Every stop is free to see. You only pay a green fee if you decide to play golf. Route, map and GPS navigation in your browser cost nothing, and the AI Tour Guide is an optional extra that leads the walk as a conversation.
Most resorts keep their sights in one centre. Crans-Montana spreads its interest across a high plateau, and the Nine Lakes Walk is what holds that spread together: a public trail linking nine lakes and ponds across the plateau. You are not standing in front of this stop, you are standing on it, and the loop both opens and closes here.
Treat the first stretch as a trailer rather than a destination. The trail is free and never closed, so there is no ticket to weigh up and no opening hour to watch. Start walking and let the GPS navigation lead you from stop to stop.
Keep half an eye on how the route uses water as its connecting thread. Right at the start you pass Lac de l'Etang Long, a quieter pond most visitors overlook, before the trail brings you 700 m and 10 min on to the first lake of this loop, Lac Grenon, which plays a very different role: not just scenery, but the heart of the resort.
Lac Grenon, also called Etang Grenon, sits at 1497 m in Montana, a small lake of 3.5 ha. Small as it is, it works as the centre of the resort, the place where the trail stops feeling like countryside and starts feeling like a town.
Take a moment at the shore to get your bearings for the rest of the walk. From here the loop leaves the water for a while and heads for the place that turned this plateau from farmland into a holiday destination.
The next leg is 1170 m and takes about 15 min, bringing you to the Crans-sur-Sierre Golf Club.
The Crans-sur-Sierre Golf Club is one of the oldest golf courses in Switzerland, laid out at around 1500 m in the Valais Alps. Its story begins in 1905, when the hotelier Albert de Preux and the British businessman Henry Lunn took over a bankrupt clinic in Crans and turned it into a luxury hotel. British guests expected golf, so a course was commissioned from the British designers Freemantle and Gedge. The first nine holes opened the following year, the second nine in 1908.
For the people of the plateau this changed everything. Before, they lived from farming alone and in relative poverty. Renting fields out for golf paid far better than working them, and young men could earn money as caddies, which soon became a local tradition. Two of them, Emile Bonvin and Géronce Barras, opened a snack bar that later grew into the Golfhotel.
Then the First World War kept the British away, and the course fell into neglect. In 1917 the Golfhotel housed wounded soldiers and French prisoners of war. After the war nine holes were restored, and in 1924 the golf club was officially founded with René Payot from Geneva as its first president. He pushed for 18 holes again, and the full course opened in July 1929, soon reworked by the Englishman Harry Nicholson. That layout, known as Plan-Bramois, lasted until 1997.
Look out for the names Bonvin and Barras: over the decades these families kept producing top amateurs and professionals, players who began as caddies and practised once the paying guests had gone home. Today there are two courses, Ballesteros and Nicklaus. Green fees depend on course, season and time, so a round is only worth it if you came to play; for everyone else the view across the fairways is free.
From the club, the longest leg of the loop follows: 1720 m and about 23 min to Lac Moubra.
Hours
Daily 08:00–17:00 (secretariat; courses seasonal approx. May/June to October)
Price
CHF 40-190 green fee depending on course, season and time (Ballesteros CHF 50-190, Nicklaus CHF 40-63)
Lac Moubra, also called Etang de la Moubra, lies at 1424 m, 73 m lower than Lac Grenon. With a surface area of 5 ha it is also the larger of the two lakes on this loop, and after the long walk from the golf club it makes a natural place to slow down.
Compare it with Lac Grenon: where the first lake sits at the heart of the resort, this one gives you more water and more room, a good spot for a last pause before you close the circle.
From here it is 1170 m and about 20 min back to the Nine Lakes Walk, where the loop began.
All 4 stops are already on the map. You just press start.
AI Tour Guide
You have read the loop. Now walk it with a guide in your ear.
Press start wherever you are, even hundreds of kilometres from Crans-Montana, and the guide begins telling its stories right away. In the city, pick any of the 4 stops to start from: it leads you there, then talks with you the whole route, asking, listening, remembering, and shaping the tour around your answers.
Free to start · Runs in your browser · No app, no download
Shorter and Longer Ways Around the Plateau
The full loop is short, but you can cut it to fit the time you have. You can also join at any stop; the order here is the recommended one.
