The river flows through the Lake Gibidum (a reservoir, and coincidentally representing the glacier's mouth region in the 19th century, which is a retreat of more than 4 km (2.5 mi)) and a gorge of the same name before reaching the Rhône near Brig.

The area of the Aletsch Glacier and some surrounding valleys is on the UNESCO World Heritage list, thus it is protected and the facilities are mostly restricted to the external zones.

The Massa river can be crossed since 2008 by a suspension bridge, thus allowing hikes between the left and the right part of the glacier.

The Jungfraujoch railway station (3,450 m) gives a direct access to the upper Aletsch Glacier as well as the normal route to the Jungfrau.

On the Riederfurka, at 2,065 metres between Riederalp and the glacier, is located the historic Villa Cassel, former summer residence of many famous and influential guests from the worlds of politics and finance.

The house is now one of the centers of the environmental organization Pro Natura, which hosts a permanent exhibition about the site.

From the Konkordiaplatz, the Aletsch Glacier has a width of approximately 1.5 km and moves at a rate of 180 m per year to the southeast on course with the Rhône valley, bordering the Dreieckhorn in the west and the great Wannenhorn in the east.

It then takes a great right turn and bends ever closer to the southwest, running through the edge of the Eggishorn and Bettmerhorn of the Rhône valley.

The lowest part of the great Aletsch Glacier is largely covered with detritus of the lateral and medial moraines.

At the Konkordiaplatz, it has an ice cover of more than 900 m, but as it moves to the south, the greater part of the ice melts, gradually decreasing the cover to around 150 m. The characteristically dark medial moraine, situated almost in the middle of the glacier, runs protracted in two bands from the Konkordiaplatz along the whole length to the glacier's toe-zone.

18,000 years ago the lower part of the ridge, between Riederalp and the glacier, was completely covered by ice.