Overall:
Zermatt is another big, busy mega-ski resort with a number of different ski areas – one you need to take a bus to reach (Glacier Paradise). But it has a more old world charm feel and is more peaceful – due in a large part to the fact that no cars are allowed which makes it feel (and sound) a lot more low key. There are however a lot of electric taxi-vans, working vans, e-bikes and busses and you must watch out for these as you can’t hear them coming. There’s a good infrastructure of elevators, stairs, walkways and free busses to ferry you from hotel to slopes and around the village which has a few main streets but also some cute narrow streets and back alleys, many with century old wooden barns and chalets.
Most apartment blocks or hotels are designed to face the Matterhorn and we were blown away by the view we had from our balcony – until we realised most probably enjoyed the same. Zermatt is a ski-lunch-lovers delight on the hill with restaurants and lunch huttes strewn all over the place selling everything from simple goulash soup to full 3-course Michelin start dining. Be warned it is expensive and the smaller huttes only take cash (Swiss francs of Euros) and you must pay for tap water everywhere (about $10 Euro for a 1/2 litre) which adds to the costs.
Highlights: The Matterhorn which dominates the landscape and can be seen from everywhere like a guiding navigational beacon! And the fabulous ski-bars tucked into the runs home – our fav was the Veuve Cliqcuot Champagne bar on red home run 21 from the base of the Patrullarve lift back to Zermatt.
Tip(s): Catch train from Visp (cheaper parking that x and pretty ride), use the ski lockers at Sunnegga funicular, sip Veuve at the Champagne bar on red run 2 on way home.
Getting around:
The only way to arrive in Zermatt is by helicopter or train and we opted for the latter. We parked our car in Visp and caught the train (1 hour) – as always, a beautiful experience on Swiss rail through beautiful valleys, through and up mountains and into Zermatt. No cars are allowed in Zermatt so everyone has to come by train and everyone walks everywhere (or catches the electric buses or taxis).
Tip: If you know you’re going to be starting your day from the Sunnega Funicular (which takes you to the three main peaks) lock your skis up overnight in the ski lockers in the tunnel to the funicular for $2 Euro.
Ski Areas:
There are 3 main ski areas in Zermatt as well as links to 2 Italian ski resorts – Cervinia and Breuil (but be warned these are not on the Ikon Pass so don’t ski in there if you only have the Ikon pass).
Matterhorn Glacier Paradise
The iconic Matterhorn itself is only accessible to mountain climbers. The Klein Matterhorn is another view point for the more famous Matterhorn. We took the new (in 2019) Matterhorn Glacier ride the world’s highest 3S cableway up to Klein Matterhon – the highest ski-lifted area in the word at 3884m with 365 kms of runs.
The cable car is the last in a long series of lifts you need to take to get to the top – which starts with an elevator down to the bus stop, a bus ride to the base, and then the long Matterhorn Express gondola to Schwarzee then Trockener Steg ski areas (4 stops and approx. 25 mins). It’s worth taking the Furgsattel chair up from the top of the gondola for a few good long red runs before you take the Cable car to the top. This chairlift and run looked small on the map but turns out it was all about scale as we made over 200 turns on the first part of the slope down alone. Most of the runs at Zermatt are red (intermediate) and are groomed and very slick and fast. There wasn’t enough fresh snow to go off piste when we were there, but it looked like there were some amazing powder runs to be had after a big snow fall.
After a bit of a warm up we headed up on the Matterhorn Glacier cable car which takes about 25 mins to get to the top. There is a Glacier Palace for walking tourists and access to the Italian Cervinia ski area (we didn’t go here as our Ikon pass not valid) and some glacier skiing too.
There are endless ways down from the top of the Glacier Paradise cable car and you can stop in little villages with sprinklings of restaurants on your way down. We stopped in Furi at Restaurant Farmerhaus (see picture below) which was a casual pizzeria with great soup – and pizzas of course! If you fancy a top to bottom ski, the run from the Klein Matterhorn down to Zermatt is supposed to be 25 km long with a vertical drop of 2200m, but the actual length is probably around 16km.
Main mountain sections-peaks:
If you want to head up for a ski straight from town (and not take the bus to Glacier Paradise) you have two main options for getting up on the slopes: The Sunnegga funicular railway (rocket fast) or the Gornergrat train (ambling, slow).
They are located either side of the river near the railway station and provide access to all of the peaks/ski areas: Sunnega-Blauherd-Rothorn area, the Gornergrat and Riffelberg and Hothälli (on the Gornergrut peak at 3286m).
Sunnegga Funicular
Tip: leave your skis in the lockers in the tunnel near the start of the funicular overnight for $2 Euro if you plan to use the funicular to access this ski area more than one day in a row.
To access the funicular you need to walk about 300 m through a carpeted tunnel then up very steep and narrow steps to get on the train which goes 1.5 km through the mountain in 4.5 mins at a 48.9% gradient and rises 698 metres to 2,288m. Phew! The biggest challenge though is when you get out of the funicular on that 50% degree angle and you have to walk up steep stairs narrower than your ski boots to exit onto a patch of snow where everyone tries to clip in to ski boots or boards in the one patch of snow at the exit doorway!
Tip: Don’t board the two top carriages of the funicular or you’ll have to walk down the tiny narrow steps in your ski boots when you get off – even harder than walking up!
There’s lots of options for where to ski once you get to the top of the funicular – we took a gondola up to Blueherd which we used as a bit of a base for the morning. We skied on long, rather slick, groomed red runs up and down the Petrallurve chair then took the cable car up to Rothorn – the highest point over this side at 3103m/10,200ft. The views were amazing (again) and we appreciated not having to think too much about our skiing as we were gawking at the majestic mountains all around us as we made our way 12 km all the way down the mountain to the base, past cute apes ski bars (our favourite is the Veuve Clicquot champagne bar which is off red run 2 around the base of the Petrullarve lift). It’s a feat to carry the champagne across the run to the seats without getting wiped out by skiers heading home!
Gornergrut area/train.
We never took the train from town but we did jump on mid way at Riffelalp – kinda surreal skiing across the tracks and waiting at the station to ski! We chugged all the way to the top and got off at Gifftihittli at 2935m where there is a hotel and also some igloos and a kids fun park.
The Gornergrut peak at 3089m/10132 feet rises up above and there are good views of the Gorner Glacier – the third largest glacier in the alps. We took the long Kelle run down also enjoyed lunch in the little mountain town of Furi. The red run #50 down to the base here also goes past apres ski bars but they are not as nice as the champagne bar from Sunnegga and also requires taking the bus back to town.
One of the good things about taking the train back to Visp to get your car after a week at Zermatt is you can soak your weary muscles in the Brigerbad Thermabad a large thermal water park with lap pools indoor and out and two big ‘spa’ pools with all sorts of amazing jets ranging from hard to very hard and coming from above and below to massage tired legs, backs, necks, achilles, calves, feet, arms, shoulders, ( everywhere!) There is also a cave with 41c water and an icy plunge pool and steam rooms and saunas to reinvigorate.
