Zermatt is an incredibly cute mountain town in the Alps of Switzerland. Even if you’re not a ski enthusiast, you’ll want to visit this city.

How long to stay?

When we came here in the summer, our stay was only two nights long. That’s because it was meant as a stopover between Milan and Zurich to do some hiking in a cute mountain town. It was part of a month-long trip that took us all over the world. If I had to do it again, and wasn’t intending to ski, I’d say 2-3 nights is right. It’s an incredibly small city. Really, the focus here is being outdoors. So use that as a guide for your own adventures.

If we were skiing, it would be the same recommendation as pretty much any other ski resort. However long you want to stay depends on your own stamina and desire to ski. While most residents spoke German, it was easy enough to get around with just English.

You should also know that pretty much everyone coming to Zermatt will be using the train. This isn’t a city you can fly into.

What we did in Zermatt

Gornergrat

Coming here during the summer, there are multiple hiking paths of varying difficulty levels. But rather than go too hard during our trip, we settled on a straightforward one. We hiked from Gornergrat (through Rotenboden) to Riffelberg. It was simple enough taking a train all the way up and then it’s mostly a downhill path from there.

The hike downwards took within two hours, which was good for our brief visit. We also greatly enjoyed the view of the Matterhorn reflecting on Lake Riffelsee.

When you get all the way up to Gornergrat, you’ll have impressive views of the surrounding Swiss Alps. This includes the Matterhorn, which had long been one of my favorite rides at the original Disneyland.

Taking the hike down, the views of the Matterhorn get even more impressive when you see two of them due to the crystal clear reflection off the lake. I wouldn’t blame you if you just wanted to set up camp here and chill for a long time.

As mentioned, there are more challenging hikes, but I always like starting with a simple one before branching off into more difficult climbs. Next time we’ll try a more advanced hike.

Glacier Express Train

Yes, I mentioned you can take a train to get here. But why not take a scenic train if given the chance? We rode the Glacier Express from Zermatt to Chur, but officially it goes all the way to St. Moritz. The train has huge windows, perfect for viewing. While there were both first and second class tickets, we opted for first class. Hey, on a six hour scenic journey, I’d rather travel in comfort.

Before we go further, it’s important to note this is best considered a one-way journey, either to or from Zermatt. You’re not going to be able to do a roundtrip in the same day.

It’s a beautiful journey. I imagine it’s even more impressive in cooler months where there’s still snow on the countryside. The weather when we went was fairly foggy, making views not the greatest. But it was still a fun journey we wouldn’t hesitate to take again if given the chance.

Included in our first class fare is a delicious meal. This meal was quite memorable given the impressive views we had as we dined.

Admiring the town

Hands down, this has to be the cutest town we’ve encountered in our travels so far. How can you go wrong with an idyllic mountain resort with such a small population? It’s never a bad idea to go for a stroll in Zermatt, day or evening.

You might even see some local sheep on your walk, which is cool.

Where we ate in Zermatt

Restaurant Julen

No trip to Zermatt is complete without dining at Restaurant Julen. It’s an institution in the area, and typically receives high ratings (deservedly so). The style is a little more formal here, so dress appropriately.

That cute sheep we saw earlier? It probably made its way onto our plate. There are plenty of lamb dishes on offer, and each one we had was equally amazing.

Who can resist some excellent Shepherd’s Fondue? If you’re not a fan of lamb, there are other options. But stopping by for dinner is pretty much what every visitor seems to do.

Restaurant Avena

Our second night, we ended up at Restaurant Avena after other plans fell through. But it’s still a delicious encounter too. The food and atmosphere wasn’t quite as refined as Restaurant Julen, but it was still a friendly, inviting atmosphere. In fact, everyone we encountered in Zermatt was perfectly pleasant and enjoyable. I think it’s an infectious attitude from living a rather healthy life up in the mountains.

The food was delicious, including this porcini risotto. After a long hike from earlier that day, there was no better feeling than to eat a rich, filling supper. As a quick pivot at the last minute, there are far lesser experiences we could have had. But color us impressed overall with the service and the food.

For more on the food we ate in Zermatt, see our dedicated post.

Where we stayed in Zermatt

Hotel Matterhorn Focus

Given the extremely small nature of the town of Zermatt (under 6,000 people call this city home), there aren’t many chain hotels. Thus, we chose to instead go with a hotel that had a great view of the Matterhorn. Granted, that’s really not hard to do in this town, as the impressive mountain can be viewed from practically everywhere. But it was a selling point for us.

The hotel had an incredibly cute car transport us to the hotel from the train station. In fact, pretty much all cars in this town will look similar to this boxy style.

The room was pretty comfortable and surprisingly large for Europe. Our room had a nice outdoor patio as well, which made for great lounging opportunities during our stay. Despite our room not having a view of the Matterhorn, we were still quite satisfied.

And yes, when you’re out on the pool deck, you can see the mountain in the background. The pool is both indoor and outdoor, but if you’re here in the summer, it’s quite pleasant outside.

For more information on the Hotel Matterhorn Focus, check out our post on the hotel.

Have you been to Zermatt, Switzerland?

Suggested reading:

• Other destinations we’ve visited
• Secret Trip Destination #4 – Gornergrat (Day Trip from Zermatt, Switzerland)
• Secret Trip Transit – Zermatt, Switzerland to Zurich, Switzerland (Glacier Express)