Zermatt, Switzerland

Car-free village under the Matterhorn with skiing 365 days a year on the glacier and the highest lift-served terrain in Europe.

snowskihikingmountainsluxury

Best time to visit

Month	High	Low	Rain	Season
Jan	-1°	-8°	96 mm	prime
Feb	1°	-7°	78 mm	prime
Mar	3°	-4°	98 mm	prime
Apr	6°	-1°	131 mm
May	11°	4°	171 mm
Jun	16°	8°	140 mm
Jul	19°	11°	154 mm	prime
Aug	19°	10°	145 mm	prime
Sep	15°	7°	114 mm
Oct	11°	3°	124 mm
Nov	4°	-3°	160 mm
Dec	0°	-7°	104 mm	prime

30-year averages (1995–2024) from ERA5 reanalysis via Open-Meteo. Rain is the monthly total.

Serves travellers at Mid-range→Ultra-luxury level. Typically around $350 a day on the ground.

Ranges are typical costs, not quotes. Check the real price before you book.

Swiss francs, cards everywhere. Tipping is rounding up, not a percentage.
money · editorial
The Matterhorn hides in cloud for days at a time and a short trip can miss it entirely. Glacier skiing runs through the summer but only in the mornings.
know before · editorial
Between seasons, once the snow has gone and before the summer trails clear, lifts shut for maintenance and much of the village closes. Christmas and the February half-term weeks are the busiest.
when not to go · editorial
The Bahnhofstrasse strip is the centre and the busiest. Winkelmatten above it is quieter, a short walk or bus from the lifts. Täsch and Randa down the valley add a train ride each way.
where to stay · editorial
Car-free. You park in Täsch and take the shuttle train up the last twenty minutes. In the village it is electric carts, the lifts and your own feet.
getting around · editorial
Fly to Zurich or Geneva and take the train, three to four hours with a change at Visp. The last leg into the valley is a train and there is no alternative.
getting there · editorial

The Matterhorn from the Bahnhofstrasse
The main street points straight at it. No combustion-engine cars in the town.
Gornergrat
3,089 metres by rack railway, with 29 four-thousand-metre peaks in view.
Riffelsee
The lake that reflects the whole Matterhorn. No wind, in the morning.
The climbers' cemetery
The headstones from 1865 onwards. Read the ages.
Sunnegga
Five minutes of funicular inside the mountain and you are on the sunny side.
Charles Kuonen suspension bridge
494 metres of span an hour from Zermatt, at Randa.

Eat rösti with an egg after a day on the mountain
Raclette scraped to order
Half a wheel under the heat, scraped onto the plate. Ask for the second.
Cholera
A Valais pie of potato, cheese, apple and leek. The name is historical.
Grisons air-dried beef
Sliced thin enough to see through.

Go up the Gornergrat on the first train
First light on the Matterhorn
Twenty minutes before anything else in the valley. The summit turns orange on its own.
A whole day without hearing an engine
The town has always banned cars. Notice the silence after an hour.

Walk up to the Hörnlihütte
3,260 metres, at the foot of the ridge the climbers use. Five hours there and back.