Quick lake stroll
Stops: 1, 2
For a short break between other plans: walk the opening stretch of the Nine Lakes Walk to Lac Grenon, 700 m and 10 min, and come back the same way. Nothing to pay.
Lake and golf
Stops: 1, 2, 3
For anyone curious about how golf shaped the resort: follow the trail to Lac Grenon and on to the Crans-sur-Sierre Golf Club, 25 min of walking in all. Free unless you book a round.
The full loop
Stops: 1, 2, 3, 4
For the complete picture: both lakes, the golf club and the walk back to the start, 1 h 8 min of walking over 4.8 km. All stops are free.
How Long the Crans-Montana Loop Takes
The loop moves from water to golf and back to water: 10 min to Lac Grenon, 15 min to the golf club, the longest leg of 23 min to Lac Moubra, then 20 min back to where you began. That adds up to 1 h 8 min of pure walking.
Nothing on the route has an entrance ticket, so the extra time goes on looking around: a few minutes at each lake and a little longer at the golf club bring you to about 1 h 45 min. The quick lake stroll takes around half an hour, the lake and golf version about an hour.
Before You Set Off in Crans-Montana
Start and finish: The recommended start is the Nine Lakes Walk, and the loop ends there too. You can join at any other stop if that is closer.
Best time: The trail and both lakes are always open. If you want to ask about a round of golf, stop by the club secretariat during the day.
Costs: The walk itself costs nothing. Green fees at the Crans-sur-Sierre Golf Club apply only if you play.
AI Tour Guide
Your guide is ready for the plateau when you are.
Press start and a voice AI Tour Guide takes it from here: leading the route through Crans-Montana, telling the stories, and turning your walk into a real back-and-forth conversation. No app or download is needed; it runs in your browser.
Free to start · Runs in your browser · No app, no download
What the AI Tour Guide Adds on the Plateau
On a route where much of the story sits in fields and fairways rather than buildings, the AI Tour Guide fills the quiet stretches between the lakes. It greets you on the trail, tells the stories of each place as you arrive, asks whether you play golf or came for the walking, and remembers your answer for the rest of the loop. Want to know more about the British guests who first came for the course, or what the plateau looked like before tourism? Ask, and it picks the thread up; you can interrupt it at any moment.
A Real Conversation
A voice AI Tour Guide greets you, leads the whole route, and tells the stories and facts as you walk, asking what you want to see and keeping a real conversation going. Not a recording you press play on.
Map Navigation
Follow the route on the map and walk at your own pace. You choose where to start and when to move to the next stop.
Ask Anything
Curious about a building you pass? Ask your AI Tour Guide on the spot and the conversation carries on.
13 Languages
Switch language anytime. No separate tour needed.
When can you actually play golf at Crans-sur-Sierre?
The courses are seasonal, roughly from May or June into October. Outside that window the club is still a stop on the walk, you just see the fairways without players.
Which of the two golf courses is cheaper?
The Nicklaus course is the cheaper one. Green fees on the Ballesteros course run considerably higher, and on both courses the price depends on season and time.
Can I combine this walk with another town nearby?
Yes. Sion is 12 km away and makes an easy half day after the loop. For a bigger mountain day, Zermatt and Saas-Fee each have their own walking route.
Does the loop cover all nine lakes of the trail?
No. It follows the Nine Lakes Walk as its backbone and stops at two of its lakes, Lac Grenon and Lac Moubra. The trail is public and free, so you can keep walking it beyond the loop whenever you like.
Is the tour really free?
Yes. The whole tour is free: the route, the interactive map and the navigation cost you nothing. Only the voice AI Tour Guide is optional and paid: you test it with 100 free credits, then you pay either €5 per hour or €19.99 for this whole tour, with no time limit.
Do I need to download an app?
No. Everything runs in your phone browser. Open the route and start walking, no download and no sign-up required.
Do I need to book the walking tour in advance?
No booking needed. This self-guided tour is available anytime. Open the route in your browser and start walking. The AI Tour Guide works instantly, no app, no reservation required.
What languages is the AI Tour Guide available in?
The AI Tour Guide speaks 13 languages, so you take the tour in your own language and can switch at any time.
Can I skip stops or change the route?
Yes. Skip any stop, spend extra time at places you like, or start the route from any point. It is your walk, you set the pace.
