Zermatt

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Zermatt is a car-free village in the upper Valais, one of the alpine cantons of Switzerland. It's probably best known as a platform for skiing and mountaineering, especially on the mountain which towers above the village, the Matterhorn. The surroundings are breathtaking but this comes at a price: Accommodation in Zermatt is among the most expensive in Switzerland.

	zermatt Travel Guide : 1 Understand 2 Get in 3 Get Around 3.1 On foot 3.2 Taxi 3.3 Cable Car 3.4 Train 4 Cycling/Mountain Biking 5 See 6 Do 7 Sleep 7.1 Camping 7.2 Budget 7.3 Mid range 7.4 Splurge 7.5 Tasch 8 External links

Understand

If you've never experienced a car-free city of any size then Zermatt could be a bit of a surprise: during the high season nearly 50,000 people living in a town with only 5 or 6 streets and more significantly no motor vehicles. This means that you can leave a noisy bar or party, and a few minutes later on foot find yourself in utter tranquility. You can sit on the hotel balcony and listen to dozens of varieties of songbirds while watching the sun set on one of the most striking mountains in the western world. Wake up with the sun in a four or five-star room or a canvas tent to the sound of the aforementioned birds, crickets, church bells, and children's laughter. The occasional electric taxi makes about as much noise as a mountain bike.

You can cycle or stroll in complete safety. Really unless you are in love with your car you'll be tempted to look at the real-estate adds offering the rare but occasional opportunity to own a restaurant on one of the side streets, just hire one Swiss (and show that you have capital to operate for a year) and you are good to go.

Incidently there is a version of the standard Zermatt skimap/summer walking map in English although for some reason the lift stations only seem to hand out the German/French versions with tickets. The map is free - you can generally find it on one of the stands in the lift stations or in the Tourist Information centre.

Get in

Probably the best way to reach Zermatt is by train, since you won't be able to drive once you get there anyway. Around half of the trains are operated by a private company, but the tickets are available through the Swiss Federal Railway (http://www.rail.ch). In general railpasses are valid on the train, but there is a surcharge.

Private cars can only drive as far as Tasch. The last 7 kilometres must be travelled by train or by taxi. In winter it is necessary to reserve your parking space well in advance (call. +41 27 967 33 66).

Get Around

On foot

The village of Zermatt, while dense, is geographically very small. There are three main streets which run along the banks of the river Matt, and numerous cross-streets, especially around the station and the church which forms the center of the village. In general anything is at most a twenty minute walk away if you are fit. There is no motor traffic to worry about, so walking right down the middle of the street is not only possible but advisable, though do watch out for the occasional mess left by horses (or goats).

During the summer there are roads and hiking trails leading up to a number of year-round restaurants in the direction of the Matterhorn.

Taxi

Many of the higher-end hotels have porters who will meet you at the station with a small electric car/truck and will ferry you directly to check in, depositing the luggage in your room. A few of the really exclusive ones still use horse-drawn carriages.

Cable Car

There are a series of cable car runs leading all the way to the summit of the Kliene Matterhorn (3883m), presenting the highest scenic outlook platform in Europe. A ride along the entire series costs 82CHF (about 55EUR) round trip.

Train

• Gornergrat Railway This is a very easy trip because you do most of it by train. Allow a few hours and enjoy the great view and the sunny place.

Cycling/Mountain Biking

Zermatt is a great place to mountain bike although it doesn't appear to have really become popular there yet. Bikes can be hired from several shops around Zermatt from about 35CHF per day. For some reason helmets are not included and cost around 5CHF extra.

Mountain bikes may be carried on most of the ski lifts that are open in the summer although you will be charged extra. Lift passes that are valid for more than 3 days appear to include bike transport as standard although you can pay for individual journeys if you wish. Note that the Gornegrat train is not included in summer lift passes.

You can also buy area passes on a daily basis that include the lifts on one particular peak (either Rothorn or Schwarzsee). These passes are available in mountain bike versions for not much extra.

The following lifts should allow your bikes:

• Zermatt - Sunnegga (funicular)
  • You can wheel your bike through the tunnel to the bottom of the funicular and then place it in the bottom compartment on the train. You will have to carry it up about 8 steps at this stage. At the top of the mountain don't follow the crowd up the steps to the exit - there is a lower exit that you can wheel your bike straight out of and onto a slighly lower path. Alternatively get in the elevator lift located here and it will take you up the 15 metres or so to the top exit.

• Sunnegga - Blauherd (cable car)
  • When you arrive at the ticket barrier the attendant should notice you and take your bike around the barrier. Since they don't fit in the cabins your bike(s) will be carried in an open cargo cable car. You will have to wait for it to appear on the cable but this shouldn't take more than a few minutes. The attendant then loads your bikes in and fastens them down whilst you get in a standard cabin. They then radio the top station who unload them for you on arrival.

