Holidays to Switzerland Travel Podcast Episode 202 Transcript
The Ultimate 2-Day Zermatt Itinerary: Mountain Excursions, Hikes, and Local Eats
You can see the full show notes and listen to this episode > here.
Carolyn Schönafinger: If you’re planning to spend a couple of days in Zermatt and you’re wondering how to make the most of your time, this episode is for you. My guest, Zermatt local Claudia Wyss, shares her ideal 2-day itinerary, which includes scenic hikes, mountain excursions, great places to eat, and plenty of practical tips to help you get the most from your visit. Whether it’s your first time in Zermatt or you’re returning for another stay, this episode will provide you with lots of inspiration for your trip.
Welcome to the Holidays to Switzerland Podcast. I’m Carolyn Schönafinger, your Switzerland destination expert and the founder of holidaystoswitzerland.com. Each week, together with my expert guests, I introduce you to the Switzerland that I know and love, and share inspiration and practical tips to help you plan your dream Swiss vacation.
Before we get started with today’s episode, I’d like to take a moment to thank our podcast sponsors, Switzerland Tourism and My Mountains, an award-winning Swiss tour operator specialising in expertly designed all-inclusive ski vacations in Switzerland, Italy, and France. Each MyMountain ski vacation is customized to suit your interests, so whether you prefer to spend your time at just one ski resort or a combination of resorts, each trip will be tailored just for you. You can even combine your days on the slopes with panoramic train rides or city stays, all with an experienced guide on hand to assist you when needed.
So if you’re ready to book an unforgettable ski adventure in the Alps, visit the link in the show notes where you’ll also find our exclusive discount code to get 5% off your MyMountains ski vacation. Now let’s get into this week’s episode.
Good morning, Claudia, and welcome back to the Holidays to Switzerland podcast. It’s lovely to have you here again to tell us all about your amazing destination of Zermatt. For the listeners who haven’t heard you on the podcast previously, would you like to start by introducing yourself, please?
Claudia Wyss: Of course. So my name’s Claudia. I work for the Zermatt Cableways, so all the mountain excursions here in Zermatt. I was lucky enough to have grown up here, so I’ve lived in Zermatt all my life and probably will for the rest of my life.
Carolyn Schönafinger: I can’t say I blame you. It must be the most amazing place to live all year round. Why would you say that our listeners should include a stay in Zermatt in their visit to Switzerland?
Claudia Wyss: I think Zermatt is a very special place. I mean, I might be biased, but like anyone who’s been here can confirm that. Firstly, I would say what’s very special in Zermatt is the mountains surrounding us. We have many of the high alpine peaks. And then also the village is very charming.
But then Zermatt is authentic because it used to actually be a farming village. So people used to keep mainly sheep, but some people used to keep cows as well. And that tradition has kind of still stayed here.
So a lot of people, even now, there are a lot of people that keep animals. And it’s tourism that developed slowly after that. So I think Zermatt, it’s very authentic because it was originally a farming village and then tourism slowly developed from that.
It was not purposely built for tourists. And even now, a lot of the locals still live here and they have done for generations.
Carolyn Schönafinger: Yeah. I know I’ve come across before names that you can, that you see owners of a hotel. It’s the fourth generation of the family now. Now running the hotel. So yeah, there’s certainly long traditions there.
I think that for many of our listeners, when they’re planning out their Switzerland itinerary, they will probably plan to spend 3 nights in Zermatt, which gives them 2 full days. And, whilst that’s never going to be enough time to spend there, it will give them a good example of some of the different things that they can see and do there. So how would you suggest that they spend their first full day in Zermatt?
Claudia Wyss: So before, maybe before spending your first day here, I think arriving in Zermatt should be a highlight already. And I would recommend arriving via the Matterhorn Alpine Crossing. The Matterhorn Alpine Crossing is a gondola connection between Cervinia in Italy and Zermatt in Switzerland.
The gondola ride takes about 1.5 hours. Achivinia, which is the starting point, would be about a 2.5-hour drive from Milan. So that’s a way you could combine your itinerary as well. Maybe spend a few nights in Milan and then come over to Zermatt and arrive via gondola where you cross the border.
The Matterhorn Alpine Crossing goes up to the highest peak or the highest cable car station in Europe, the Matterhorn Glacier Paradise, where there’s a viewing platform, there’s a restaurant, a souvenir shop, and a glacier palace. And everything can be easily done because you can drop off your luggage at the valley station and that will be transported for you to the other side. It’s a bit like flying. You check in your luggage and you pick it up on the other side. So, I mean, I think even just arriving should be a highlight.
