The village you
reach by the
cog, not the car.
Car-free since 1961 — the road ends at Täsch. Pinned beneath the 4,478 m Matterhorn, the Horu in the old Walliser tongue, Zermatt is read by altitude and reached by rail. Ride the red Gornergrat cog up the rack to the ice — the way the village has done it since 1898.
↑ the Horu, surveyed — a benchmark seal turning on its brass ring
The unmissable three
Gornergrat at dawn
Switzerland's first fully-electric rack railway climbs from the village to an open-air station at 3,089 m — Europe's highest — level with 29 four-thousanders. Sit on the right going up.
Plan the ride →Photo: Young Shih / Unsplash
Glacier Paradise
Europe's highest cable-car station at 3,883 m — ice palace, summer ski, the Cervinia crossing into Italy.
Photo: Christian Meyer-Hentschel / Unsplash
The Five Lakes Walk
Stellisee mirrors the peak; Grindjisee, Grünsee, Moosjisee and Leisee finish the loop from Blauherd.
Photo: Tomi Blasic / Unsplash
Getting in, car-free
Zermatt has banned combustion engines since 1961. You arrive by rail — and that is half the pleasure. Your last leg is a boarding stub like this one.
↑ the cog-rail boarding stub — your last leg into a car-free village, on the one reserved spring
Leave the car
Drive only as far as the Matterhorn Terminal in Täsch. The public road ends here; from this point the valley is rails and footpaths.
The shuttle
The Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn shuttle runs Täsch → Zermatt every 20 minutes, straight into the village — or come the whole way by train via Visp and Brig.
Electro & foot
Silent electric taxis, e-buses and your own two feet. Most hotels meet the train with an e-cart.
By season & by altitude
Ski & Lifts
360 km of pistes across three areas, the Cervinia crossing into Italy, passes, schools and lift status.
ExploreHiking & Summer
400+ km of marked trails — the Five Lakes, the Glacier Trail, the Gornergrat ridge and the mountain lakes.
ExploreMountains & Viewpoints
Gornergrat, Riffelsee, Glacier Paradise, Rothorn and Stellisee — every angle on the Horu, read by altitude.
ExploreWhere to Stay
Walliser-larch chalets to grand hotels on the Bahnhofstrasse — by lift access, Matterhorn view and budget.
ExploreFood & Drink
Findeln terraces, fondue and raclette, fine dining, bakeries and the village's après-ski energy.
ExplorePractical
Car-free arrival via Täsch, the shuttle, passes, weather, altitude and the small logistics of a high village.
ExploreRomance & Luxury
Matterhorn-sunrise rooms, spa retreats, chalet suites and the quietly luxurious side of the village.
ExploreItineraries
Ready-made plans, from a focused ski weekend to an unhurried summer week beneath the Horu.
ExploreRead the mountain before you pack
Two instruments only Zermatt would ship: a vertical lift-station altimeter (the Höhenleiter) and a ski-season & snow gauge.
Heights a.s.l., rounded to the metre. Gornergrat is the highest open-air railway station in Europe; Glacier Paradise the highest cable-car station.
High-alpine snowpack on the Theodul glacier holds through spring; the village floor stays shallow and shovel-clean.
The rope that made a village
On 14 July 1865, Edward Whymper with guides Peter Taugwalder, father and son, and four companions stood first on the Matterhorn's summit by the Hörnli ridge — the zigzag north-east arête that is still the normal route. On the descent a rope broke; four men fell. Triumph and tragedy in a single day turned a farming hamlet into the cradle of alpinism, and the Horu into the most photographed peak on earth. Their graves lie in the village still.
Recorded in Whymper's Scrambles Amongst the Alps, 1871 · summit 4,478 m · Hörnli (NE) ridge.
Photo: Ilia Bronskiy / Unsplash
The village calendar
Zermatt Unplugged
Acoustic concerts fill the village and the mountain stations as the spring-ski season closes.
Matterhorn Ultraks
A high-alpine trail-running festival on the steep marked paths beneath the Horu.
Christmas in the village
Lights on the Bahnhofstrasse; the first descents from the Theodul glacier.