Zermatt! Famed for the iconic Matterhorn mountain. The picturesque, alpine village sits at the head of the Mattertal valley at 1600m, in the Canton of Valais. Zermatt is a year round resort providing some of the best skiing in the world during winter and beautiful hiking & biking trails in the summer, with the world famous mountain restaurants being open both in summer and winter.
The village of Zermatt is comprised mainly of chalet type buildings and some larger hotels in the center of the village, but everything adds to the traditional Swiss chocolate box feel!
The car free resort is a heaven away from the stresses of life with guaranteed fresh mountain air! The main street of Zermatt, Bahnhofstrasse, is lined with many smart boutiques, jewellery shops and of course the famous Swiss chocolate shops! Being car free you are able to wander leisurely and browse the shops.
SKIING & BOARDING IN WINTER
The first official winter season was in 1928, but skiing was brought to Zermatt as early as 1899 – the ski area has changed considerably since then! Nowadays the combined ski area of Zermatt and Breuil-Cervinia/Valtournenche (Italy) has 360kms of prepared pistes to offer. From gentle cruising on the blue pistes of the Gornergrat to the marked off piste itinerary runs of Stockhorn/Triftji and heli skiing on the Monte Rosa, Zermatt provides something for everyone! The high altitude skiing gives a sense of wonderment and provides ‘snow safe’ conditions even when the natural snow doesn’t fall as over 80% of the pistes have snow making facilities, with 1060 snow cannons providing this coverage! The ski area also has some of the longest pistes in Europe including the famous Ventina run from Klein Matterhorn to the village of Cervina, 14kms, and the longest, Klein Matterhorn to Valtournenche – giving you 22kms of skiing pleasure and a vertical descent of 2300m.
When you combine the incredible skiing and boarding with the world famous mountain restaurants, such as Chez Vrony, Zum Zee, Findlerhof or Blatten you have the complete wintersports destination, to which many people come back to year after year.
HIKING & MOUNTAIN BIKING IN SUMMER
Summertime in Zermatt is more relaxed than winter, the picturesque snow capped mountains combined with the flowering alpine meadows provides many kilometres of hiking trails for you to enjoy. There is a such a variety for everyone, from easy, gentle pathways to the more adventurous high alpine routes. Also, more recently many dedicated bike trails have been built, from the speed adrenaline downhill trails to the cross country trials – Zermatt is now a popular destination for keen mountain bikers.
Much of the lift system is open in the summer which lets you easily travel up the mountains to take in the incredible alpine scenery, your camera will be well used!