Carolyn Schönafinger: Yeah, absolutely. And of course, as you mentioned, that people can get out and have a look there at Matterhorn Glacier Paradise. So it’s not just a means of getting from Cervinia to Zermatt. They can actually do some of, well, a bit of sightseeing on the way.
Claudia Wyss: Mm-hmm. And then if we go to day number 1, I would recommend being a bit more active because the day before we had a bit of a travelling day, sightseeing, taking photos. So on day 1, we can be a bit more active and do the Five Lakes hike. For this hike, you take a funicular up to Sunnegga and then a gondola to Blauherd.
And it starts at Blauherd. The hike is a loop, which takes about 2.5 hours. And you cross or you walk past Five Lakes, as it says. It’s very, it’s an easy hike. It’s very well marked. So I think, yeah, it is doable.
Carolyn Schönafinger: Okay. And do you need any special equipment or are regular hiking shoes fine? You said it’s easy. So is it fairly flat? What’s the terrain like?
Claudia Wyss: Yeah, so it’s fairly flat. However, I mean, we’re still moving in the mountains, so you might have to step over rocks. I mean, little steps that you have to do, I would definitely recommend wearing hiking shoes or like some good trainers.
Also, if you’re moving around in the mountains, always just wear a rain jacket just in case the weather changes. It can change in the mountains. I think a rain jacket also helps to protect you against the wind just in case it gets windy.
Carolyn Schönafinger: And of course, for anyone who hasn’t seen our video episode that we did a little while ago, you took us on the first part of that Five Lakes hike from Blauherd to Stellisee, where we saw some amazing reflections of the Matterhorn in the lake. So I’ll link to that episode in the show notes.
Okay, so we’ve set off for the day. We’re doing the Five Lakes hike. I guess that brings us to about lunchtime, does it?
Claudia Wyss: Yes. So we finished around Sunnegga and just below Sunnegga in the hamlet of Findeln, there are many restaurants. So just to list some of them, there’s Paradise, there’s Enzion, there’s Adlerhütte, there’s Findlerhof, Schiffbräunli is there. So you can hear a lot of different restaurants and the food is actually really good.
So I would definitely recommend having lunch there up on the Matterhorn Glacier. And then after that, you can either hike down or take the funicular down depending. If you want to walk further anymore.
And in the evening, I would recommend going to the Matterhorn Museum. It’s open daily from 3 o’clock until 6 o’clock during the season. And it talks about the first ascent of the Matterhorn, which was over 160 years ago.
Carolyn Schönafinger: Mm. Okay. And how should we finish out the day? Are there any particular restaurants or types of cuisine that you recommend people try in Zermatt?
Claudia Wyss: Yeah, I think a lot of guests that come to Zermatt, they like to have a cheese fondue. Although cheese fondue, usually in our region, that’s something that we eat in winter, raclette is something that we would eat more in summer. There are loads of options for raclette or cheese fondue.
Some suggestions would be the Wimperstube, Zermatterstübli, Sage Cheese at Zermatterhof, or the Dupont. But then, I mean, there are a variety. There’s a restaurant that’s really good, it’s the Schafe Stube, where they serve local lamb from the farmers that breed them here.
But I mean, even if you fancy some Italian food, we have an Indian restaurant. So I think it’s, yeah, you have a lot of options. It kind of depends what kind of food you fancy.
Carolyn Schönafinger: Yeah, absolutely. And of course, I guess most of the hotels have their own restaurants as well. So there’s plenty of choice.
Claudia Wyss: Yeah, definitely.
Carolyn Schönafinger: Hmm. Okay. So is that all we’re fitting in for day 1? Everyone probably needs a bit of a rest now after that, that active day. So what do you suggest they do on day 2?
Claudia Wyss: So on day 2, we could do the Matterhorn Glacier Trail. This starts on Trockener Steg. So it’s the other side of Zermatt, more towards the south.
You start at Trockener Steg and finish on Schwarzsee. It’s about a 2-hour hike, and I find it quite impressive because you walk just below the east wall of the Matterhorn. And well, actually a few years ago there was still a glacier on there, and now it’s no longer glacier anymore, but you can see how the rocks have been formed by the ice.
But then, I mean, I’m talking about these hikes, but you can always kind of make them shorter or longer. So like Yesterday, the Five Lakes hike we did is a 2.5-hour loop. However, you could just go to the first lake and walk back.
Today, when we are doing the Matterhorn Glacier Trail, instead of doing the whole trail, you could just go up to Schwarzsee. Up on Schwarzsee, we have the Zermatt letters, which is a fun photo spot. There’s a little lake and a chapel as well.
And I find Schwarzsee quite a special place. Because if you go there in the afternoon, you’ll see all the mountaineers coming back, all the mountaineers that summited the Matterhorn, because Schwarzsee would be the starting point where they hike to the Hornlihat, stay there overnight, and then summit the Matterhorn the next day, and then will come back.
