Zermatt is not a day trip

Everyone seems to sell Zermatt as a day trip from Zurich.

It can be done that way too.

But before I do, I will normally try to convince you to stay one night.

Zermatt is a long way from Zurich. The road ends in Täsch because Zermatt itself is car free. The last few minutes into the village are taken care of.

By the time you have travelled from Zurich, reached Zermatt and gone up into the mountains, an eleven or twelve hour day suddenly does not leave very much time for the reason you came.

The Matterhorn.

Give me one night and the whole experience changes.

Arrive when everybody else is leaving

This is how I prefer to do Zermatt.

Leave Zurich without rushing.

Your private driver takes you through Switzerland towards Valais and as far as Täsch. From there, you continue into Zermatt.

Check into the hotel.

Walk through the village.

Have a drink somewhere with the Matterhorn in front of you if the weather is behaving.

Then have dinner and go to bed.

The following morning, get up early.

That is when I want you in the mountains.

If you do one mountain, I would choose Gornergrat

There are several ways to go high above Zermatt, but if somebody asks me to choose only one, I normally say Gornergrat.

The cogwheel railway has been climbing from Zermatt since 1898.

But for me, going up early matters almost as much as going up.

Take one of the first trains.

Have a coffee at the top.

Walk outside.

Stay for a while.

Do not arrive, take the photograph and immediately start looking at the timetable back down.

You came a long way for this.

Get off at Rotenboden

On the way back, I like to get off at Rotenboden.

From there, walk down towards Riffelsee.

On a calm morning, when there is little wind, the Matterhorn reflects in the water.

You have probably seen the photograph before.

This is where it comes from.

Riffelsee is certainly not unknown, and I would never call it a secret. But timing changes everything.

Early in the morning feels very different from arriving in the middle of the day.

That is often what a private concierge can change.

Not the place.

The way you experience it.

Or go higher

The other option is Matterhorn Glacier Paradise at Klein Matterhorn.

This is a completely different experience.

Cable cars take you to 3,883 metres, to Europe’s highest mountain station.

Up here, you are in a world of glaciers, snow and high Alpine landscape. There is a Glacier Palace inside the ice and, when visibility is good, an enormous panorama from the viewing platform.

You also feel the altitude.

Some guests absolutely want to go as high as possible.

Others enjoy Gornergrat much more.

I would not automatically sell you both.

Tell me what you actually want from Zermatt and I will tell you which one I would choose.

Do not forget the village

The mountains are the reason people come, but I always leave some time for Zermatt itself.

Behind the busier streets is the old village, with dark timber houses, barns and traditional granaries standing on stone slabs.

Some of these buildings are centuries old.

Walk through for twenty minutes and you suddenly see what was here before Zermatt became one of the world’s best known mountain resorts.

Then forget the itinerary for a while.

Have lunch.

Find a terrace.

Walk through the village.

Look up occasionally.

The Matterhorn has a habit of appearing between the buildings when you are not expecting it.

A few places I keep for the right guest

There are mountain restaurants where I would rather book lunch than send you straight back into Zermatt.

There are hotels I choose because of what you see when you open the curtains in the morning, not because they have the most expensive room.

There are walks where you do not need to be an experienced hiker to feel completely surrounded by the mountains.

And there are places for an aperitif where I would happily sit for an hour and cancel whatever I had planned next.

Zermatt is expensive and famous.

That does not mean it has to feel commercial.

You just have to know when to move away from the obvious route.

And sometimes I would tell you not to go up at all

This is important.

The Matterhorn does not appear on command.

If the mountain is completely covered and visibility higher up is poor, I would rather change the plan than put you on an expensive mountain railway simply because we booked it.

Maybe we wait.

Maybe we have lunch first.

Maybe we change the mountain.

Maybe the clouds clear two hours later.

In the Alps, a little flexibility can be worth much more than a perfectly timed itinerary.

How Zermatt works

The drive from Zurich to Täsch, the connection into Zermatt, the hotel, the mountain railways, the restaurants and anything else we decide to include are all held before you leave.

If you want a guide in Zermatt, that too.

If you want to ski, hike, celebrate something, arrive by helicopter, or stay longer and turn Zermatt into part of a journey through Switzerland, then the experience becomes something else entirely.

But my first recommendation is very simple.

Stay one night.

Arrive in Zermatt without racing against the clock.

Wake up early.

Go into the mountains before your day has become a schedule.

And give the Matterhorn enough time to show itself.

If it absolutely has to be a day trip

It can be done.

We leave Zurich very early. We make the transfer as smooth as possible. And instead of trying to do everything, I will tell you to choose one mountain.

For me, that would usually be Gornergrat.

Because I would rather give you four good hours in Zermatt than eleven rushed ones trying to prove how much Switzerland can fit into a day.

Zermatt is not a day trip.

But if one day is all you have, I will make that day count.

This is one of the private Zermatt and Matterhorn tours we arrange from Zurich. Begin the conversation.

Also in the journal: a glacier landing by helicopter and planning an Alpine winter. For everything else we arrange there, see private travel in Switzerland.