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  4 of 5, "More expensive than Courchevel" 05/03/2012 @ 19:33 |
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| Booked Trip Through |
| Iglu |
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| Times Visited |
| Just Once |
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| Review Detail |
My first time in Zermatt and following all the comments from friends about how epic it is I was really looking forward to it.
Arrival to the town is by train from Tasch, about 10 minutes down the valley following a long 3 hour transfer by coach from Geneva. The transfer was very slick, however one thing to consider if booking to come here and are on a late afternoon/evening flight.
The town is car free and the transfer to the chalet Aeschhorn right next to the English church is by electric "milkfloat".
The Matterhorn dominates the town, as do the steep sided valleys. Getting to the slopes and lifts is a walk and a bus ride away as none of the ski areas are linked to the town in a ski in / ski out sense of the word. The areas are Sunnegga, Gornergrat and Matterhorn. Getting to the top of the slopes for the day you should give yourself 30 minutes from boarding the lift, that's not taking into account the queue for the green(circular route) and red buses or the queue for the lift/funicular.
The ski areas are quite distinct, however linked by the Furi lift and direct access down to Cervinia.
Sunnegga has steep runs down to the base station, Gornergrat has pistes ideal for learning and Matterhorn is the largest and most varied with steeps, the park and the glacier with wide wide cruisy blues.
There are a few T bars on the Matterhorn side but nothing of any issue except for the Hornli lift which is long, steep and had me doing 360's due to the fact that in some places it goes downhill.
Food on the mountain is expensive on the Swiss side so you would be advised to take a camelback and a picnic. Doing this means you can board through the lunch hour where it is generally quieter.
Down to Cervina you get the longest run of the area and it is well worth paying the 40CHF extra, on top of the 420CHF for the week's lift pass. Yes, £320 for the lift pass FOR A WEEK!
Cervinia is nice and has cheaper food than in Zermatt area, with the cafe above Lago Goillet and the restaurant at the foot of the piste in Breuil Cervinia being affordable stops. the Polenta with cheese and pizza being recommended.
apres ski - there is only one affordable place and that's Potter's Bar at the Gornergrat mountain railway in Zermatt town. 5.50 CHF for a pint of Cardinal and reasonabley priced food too - 19CHF for a 3 course set menu.
Zermatt is a lovely town however there are people there to ski and people there to shop and there is a crazy amount of watch shops, but not many places to sit outside and while the afternoon away with a pint.
I would definitely go back, however on the Cervinia side where you get better value, but all the benefits of Zermatt ski area. |
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| Strengths |
Large ski area with very well kept pistes and plenty to keep you entertained
Epic scenery
Variety of pistes
Matterhorn dominates |
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| Hot Spots |
Gornergrat Mountain railway - definite must do
Schwarzsee for photos of the Matterhorn
Potter's Bar
Blasting into Cervinia
The park is well kept and has a variety of humps, bumps and rails |
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| Weaknesses |
Walks to the bus in the morning and afternoon. If skiing bear this in mind.
Queues for the buses at busy times - larrive early and finish earlier would be my advice
Cost for everything
Extortionate lift pass price - better off staying in Cervinia as the lift pass is 100€ cheaper!!
Some really ignorant families in the lifts not giving way when you're clearly trying to get in. The Matterhorn Express lift is a multi-stop gondola and on more than one occasion you had to really fight to get a seat in the cabin even though there was room and you had racked your board on the outside signifying your intention to enter. |
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| Similar Resorts Visited |
| Chamonix |
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 5 of 5, "The most stunning alpine views" 15/09/2010 @ 20:03 |
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| 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful: |
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| Price Paid |
| 800 |
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| Booked Trip Through |
| OTP.co.uk (On the Piste) |
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| Times Visited |
| 2-5 Times |
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| Review Detail |
The experience starts with the transfer. We went via Swiss Rail, which culminates in the Glacier Express journey from Visp/Brig. It's really enjoyable and the upgrade to 1st class is not too expensive! Some travel companies bus it to Tasch, with only the last stretch ( about 10 mins) on the train. Go on the train, accept no substitute! The three main areas can now be linked without going back down to the village, which means that wherever you are staying, access to the whole mountain area is easy.
