5 Days DIY Itinerary in Zermatt Switzerland

Switzerland has been in my travel wishlist for long time. Simply because of its breathe-taking and picturesque natural beauty. So, for my first visit, I chose to Zermatt because of the famous mountain – the Matterhorn (one of the mountains of the Alps). Zermatt is located at the foot of the mountain making it the ideal place to stay in the area.

We went to travel during the UAE holiday in September 2017. Below’s my travel itinerary for our 5 days and 4 nights stay in Zermatt.

Day 1: Paris, France to Geneva, Switzerland to Zermatt, Switzerland

From Paris, we booked an online ticket via RailEurope. Took a TGV Lyria train for AED 400 each. From our Paris hotel, Hotel Lilas Blanc, we took train to Paris Gare-de-Lyon train station. Departed at 9:00AM and arrived in Geneva at around 13:00. It was quite a long boring journey so I suggest that you bring books, some movies you can watch and some food you can munch on inside the train.

From Geneva train station, we booked a ticket to Zermatt for around AED 400 each. It was a-3 hour train ride to Zermatt. On the way we got off at Visp train station and then took another train to Zermatt.

Geneva train station to Visp

Visp train station to Zermatt

You will for sure enjoy the scenery during the train travel this time.

Finally arrived in Zermatt after 4 train rides from Paris and after roughly 6 hours. The vibes and the view are just amazing. Felt like I was in a movie or like I was in some other planet. :p

First, we bought some water and food at the nearest supermarket and headed on to our hotel – Hotel Albatross. At the hotel, we were welcomed by the daughter of the hotel owners – Victoria who was very accommodating and friendly.

Check out our room!

Hotel Albatross is rated 4.8/5 on Google and 9.1/10 (Superb) on booking.com which is very good. In Zermatt, most of the accommodations were rated higher than 8 and you seldom see rating under 6. You know why? They are one of the most hospitable, clean, friendly, disciplined wth high standards people I know and it shows in their lifestyle and work. All rooms have a balcony and you can also find slippers, a bathrobe, bath tub, toiletries in all of them.

This is the view on the left of our balcony.

On the right is this:

We rested for 2 hours and ate the noodles bought from the super market. We were told by the hotel owners that in Zermatt, tap water is potable. Even locals drink tap water. It is safe. We actually tried it when we ran out of bottled water and nothing bad happened. Not even a tummy ache.

We actually planned to do a walking tour around Zermatt but we were so tired that we slept more than we should. Ended up walking around to get familiarized with the area.

Shops closed early in Zermatt especially supermarkets. The main supermarket closes at 7:00PM so better buy your stuff during the day. We have tried a few restaurants in the area and they all give good amount of serving –  mostly good for 2 or even 3. If you are traveling alone and on a budget, restaurant prices may intimidate you as they are really pricy for 1. There are plenty of shops around and fast food as well like McDonald’s. Bars are open until late as well.

We ended the first day walking and then some McDonald’s fries.

Day 2: Matterhorn Glacier Paradise

Breakfast at Hotel Albatros. The owners are the ones managing the hotel from reception to the kitchen which for me is really amazing. They also helped us with the routes and tours we can take for the day.

We decided to go to the Matterhorn Glacier for our second day and spend the whole day there. We finished our breakfast at 10:00AM and went straight to Matterhorn Express drop off point and where we bought our Matterhorn Glacier tickets as well. From Hotel Albatros, we walked for about 10-15 minutes to reach there.

The ticket was priced at AED 405 each.

Here we took a cable car to reach the first point – Furi.

To better help you with the route, here’s the map:

Here’s the first glimpse.

We got off at Furi to take another cable car to Trockener Steg.

From Trockener Steg, we took a bigger cable car (red) to the Matterhorn Glacier Paradise. This time the cable car was bigger. We were like 15 passengers at that time.

Check out the view on the way up:

It was my first time to see snow and it happened in Matterhorn! I was so overwhelmed of what I was seeing at that time that I couldn’t talk. I wanted to shout for joy but couldn’t!

Finally reached Matterhorn Glacier Paradise! Check out the weather! -11 degrees Celsius!

Inside the tunnel to the view deck. It was freezing!

At the view deck.

Hello mighty Matterhorn!

At the Matterhorn Glacier Paradise, you can do the following:

• Ski (of course)
• Visit the Glacier Palace
• Saw Tubing
• Try out the Cinema Lounge
• Visit the restaurant and shop
• And take pictures of the mountains – Matterhorn, Breithorn, Weisshorn

A tip before you go up in the mountains: check out the Matterhorn Glacier Paradise webcam. You don’t want to end up seeing nothing in there. :p

At the view deck:

Inside the cable car on the way up:

The restaurant at the glacier paradise:

At the Glacier Palace – fairy- tale palace deep under the perennial snows.

We finished off at 4:00PM. As I remember, last trip down to Zermatt is at 4:30PM.

After that, we ended up day 2 just resting in our cozy hotel – Hotel Albatros. Did some grocery shopping, walked around the area at night and had dinner. Shops closes early especially grocery shops so better shop before 7:00PM.

Watch out for our Day 3 on my next blog. The day we hiked up the Sunnegga Mountain to have a farther sight of the amazing Matterhorn. It was unbelievable! So worth the hike!

For adventure travel bookings, check Contiki packages out!