Visiting the car free town of Zermatt

Our last destination in Switzerland took us to the small mountain town of Zermatt, a car free town at an elevation of almost 1600m that lies below the Matterhorn that is easily accessible by train. Upon our arrival we quickly became aware, whilst walking down the main Bahnhofstrasse which is lined with expensive boutique shops, that it was indeed car free, however there are electrical vehicles that are almost harder to hear than normal vehicles, that roam the streets. 

Upon arriving and checking into our hotel, Hotel Helvetia (a very small hotel in the very centre of town), we dropped off our bags and left the explore the town which didn’t take us very long as it’s a very compact little town.

On the day that we arrived the weather was sunny with a few clouds in the sky, and as a result, we weren’t able to see the top of the Matterhorn mountain, however as we walked down towards the river, the clouds started to disappear and we got our first look at the ‘Toblerone’ mountain top. Initially however, Xander, Eloise and Suz didn’t see the top and believed another peak was the actual Matterhorn and they were all exited and surprised when they saw the actual size of the mountain overlooking the town. 

One thing that we quickly found out about Zermatt is that due to its higher elevation, compared to Lauterbrunnen, is that it’s a lot cooler and our puffer jackets came in handy (specially the first morning where the temperature was around 2-3C).

We eventually sat down for some food and ordered a Raclette, a Swiss dish which consists of melted cheese which is then normally served with potatoes and pickles, basically a plate filled with melted cheese and who doesn’t like cheese. The rest of that day we spent our time on a playground and just by wandering the streets of town, exploring the different areas.

The following morning we had an early start and headed up to the cable car station where we headed up towards the Matterhorn Glacier Paradise. The cable car initially took us up to Trockener Steg where we had to change cable cars and where we got an up close look of the Matterhorn and were able to lie in deck chairs whilst soaking up the views on a beautiful clear sunny day. 

We continued on the next cable car and climbed over glaciers and snowy peaks all the way to an altitude of 3883m above the sea as we reached the Matterhorn Glacier Paradise, the highest cable car station in Europe. As we reached the viewing platform we were treated to amazing clear panoramic views over the Alps (Swiss and Italian as we were right on the border) and felt the cold winter air on our face.  And in start contrast with our trip to the Jungfraujoch, there were nil clouds or fog that obstructed our views. The full sun on us also made it feel a lot warmer than it actually was and we stayed out here amazed by the views for quite some time (well at least some of us did, Xander and Eloise were busy trying to dislodge the icycles from the fence).

One thing that neither of us were aware of was that from our location we could have caught another cable car that would have taken us into the Italian section of the Alps. We didn’t venture into Italy on this occasion however, that’s our destination for tomorrow. We were also surprised over the amount of skiers that we saw at this time of year, but I guess when you have snow all year round, why not.

We continued our tour of the Matterhorn Glacier Paradise by walking through the Glacier Palace which contained several ice sculptures (very similar to Jungfraujoch however lacked the ice pathways so no slide play was had). When we were ready to head back down we were all a bit cold and got a nice surprise in the cable car, not only was it nicely heated but the seats were heated as well. 

It’s hard to make a full comparison between the Jungfraujoch and the Matterhorn Glacier Paradise, the Jungfraujoch calls itself the Top of Europe based on the highest train station, however Matterhorn Glacier Paradise sits at 3883m compared to Jungfraujoch at 3571m. The Matterhorn Glacier Paradise also offers better views, has less crowds and the cable car is just perfect. All in all, we’re glad that we did both however I would strongly recommend Matterhorn Glacier Paradise over Jungfraujoch.

We once again were treated to amazing views of the Swiss Alps on the return journey down to Zermatt where we debated whether we wanted to visit one of the other peaks available, however decided that none of them could top what we had just seen, as so, the rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing in Zermatt. 

We finished our time in Zermatt with a traditional Swiss dinner at the Du Pont Restaurant, apparently the oldest restaurant in Zermatt, where Suz and I both had different version of Rösti whilst enjoying it with local Swiss beers. 

We enjoyed our trip to Zermatt, however it was a bit more exclusive than expected with all the boutique shops and the number of bars and night clubs (lots of places for Après-Ski), nonetheless, it’s a beautiful little town with lots to see and do and I would love to return in Winter.