A Day In Zermatt & A Million Photos Of The Matterhorn

In Zermatt, the weather gods finally shone upon us.

After three excellent days in the Bernese Alps where we had experienced intermittent weather, we arrived in Zermatt to pure, unparalleled sunshine. We couldn’t have chosen a better day for Matterhorn-hunting.

Zermatt itself is a big winter destination, being one of Switzerland’s most popular ski resorts. It draws crowds year-round though, thanks to the iconic peak next door – the Matterhorn. Going on previous experiences with ski resorts, I didn’t expect to love Zermatt, especially given how expensive it is and where it targets its appeal (a.k.a. not budget backpackers). On the contrary, I ended up really enjoying it, though I think a day – and barely even that – was enough time to get happily acquainted with it.

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On paper, the 2.5 hour journey from just outside Interlaken to Zermatt sounded complicated – five minutes on the train to Interlaken Ost, a train on to Spiez, change onto a train to Visp, and finally change onto a Zermatt train. Four trains felt ridiculous for what should be a popular route. Yet I’ve already spoken about Swiss efficiency, and that was no exception here. Everything, once again, ran like clockwork.

The crowds were a different matter. When we arrived in Spiez, the platform was so crowded that I had no idea how everyone was going to get on the train. It was a Tuesday in October, and frankly I couldn’t believe just how much more crowded it was than it had been during our entire weekend around Interlaken. Even our Saturday morning train from Lucerne to Interlaken was nothing like this.

Needless to say, we stood all the way to Visp, sandwiched in and unable to move. When we arrived in Visp, we had two huge advantages: we were by a door, and we only had hand luggage. We planned ahead to figure out what platform we needed, and the second the door opened, we bolted. Most people from our train didn’t make it to the other one in time.

Honestly, I was surprised how stressful this was! We never experienced such a busy train again throughout Switzerland. We never once struggled to get a seat apart from that one train (we even got seats together on the Visp – Zermatt train!).

It wouldn’t have been the end of the world if we’d had to wait for another train, but the main reason we made a break for it is that we only had one day in Zermatt. Time was of the essence.

Originally, when we were barely in the planning stages of Switzerland, I wasn’t even thinking of going to Zermatt. I wanted to see the Matterhorn, but it’s a long way to go when there’s the relatively high risk of not even seeing it. It’s also much more expensive than anywhere else we visited in Switzerland.

Read more: Lauterbrunnen, Interlaken & More: Three Incredible Days In The Bernese Oberland, Switzerland

The final decision was made when we got our Swiss Travel Passes and decided to do the panoramic trains to make the most of the pass. The most famous of them, the Glacier Express, leaves from Zermatt. So that was it: we were going to Zermatt.

Now I just had to hope we’d get a glimpse of the Matterhorn!

Well, unless you’re blind or the photos in this post aren’t loading (and please tell me if that’s the case!), you’ll know what the outcome of that was! I WAS ECSTATIC!

This was just as exciting as seeing Mount Fuji in Japan.

I’d been researching the Five Lakes Trail to see Stellisee, a famous lake where, in the right conditions, the Matterhorn can be perfectly reflected in the water. This became my dream photo mission for the trip, so imagine my devastation when I look up the timetable and find that the cable car stopped for the season two days before our visit. I’d originally read that it’s open until the end of October, so I thought we were fine!

No matter, with excitement I found there’s another lake of magical reflections: Riffelsee.

…and that getting there involves a railway that costs 66CHF. Each way.

THANKFULLY, because there is no way I would ever be paying that, the Gornergrat Railway is half price with the Swiss Travel Pass, and you don’t need to book it. That meant we could turn up in Zermatt, check whether the Matterhorn was even visible, and then shell out a far less hideous amount of money on a whim.

It’s also easy enough to buy tickets at any of the stations too, so we were able to just buy a one-way ticket up to the top and then hike down to Riffelsee. From Rotenboden, the closest station to Riffelsee, the journey back down was 57CHF instead of 66CHF (so 28.50CHF with our pass). The next station, Riffelberg, would only be 42CHF, so 21CHF with the pass. Basically, the further back down you hike, the less you’ll pay.

So, the Gornergrat. I’ve got to say it’s one of the coolest trains I’ve taken. Snaking through barren wilderness, surrounded on all sides by massive mountains, it is brilliant.

At the top is a large complex with a small museum, expensive shops, and some cool photo opportunities. Your rail ticket gives you entry to the museum, and you can even try on a VR headset where you can virtually “paraglide” through the Alps.

I’ll be honest though: that’s not what we were there for. I wanted to hike in the actual Alps and stare at the real Matterhorn for eternity and hope for those lake shots!

Before setting off, we popped down to the golden carriage, because that is a cool photo opportunity. One of the original Gornergrat carriages is now displayed in gold, overlooking one of the best views on earth.

And I almost forgot to mention: the Matterhorn isn’t the only attraction. This is one of the most impressive glaciers I’ve ever seen!

From the Gornergrat, we headed down. It only takes just over half an hour to hike down to Riffelsee, so even Ash joined me for this one. With photo stops it took us under 45 minutes, and it’s an easy hike so you don’t need to be “a hiker”.

I absolutely loved it! Hiking this high up in the Swiss alps, more than 3000m (more than 3 times the height of a munro), was not on my bingo card. And it was warm. It was the perfect temperature and the perfect weather, and all thoughts of being squished like sardines on the train just a couple of hours earlier had been forgotten; we were now feeling more free than we’d ever been.

The views were actually unreal.