So that’s kind of interesting to watch those people.
Carolyn Schönafinger: Yeah. Okay. And so how do we get to Schwarzsee or Trockener Steg from Zermatt? Is that by cable car?
Claudia Wyss: Yes, exactly. That’s by Kewoka. So it’s kind of, I would say, at the far south side of the village, kind of the end of the village. I would say from the train station, it’s about a 20-minute walk through the village.
However, there is a bus line as well. The bus is free of charge and you just wait at the stop and it usually comes every about 10 minutes and then you just hop on there.
Carolyn Schönafinger: Easy. So how are we finishing out day 2? What else have you got in store for us?
Claudia Wyss: So we need lunch again. So for lunch, we can either pack a picnic. I mean, if that’s something that you fancy, put that in your backpack. Just make sure to pack all your rubbish when you leave. Don’t leave any rubbish in nature.
But also, if we don’t want to bring a picnic, we can have lunch around Furi. There are a few options. There’s, for example, there’s restaurant Furri, which is a very traditional restaurant where you’ll have a lot of cheese and potatoes or bread, kind of these typical Swiss things.
But then there are other options. Die Gipsgadde, the Silvana Hotel, Zum See is nice. They have the best mille-feuille dessert. Or Blatten, which is a short walk from Furi as well. Good.
Carolyn Schönafinger: Plenty of options. And I will get all those names of the restaurants from you and put them in the show notes so everyone listening can find those easily.
Claudia Wyss: Okay.
Carolyn Schönafinger: So after lunch, what should we do then?
Claudia Wyss: After lunch, we can walk down to the village. There is the option to go through the Gjornagorge. It’s kind of like a gorge where you can see it’s been, this rock has been kind of like caved by years and years of the water going through them.
It’s a bit adventurous. You have some like long steps down and then some narrow bridges that can be, can be fun. And then in the afternoon, I think we can just have a stroll around the village, around the main street between the church square and the train station.
There are a lot of shops and cafes and loads of things to visit.
Carolyn Schönafinger: Yeah. Plenty to do. And of course you can see the Matterhorn from the main street as well. So it’s nice to just sit down and have a coffee and just look up at the Matterhorn watching over you.
Claudia Wyss: Definitely.
Carolyn Schönafinger: Okay. So how about for the final evening? You’ve already mentioned some restaurants from the night before. Is there anything else that people should do before they finish up their second day in Zermatt?
Claudia Wyss: I mean, I said definitely a cheese fondue for one dinner, and then the other one, maybe two cheese fondues in a row is a bit heavy. There’s a really good Italian restaurant called Morlo. Because we actually have a lot of Italian workers in Zermatt.
So it’s real Italian people that have it. And we started our trip in Italy. So yeah, we like that.
Carolyn Schönafinger: Yeah. That’s a good connection. Okay. Now you’ve mentioned a couple of mountain excursions that we can do, but there are other possibilities, aren’t there?
I know a lot of people have probably heard of the Gornergrat. So that’s another option. How would they go about doing that?
Claudia Wyss: So the Gornergrat is a cogwheel train and it starts very practically just opposite the train station. You can go all the way to the top and then there again you have kind of the options. You can either hike a few stops and then hop on the train again because the trains usually run around every 20 minutes.
There’s a train, just make sure you check the timetable, but usually every 20 minutes you have a train that goes up or that comes down. So even there, like, I guess if you want to be a bit more easygoing, you can just stay in the train and then have a look around.
But then if you want to be more active, you could hike up or down one stop or two stops or three stops and then get on the train again.
Carolyn Schönafinger: Okay. And most of these things that we’ve mentioned today are quite weather dependent. And you already said that when you’re in the mountains, the weather can change quite quickly.
So if someone’s in Zermatt and the weather isn’t suitable for a mountain excursion, what are some other activities that they could do?
Claudia Wyss: Zermatt, I would say like, it is, you do come for the outdoors and we have loads of outdoor options. I would, yeah, admit that maybe the indoor options are slightly limited. However, all these things I mentioned before, they’re doable even if it rains a bit.
I mean, I guess you just have to wear a good jacket. Wear warmer clothes, or you can also just shorten the trail. When the weather isn’t good, I would always recommend just staying a bit lower down in altitude.
So you stay in the trees. Our tree line is about 2,000 metres. So if you go above that, you don’t have any more trees, and then you’re exposed to the weather a lot more.
However, I think, yeah, even with the hikes, I mean, there are options that you can make them a bit shorter. And then sometimes even if you get wet, the shower afterwards will feel even better. But we do have some things to do in town if you cannot go up the mountain.
