud. Vineyards climb the valley slopes further down, and apricots are a local pride. The town is a pleasant mixture of old lanes and modern shops, with the Simplon road, the railway and the roads to Goms and Zermatt all meeting here.
For riders it is the practical hinge of the Valais. Fuel is plentiful, with Brig, Naters across the river, and Visp not far down the valley together giving the area real size. Restaurants serve raclette, the melted cheese scraped over potatoes, and dried meat from the mountains; for a quick lunch, the bakeries and cafes around the main square do just fine. The traffic can be dense, particularly in summer when holiday traffic funnels toward the passes, so patience helps.
From here a rider can go almost anywhere: up the Furka and Grimsel to the north-east, over the Simplon to Italy, or down the valley toward Lake Geneva. The Simplon road, which Napoleon had built in the early nineteenth century to move troops, is one of the great engineering achievements of its time, and it climbs from the edge of town in a long series of sweeping bends. It is a good place to be at the start of a mountain day.