• Blauherd - Rothorn (Telecabin)
  • The top stage of the Rothorn route is one of the huge telecabins that carry 150 people at a time. In summer you can just wheel your bikes in and out again at the top.

• Gornergrat (Mountain railway)
  • Bikes can be carried on the Gornergrat railway right to the summit. There are special cars where you can hang up your bike vertically.

• Schwarzsee lifts
  • A biking lift pass is available and a number of routes are marked down the mountain from this area.

The tourist information centre next to the Zermatt train station sell a mountain biking map for 2CHF which includes a number of routes down from the various peaks. The map states that Zermatt's cycling policy is that any track wider than 2 metres is a valid cycling route. There are numerous roads that run down and around the mountains in the summer that carry cyclists in safety. Remember that Zermatt is generally car free so you will only rarely see a powered vehicle.

The Rothorn area is particularly good and suitable for all levels of cyclist. It is possible to cycle down from the summit following a wide but occasionally steep and rocky path down the back of the mountain that brings you back to the Blauhard lift station. From there you can follow the quiet mountain road routes all the way down to Zermatt. There are some excellent cross mountain routes that present you with stunning views and take you over to Gournergrat near Rifflealp. Unfortunately there is no cycling route down on the official map from that point so you can either get on the Gournergrat train or turn around and come back down to a lower point on the Rothorn.

The restaurant at Fluhalp is a pleasant first ride from the Blauhard lift station and a good way of familarising yourself with a hire bike.

Make sure that you take some good quality cycling gloves since you can expect significant vibration from cycling along rocky tracks!

See

Check out the village cemetery. It's full of gravestones of people that died in the mountains, mostly on their way back.

Do

• Breithorn The "Breithorn" (4150 m) is the easiest 4000er of the Alps. Using the lifts "Furri" (1700 m), "Trockener Steg"(2800 m), "kleines Matterhorn" (3883 m) you reach the top of the little Matterhorn. Go down to the "Theodul-Gletscher" and follow the trail to left on the Breithorn. The top of the Breithorn can be reached after 2 h walking (no climbing!). A rope is useful but not necessary. You should not start the tour from the little Matterhorn after 10:00 in the morning, because the snow gets too weak and you will not reach the last lift down to Zermatt in time. The Glacier Paradise (Klein Matterhorn) ski area is at 3850m (3899m when the additional summer season drag lift is open).

Sleep

For a tiny hamlet Zermatt has more hotels than most big cities. A rough estimate places the number of places to stay at somewhere in the range of 600-700. Apparently that's still not quite enough. If you want a good value room then perhaps you should consider booking ahead.

There are other options. You can camp, or as throughout Europe vacation apartments are the rage. Time shares are another option: if you know you want to ski one week per year, maybe go in with a friend or two on a property. Foreigners are allowed to buy up to a certain square meterage in Switzerland, and you are free to lease, rent, or otherwise assign the property any way you like, barring industrial use.

Camping

If you're on a budget try camping. The climate is mild, even in the winter, so if you know a bit about camping you should be able to stay warm and dry at pretty much any altitude lower than about 500m above the village pretty much any time of year.

For beginner campers there is a camping area open in Zermatt during the summer months. It's to the left of the train station's main exit. Follow the street for a couple of hundred meters.

The campsite in Tasch is only about 100 metres from the train station and works out at about 20CHF a night for 2 people sharing a small tent without a car.

Stove fuels are reasonably hard to find although you can buy them in some of the outdoor shops in Zermatt itself. You are unlikely to find any in Tasch. MSR butane/propane cannisters and Coleman's liquid fuel are definitely available if you hunt around. Obviously in Switzerland you can also buy fondue fuel (usually meths) which will work well in Trangia stoves.

Budget

There are literally a couple of hundred hotels of all levels but none of them is really in the budget range. If you are on a very tight budget consider staying in one of the villages further downstream, like say Sant Niclaus.

Mid range

• Daniela, Perren and Parnass

Splurge

• Hôtel Julien or Zermatterhof

Tasch

Tasch is the next village down the mountain from Zermatt itself and shuttle trains run between the two villages approximately every 10-20 minutes during the day. The journey time is about 10 minutes and passes through some stunning scenery. The last train down the mountain to Tasch leaves Zermatt at around 11.20 pm. The trains cost 7.60 CHF each way and tickets can be bought from automatic machines. The machines only except coins or 20 CHF notes although you can buy tickets from the ticket office instead for most of the day. Note that the cash dispensers don't give out notes smaller than 50 CHF so don't arrive late in Tasch without any change...

External links

• Official website of Zermatt (http://www.zermatt.ch/)

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