The Sunnegga/Rothorn offers the easiset routes, blues and easy reds, with a beginner snow park at half height.
The Gornergrat has the classic funicular railway ascent to the recently refurbished hotel (wish I had that much money!!), with further cable cars to the freeride Stockhorn area (excellent steep unprepared routes). The funicular is another 'must do'. In the sumer, rail anoraks travel from far and wide for this. For us, its 'only' a ski-lift! The Gornergrat is the original Zermatt terrrain, and it feels like it, with runs following the natural features, top end blues and some reds.
The glacier offers easy reds, some only just off piste runs (but beware of straying too far, there are some very deep crevasses not far away). The run down from the summit station is not at all steep, and should the wind be in the wrong direction, you could be walking.... Beyond this lies Cervinia and a host of decent reds. The glacier covers a vast area and there is plenty of space even during school holidays!
The glacier snow park has no dedicated lift, so for the hardcore park rat, a lot of cardio-fitness may be required (I hit one kicker 22 times during a 3 hour lesson...). The obstacles are aimed at good standard freestylers, with not too much for the timid amongst us.
The run back to the village from the glacier is a black/red on undulating and narrow tracks. With good snow, it's amazing. On glass-like artificial snow on a detuned park board it will have you reaching for the valium......awesome!
Afterwards, there is the apres. Some cracking bars with a real laid back feel. In Zermatt, the jewelllry laden oligarchs have to mix it with sweaty grungey boarders, and it all seems to work! Eating is not cheap, but pizza at the North Wall Bar fills some empty stomachs for not too much! A few clubs offer entertainment way into the early hours.
Eating on the mountain is excellent. There are some really good mountain restaurants, some of which are tiny. Highly recommended is Chez Vrony at Findeln (between Sunnegga and the Gornergrat). Pick a sunny day, with a table on the balcony over looking the valley and the Toblerone mountain itself, and hope that heaven itself is as beautiful and chilled as this. Have the Rosti, or wurstl and just a little wine. Never mind the cost as this memory will last a lifetime! MAKE SURE YOU BOOK AS IF YOU JUST TURN UP YOU WILL HAVE AT BEST A LONG WAIT!
The village itself is not overdeveloped and there are many of the original 'Walliser' chalet/huts still in use. Some have been refurbished and provide a real element of tradition to your stay. Descend off the Gornergrat and take the wrong turning and you could be walking a good half an hour back to the main village, giving you lots of time to admire these centuries old structures (how is it I know that?)!
Shopping? Simple tourist tat to oligarch-melting watches! £100k? Yes, it's all here. Nice tea shop upstairs on the main street, to watch the horse-drawn chariots go by. Ice hockey several nights per week and the occasional moonlight rail session just up from the Sunnegga lift. Zermatt has it all |
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| Strengths |
| The rail journey. It's undeniably beautiful! Huge terrain area, great variety, excellent mountain restaurants, entertainment 24h per day! Spectacular views of the Matterhorn, awesome sunsets! Apres ski bonhomie! Real Vallais ambiance! The best webcams in the world (http://www.zermatt.ch/en/page.cfm/service/webcams). |
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| Hot Spots |
| Take your lid off and listen! Otherwise head for the bridge near the church graveyard (the one filled with headstones dedicated to long dead British mountaineers......) then take off your lid and follow the sound of music and jovial banter! |
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| Weaknesses |
| Not a lot for the real beginner. The 'easy' routes are narrow and not that easy. If you must go for the glacier bound lift first thing in the morning, don't be at the far end of town! |
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| Similar Resorts Visited |
| Saas Fee, Wengen |
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| 4 of 5, "Zermatt, Switzerland - Summer boarding" 23/01/2007 @ 15:02 |
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| Price Paid |
| £600pp |
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| Booked Trip Through |
| Myself |
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| Times Visited |
| Just Once |
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| Review Detail |
I have spent a week out in Zermatt (18th - 23rd September). The summer lay off just got too much for me so I dragged the girlfriend up there instead of her choice of a beach holiday this summer, ha ha.
