Bex

Sister cities

• Tuttlingen

History

Bex is first mentioned in 574 as in Baccis. To provide wood for the salt works in Roche, in 1695 a forest was planted in the Joux Verte gorge. Starting in the 16th century, natural evaporation was replaced by boiling to speed up salt production. The first tunnels were dug in 1684 to find new salt sources. Salt deposits were discovered in Le Bévieux and Les Devens (both part of the municipality of Bex) and Aigle. The mine at Le Bévieux was still in operation at the beginning of the 21st century.

Geography

Bex has an area, , of . Of this area, or 26.8% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 33.6% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 4.6% is settled (buildings or roads), or 0.9% is either rivers or lakes and or 34.2% is unproductive land. Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 2.0% and transportation infrastructure made up 1.6%. Out of the forested land, 28.1% of the total land area is heavily forested and 2.6% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 4.3% is used for growing crops and 5.8% is pastures, while 2.0% is used for orchards or vine crops and 14.7% is used for alpine pastures. All the water in the municipality is flowing water. Of the unproductive areas, 9.4% is unproductive vegetation, 23.1% is too rocky for vegetation and 1.7% of the land is covered by glaciers. Bex sits on the east side of the Rhone River in a wide valley surrounded on the east by the Pays d'en Haut and the Bernese Alps and on the west by the Chablais Alps. The municipality is located in the Aigle district, along the Avançon river. It stretches from the banks of the Rhone () to the Alps. It includes most of the highest mountains of the canton: Les Diablerets peak (), Grand Muveran, Dent Favre and Dent de Morcles. The municipality consists of the town of Bex and the hamlets of Le Châtel, Les Dévens, Le Chêne, Fenalet, Les Posses, Le Bévieux, Frenières and Les Plans-sur-Bex. Famous ski resorts are nearby, notably Villars-sur-Ollon and Gryon, a few kilometres above the town. Bex is also connected to Les Diablerets by the mountain pass Col de la Croix.

Most-observed species

• Cross Gentian

  Gentiana cruciata L. · Magnoliopsida
  17,178
• Narrow-leaved Ragwort

  Senecio inaequidens DC. · Magnoliopsida
  6,928
• Meadow Brown

  Maniola jurtina (Linnaeus, 1758) · Insecta
  3,650
• Butterfly-bush

  Buddleja davidii Franch. · Magnoliopsida
  3,604
• Marbled White

  Melanargia galathea Linnaeus, 1758 · Insecta
  2,824
• Red Admiral

  Vanessa atalanta (Linnaeus, 1758) · Insecta
  2,664
• Small Tortoiseshell

  Aglais urticae (Linnaeus, 1758) · Insecta
  2,462
• chamois

  Rupicapra rupicapra (Linnaeus, 1758) · Mammalia
  2,425

Most recent

• M 3.6 — 2026-01-12
  4 km SSW of Les Houches, France
• M 4.1 — 2025-07-21
  4 km E of Frutigen, Switzerland
• M 3.2 — 2024-05-09
  9 km SW of Evolène, Switzerland
• M 3.3 — 2022-09-25
  7 km ESE of Ar?ches-la-Frasse, France
• M 2.7 — 2022-08-23
  4 km S of Turtmann, Switzerland
• M 4.5 — 2022-03-12
  3 km S of Faverges, France