I already mentioned the Matterhorn Museum. I mean, I find it really interesting to kind of see what equipment they used to use 160 years ago to summit the Matterhorn, that they actually managed with that kind of equipment.
Claudia Wyss: I mean, have a stroller around the main village. You mentioned it’s really nice to have a coffee and then watch the Matterhorn Glacier or people watch. The other thing is as well, there is an indoor golf place and at the same location they have a virtual reality escape room.
So that could be an option. Most hotels have a spa, so you could book a massage and go to the spa. So yeah, I think those are some of the options.
Carolyn Schönafinger: Yeah, absolutely. Okay.
So is there anything that we haven’t already mentioned that our listeners should know about in terms of perhaps the operating dates? Or best times of year to visit? Anything that you’d like to mention?
Claudia Wyss: That’s actually a very good question. I would say one of the most important things is to check the timetable. If you go up on the mountain, go for a hike, the lifts usually close relatively early. So make sure before you head out, check the timetable.
When you buy the ticket, ask them when the last gondola is going down. You can check online. Our timetables are online on our website on matterhornglacierparadise.ch, or we have a very practical app called the Matterhorn App, and you can check the timetable there as well. So yeah, keep an eye on the timetable.
The lifts can close very early, and you don’t want to be stuck up on the mountain and have to hike down in the dark. But then I would say we’re a year-round destination. You can go up the mountains all year round somewhere.
Some lifts stay closed during our low seasons, which would be May and October, but then the rest of the year, everything is open. You can still come all year round. There’s something to do.
I would say winter is a bit more skiing and then spring, summer, and autumn, it’s more the hiking guests or people that want to sightsee.
Maybe just one point as well is we don’t allow children below the age of 3 above Trockener Steg. So if you do want to do the Matterhorn Alpine Crossing or go up to the Matterhorn Glacier Paradise and you have young children with you, this is not really suitable for them.
And we don’t allow them. That’s just because of their health and safety up in the altitude.
Carolyn Schönafinger: Yeah. Going up to such a high altitude. Okay. So what is one thing that you tell everyone that you speak to who’s visiting Zermatt for the first time that they must do?
Claudia Wyss: So I think you have to go up one of the peaks because you arrive in this village and you think you’re in this bowl, um, surrounded by these high mountains, but you don’t really see the big high vast mountains. So I think I will definitely go up one of the peaks. I mean, whatever it is, if it’s the Schilthorn or Blauherd, if you go on the Gornergrat or the Matterhorn Glacier Paradise, go up any mountain and then see the views of the breathtaking mountains.
And I think if you go up and you experience that, you’ll want to come back again and again and stay longer and longer.
Carolyn Schönafinger: Absolutely. Yeah. As I said earlier, 2 days is not enough, but it’s enough to give people a taste of what Zermatt offers. And as you say, that will definitely make them want to visit again. Thanks so much, Claudia, for giving us that 2-day itinerary.
Do you have a favourite mountain peak that you like to visit in Zermatt?
Claudia Wyss: The favourite one, that’s difficult to choose because there are so many. I really like the Sonnegger Blauherd side because that’s where you get the classical triangular form of the Matterhorn.
Um, it’s very easy to access, and I guess because it’s just a bit lower down in altitude, in the summer months or even spring, like spring, summer, and autumn, you have like green grass and all the flowers come out. Yeah, I really like that side.
Carolyn Schönafinger: Okay. Well, that’s definitely somewhere I’ll have to check out when I’m in Zermatt next. Thank you so much for sharing all that with us today, and hopefully we’ll see you back on the podcast again in the not too distant future.
Claudia Wyss: Thank you, Carolyn.
Carolyn Schönafinger: I hope Claudia’s suggested 2-day itinerary has given you plenty of ideas for your own visit to Zermatt. As you’ve heard, whether you’re hiking to beautiful Alpine lakes, riding to spectacular mountain viewpoints, or just simply wandering the charming village streets, there are lots of incredible experiences waiting for you, even if you don’t plan to be quite as active as Claudia suggests.
Links to everything that we mentioned in this episode, including the mountain excursions, restaurants, and hiking trails, and links to previous episodes about Zermatt and those mountain excursions, can all be found in the show notes. And if you haven’t already got a copy of my free Switzerland travel planning starter kit and guide, the link for that is in the show notes too.
Thank you for joining me today. I love receiving your feedback about the podcast, so why not send me an email to podcast@holidaystoswitzerland.com and let me know if Zermatt is included in your Switzerland itinerary.
Until next week, when I’ll be back with more Swiss travel tips and inspiration. Tschüss!
You can see the full show notes and listen to this episode > here.