Luckily for us, two days before we arrived the Matterhorn runs were closed due to bad weather, but our first day there, the runs were opened again with fresh snow and brilliant sunshine.
It takes the best part of an hour to get to the top of the lift system but its well worth it. The main pistes had the Swiss and French ski team on them practicing slalom runs which was good to watch as well as some of the pro boarders in down hill and in the snow park. Thoses guys are awesome!
The main pistes were in good condition if a little cut up with all the activty but there is one run that was officially closed but you were able to board on it which took you away from all the main piste activity and all the way down to the gondola to take you up to the top again.
We were basically able to board about 2.5 miles of snow from top to bottom which is good but in winter the longest run is 14km! Wish we could have done that!
The resort is expesive but very nice. Whole trip including lift passes was about £500. That was flights to Geneva from Liverpool, hire car for a week, apartment for a week and 6 day lift passes which isnt bad really.
Would I recomend Zermatt? Definately. I wouldn't go again in summer because of the lack of slopes open, and I have have covered them all now but if you just need a snow fix in summer and you aint been there before, I would definately recomend it! I'm going to go back in winter though and I cant wait!
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| Strengths |
| 365 days a year boarding |
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| Hot Spots |
| Nowhere specific |
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| Weaknesses |
| Expensive resort |
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| Similar Resorts Visited |
| Nowhere |
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| 4 of 5, "Good snow but few other redeeming features..." 15/01/2007 @ 16:01 |
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| 3 of 3 people found the following review helpful: |
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| Revision #2 (Last edited: 16/01/2007 @ 16:17) |
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| Price Paid |
| 800 |
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| Booked Trip Through |
| Self |
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| Times Visited |
| Just Once |
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| Review Detail |
Went to Zermatt Jan 6-13 '07. At a time when most other Euro resorts had little or no white stuff, it had very good snow cover due to the height of both resort and runs. The higher areas are susceptible to closure from high winds however and this did happen a couple of times in the glacier area although there were still enough lower runs open to have a good time, and a raging ice-storm at 3000m does add quite a bit of excitement to one's day...
There are 3 ski areas to explore here and unfortunately they're in 3 different locations round town so wherever you stay, you'll have a bus ride to 2 or even all 3. The buses are every few minutes but are still often crowded. It's not a pleasant way to start the day, and when 3 packed-out Klein Matterhorn buses go by without stopping, in the first week of Jan in low season, there starts the first niggling suspicion that Zermatt with its growing sprawl may just have more beds than its transport systems and slopes can reasonably cope with.
Sunnegga Area: The Sunegga funicular is the quickest way to the slopes, taking just 6 minutes. So probably still a half hour-ish for most people to ride the bus to the lift, go down the long tunnel and wait for the funicular to go. The runs here are good fun; long, sunny and with great views. If you fancy a change from regular self-service mountain restaurants as well, the one here does great traditional Swiss cheesy dishes. There were no lift queues here to speak of which was great.
Gornergrat Area: The Gornergrat train leaving from near Zermatt station is the most relaxing way to get up, it takes 30-40 mins depending on where you get off, which is a long ride up but you can sit down and enjoy the amazing views, the seats are much appreciated after a long day riding as well. We saw deer in the woods on almost every ride. The Gornergrat was our fave area, with the same sunny runs and amazing views as the previous area but pipping Sunnegga because of its smashing sofa-like, fast hoody chairs. There were no lift queues here as everyone seemed to be off on the Klein Matterhorn area.