We spotted a guy walking what can only be described as a wolf, we got caught up in a couple of fun groups of people, we waved to people on the train whenever one went past, and we made our way downwards towards the two pools of water ahead of us with the Matterhorn constantly in view. This was going down as one of my favourite days of travel ever.

The moment I saw signs of a reflection in the lake below cemented that.

It was actually unbelievable. As we approached the water, it was so perfectly crystal clear that I almost cried. And then, before I could even take a photo, dreaded ripples… but no breeze. I realised a kid was throwing rocks into the water, wrecking the place for everyone who was here for one reason. Are you ACTUALLY kidding me?!?

I decided to walk to the smaller lake beyond before I got angry enough to push the brat in. To me, this was even more beautiful. Half of the lake was covered in ice, but with strategic angling I found a great rock where I could get the whole reflection in a frame.

I got chatting to a couple also taking photos with a better camera than mine, who turned out to be the only British people I’d even heard on the trip so far. I think that might be a record for me in Europe; we were on day five! They had accidentally gone to the wrong station further down, and had to hike up to the lake. They were a lovely couple from Yorkshire who are planning to move to Scotland, so we had loads to chat about, and they frequently visit Switzerland after falling in love with it on a similar trip to ours. Sometimes I meet people on holiday who I really wish I’d kept in touch with, and they were definitely one (or two) of them. Really lovely people.

While snapping away, another child appeared and started throwing stones! And then leaned over into the lake and started very precariously shaking the sheet of ice, disrupting the entire lake. I was dumbfounded. The couple were dumbfounded. The parents were– haha, only kidding. The parents were nowhere to be seen, obviously.

Anyway, I’d got my photos. It was time to head back to the main lake to take more, and eat some very overdue lunch that we’d packed with us. The sandwich packaging had expanded so much in the altitude that it was ready to explode!

The one thing I’d forgotten? To take a Toblerone! What a missed opportunity.

I could have spent all day here. I did, at one point, consider coming up later in the day and staying for sunset. It was a risky plan though – sunset was due at 18:57 and the last train down was at 19:23. And when we arrived to bright sunshine, I wanted to get up there STAT! Not risking it clouding over an hour later and missing that day we ended up having.

Eventually, we tore ourselves away and headed back down to Zermatt to check in to our hotel. I’d paid an extra 20CHF for a room with a Matterhorn view; a gamble that was cheap enough to be worth the risk. Apart from the fact it goes without saying that it paid off…

Forget the balcony view in Lauterbrunnen. That’s small potatoes now.

THIS WAS THE VIEW FROM OUR BED!!!!

Unbelievable!

We stayed at Hotel Le Mazot Zermatt, which as a hotel was relatively basic but included breakfast and obviously that view was unbeatable. Our room was brilliant, it’s just very self-service which was fine for us (code to get in, key in your room etc), and it was one of the cheaper places I found in Zermatt – which was still the most expensive place we stayed on the whole trip! It’s only a five minute walk from the train station, and it’s above a restaurant with excellent reviews. In fact, there’s a guest discount for eating there.

We were tempted, but we ended up going to one place I kept seeing recommended: Grampi’s, a lovely Italian restaurant that feels very traditional and not too expensive compared to a lot of Zermatt’s offerings. I mean, the pizzas are 25CHF minimum, but that’s par for the course in Switzerland…

Read more: A Spectacular 10 Day Rail Itinerary In Switzerland & Liechtenstein

This was, overall, our favourite day of the entire trip. It feels like we’re betraying our beloved Jungfrau saying that, but honestly, I don’t think travel days can get any better than sunshine over the Matterhorn, hiking in the Swiss alps, and perfect reflections in a lake.

With all the variables that could have worked against us, this is, most likely, a once-in-a-lifetime moment for us. I don’t know if Zermatt is in our future, but there’s no guarantee that it would ever be as perfect as it was on this day.

And yet, Zermatt became the gift that kept on giving. The following morning, I got up early to head to the viewpoint over the town for sunrise. In ideal conditions, the sun hits the top of the Matterhorn just right, with a bright orange light making it look like a fire.

I couldn’t believe it when it lit up like this!

What an absolute treat – and well worth getting up early for.

The viewpoint was around a 15 minute walk from our hotel, with 10 minutes through what felt like a residential area, and 5 minutes up a steep path. It’s marked on Google Maps as a Matterhorn viewpoint, but in case that changes, the path is called Mürini.

I couldn’t get enough of the Matterhorn, but it was time to move on and take a bucket-list train journey across Switzerland – so it’s not all bad!

Zermatt is one of the end points for the famous Glacier Express panoramic train, and we were booked on the 09:52 train to Chur. I’ll be writing all about this spectacular rail journey separately.

I’m so glad we added Zermatt to our Switzerland itinerary, as it was probably the highlight of our trip. Yet if we planned to go back, I don’t think we could ever get this lucky with the weather and conditions again. It might be one of those places we have to leave on a high (no pun intended).

There are plenty of places I wouldn’t make the effort to return to, but it’s not always for a negative reason. Sometimes it’s just because you’ve got the best you possibly can out of a place. And Zermatt is going down as one of the best days of my life.

Read more about our Switzerland trip here:
⭐ A Spectacular 10 Day Rail Itinerary In Switzerland & Liechtenstein
⭐ Lauterbrunnen, Interlaken & More: Three Incredible Days In The Bernese Oberland, Switzerland
More coming soon!

And more beautiful Europe here:
⭐ The Perfect One Week Norway Itinerary For First-Timers
⭐ The Land Of Fire & Ice: A Five Day Iceland Itinerary
⭐ Slovenia: Loving Ljubljana & Visiting Lake Bled In March
⭐ Hiking & Heating Up In Kotor, Montenegro