Blatten is a village and municipality in the Lötschental valley in the canton of Valais in Switzerland.
It is part of the district of Westlich Raron, and much of the municipality lies within the Jungfrau-Aletsch protected area, a World Heritage Site.
Besides the village of Blatten, the municipality includes the settlements of Eisten, Fafleralp, Ried and Weissenried.
[5] The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Azure, a rocky Mountain Argent issuant from the flank dexter and from the point, per bendwise and in chief sinister a Cross bottony of the same.
The municipality is located in the Westlich Raron district, and is the highest inhabited part of the Lötschental valley at an elevation of 1,540 m (5,050 ft).
Below this pass, the Langgletscher glacier occupies the Lötschental valley, whilst the Schwarzsee lake lies at a lower level.
The valley is framed by the Tschingelhorn to the north and the Bietschhorn to the south, and the slopes of both mountains lie within the municipality.
[7] The entire village of Blatten and the hamlets of Eisten and Weissenried are designated as part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites.
[7][13] The historical population is given in the following chart:[5][14] In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the CVP which received 74.87% of the vote.
In the tertiary sector; 6 or 10.3% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 1 was in the movement and storage of goods, 43 or 74.1% were in a hotel or restaurant and 1 was the insurance or financial industry.
A PostAuto bus service runs along the road as far as Fafleralp, connecting the settlements within the municipality to Goppenstein railway station, with some buses continuing to Steg.
[3][20] From the 2000 census[update], 276 or 98.2% of the population were Roman Catholic, while none belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church.