We didn't have much joy at the Klein Matterhorn area. You had to get first lifts or nothing, since the area was swarming with skiers almost immediately. Even the first lift was busy, and it was this area that had the endless, not-stopping packed-out ski buses, even fairly early in the morning. It's true that the runs are lovely and wide but the long series of cable car and gondola rides, plus the heavy crowds and high risk of wind shutting the lifts, meant that it didn't feel quite worth it. We didn't manage to get over to Cervinia because of the winds but didn't really mind as the snow reports were not great and the travelling involved before even getting to strap in, is quite something. Our main regret was not getting to sample the pasta!
The village/town of Zermatt itself was much, much bigger than we expected, having little sense of community and few actual local people to be found. People staying there were incredibly rude in general, even by London standards of obnoxiousness which is saying something! We had to giggle as the heaving main street, constant moving out of the way for electric taxis (traffic-free my a*se!), and being crammed onto crowded ski-buses was almost an exact recreation of getting on the 25 from Oxford Circus! Talk about home from home, really.. :o) God knows what it must be like in high season.
Prices - it's expensive to eat here but that was to be expected. Main courses are generally over 30 CHF so you're looking at 100 CHF for dinner for 2 with dessert and drinks but the meals we had were great. Particularly recommend the Stockhorn Grill, they do their meat over a wood grill, and I still fantasize about the Toblerone mousse and amazing Apple Strudel. Also the Walliserhof hotel gets a thumbs up for a great, copious and reasonably priced cheese fondue (first time ever I could not finish one) in romantic & cosy surroundings. There's also some large supermarkets if you fancy something simple, and a good kebab shop by the church for another cheap option.
Overall, it was good to finally experience this resort, we did feel that we were somewhere truly world famous, but it was not for us in the end, I guess we just could not connect with the place. Ultimately it felt more like we got sucked up and spat back out a week later by the "Zermatt Matterhorn Brand Experience" TM theme park. Once we were up on the slopes it was fine, but our experiences in the village and on the way to the slopes were something to be endured rather than enjoyed! |
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| Strengths |
| Pretty parts of town, lively atmosphere, Matterhorn |
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| Hot Spots |
| Stockhorn Grill |
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| Weaknesses |
Crowds
High prices
Rude rich people |
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| Similar Resorts Visited |
| Wengen, St Moritz, various in Japan |
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| 4 of 5 12/04/2005 @ 18:47 |
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| Price Paid |
| £450 each for rooms and travel (but see below) |
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| Booked Trip Through |
| Independently planned |
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| Times Visited |
| Just Once |
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| Review Detail |
Zermatt is probably most famous for the Matterhorn which completely dominates the resort (and accounts for the number of graves of British climbers in the churchyward). As a ski resort there's plenty of vertical but most of it is in big moterway pistes. You probably need a bit of local knowledge for decent terrain. I only covered the Matterhorn and Cervinia as the ther areas were mostly open when I went (11/12th December).
The town seemed pretty relaxed, prices are highish but probably below london levels. On the mountain cheaper if you eat on the Italian side (very cheap at times).
What it does have is the possibility of a easy to arrange weekend trip. Get flights to Geneva and take a hotel for Friday night in Geneva near the train station. Then catch the mornign train to Zermatt, arraneg to be mett fromt he train and your bags taken off to the hotel and go strain up the hill. When you're finished, get the train back to Geneva Airport angain only one change and meet you're evening flight. The trains won't be late so its low stress travel.
I reckon you can cut the cost down a bit as I had a second night in Geneva, there may also be better offers from the train if you work it out. However weekend trips aren't ever cheap and this one is at least easy.
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| Strengths |
| Amazing Scenery - The Matterhorn. Good lifts, attractive town, viable for weekend trips. |
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| Hot Spots |
| On the Cevinia side there was plently of grown to tract between the pistes. Might be more at Zermatt later but thed run the bashers everywhere to get snow to cover the rocks. |
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| Weaknesses |
Expensive liftpass ~£100 for 3 days including the Italian side.
Terrain a bit bland, though it was early December so wasn't all available. |
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