We are travelling from the US to ski in Zermatt.
1. Should we fly into Geneva or Zurich (or Milan)?
2. What are our options from that point if we choose to go by rail and not by rental car?
3. Once in Zermatt, is there a "best" location in town that is central to the lifts (or is Zermatt small enough not to matter)?
4. Any three star hotel/B&B tips?
Thanks for any and all advice!

Good morning, timistark
1. Woould suggest Geneva, you have about a five hour trip from Zurich to Brig. from Geneva about 4 hours. The trip from Milan is about the same plus the additiionall hour from Malpensa to
Milano Centrale.
2. Zermatt is a car less town, all cars
going into Zeremat must pack at Tasch
and then go by rail into Zermatt...
3-4. Zermatt is a small town from the
Bahnhof to lower gondola station at
Winkelmatten is a 10-15 min. walk.
Most hotels are scattered along this
route. We have used the Schweizerhof
and the Monte Rosa ovcr the years and
been very satisified with both. The
JULEN has been mentioined favorably on
travel boards in the past. The Gonergat
bahnhof is opposote the main bahnhof.
From Winkelmatter a gondolabahn takes
you to Furi, from there cable cars run
to Schwarzsee (highlyu recommend with a hike back down to Furi, Hotel with large
patio there, ideal for lunch.) Cable cars also go up to Furgg, TrochenerSteg,
Kleini Matterhorn (about 12,000 ft)...Plenty of small ristorantes and many shops in Zermatt,,however a peace
decends upon it on Sundays, not much is
open in town.. Richard of LaGrange Park, Ill..

timjstark:

We came from America to ski Zermatt in 1999.

Fly into Geneve. Take the train! The Geneve airport to rail connection is 'swiss smooth'.

Buy your round trip tix at the train window in the Geneve airport.

Relax, enjoy the ride (it will take a while), and get ready to have a memorial ski experience!

You have to get on to WWWski-zermatt.com for one of the best ski websites on the internet!!
JOHN

Thank you for all the tips!

The Zermatt Web site is very good.

Any three star hotel tips in Zermatt?

Thanks again!

topper

timjstark:

Unfortunatly, the 3-star that I had used (The Orion) had been converted into apts or torn down, I never got the official word on just what happened.'
It was the sister hotel of the very nice 4-5 star Julen.
Beside securing a nice hotel these are some things that we did that made the trip special

1. Check the weather report and pick a clear day to "head over the top" and ski into Italy! What a ski adventure! The trip takes a special lift tix that you buy at the Klein Mattahorn station. The trip up includes one of the 'highest" trams in all of Europe! Here is where you 'bless the Swiss' for their fine engineering skills!! Save room for a great Italian meal near the base resturants. The slopes on the Cervinia side are largely intermediate cruisers. Sunny and Quick! The amore of the Italians are a nice relief to the 'Icy Swiss" After enjoying the sunny side of the Mattahorn, make sure you leave enough time to make your way back over to Zermatt.

2. Find the 'Findeln' area of Zermatt and have lunch at "Che Vroney". You will thank me for this one!
3. Ask the locals where the Austrialians and the English go to party, (I forgot the name of this great bar) and 'tip a few back' with some nice company.
John

As you know, you can?t use a car in Zermatt, and in fact will have to leave it at the Visp train station, so renting a car is definitely not worth the money, and gas is US$4.50 a gallon here. Once you are in Zermatt everything is walkable or included in your ski pass.

I second the train from Geneva. It is about 2 hours closer by train from Geneva than from Zurich. There are trains about every hour from the train station in the Geneva airport. Take a look at the website for Swiss Federal Railways, rail.ch for timetables. You may need to make one change, and will have to change to Zermatt train at Visp; however the connections are easy. Milan would require a few changes of train and would take longer.

The other great thing about the train is that you can check you luggage and skis in at the airport in the US and have them automatically sent on to you in Zermatt. You won't need to bother with lugging your suitcases and skis around from the airport to the train and making the changes with them. The cost is about US$15 per piece, but well worth it. You will need to affix special green identity tags on your luggage when you check it in at the airport in the US. Take a look at rail.ch. You want information Fly/Rail Baggage. (Try to find rail.ch/pv/fly_e.htm for specific details about Fly/Rail) You can get tags from Rail Europe, or if you are using a travel agent, they should be able to get the tags for you. As of last February, all carriers from the US were eligible for the fly/rail baggage service, however security regulations may change from time to time. Swiss Rail is your best source of information. The airlines often don't have correct information about this and some of them don't even know the program exists. It is really an issue for Swiss customs, and they don't have any problem with flights from the US.

Your bags may not make it onto the same train as you do from Geneva airport. They usually arrive a few hours later, your hotel can send someone down to the Zermatt train station to collect them or you can go yourself. You can't do this on the return flight to the US.

The only drawback I feel to Zermatt is getting out of the village and up on to the mountain in the morning. I generally stay at the Riffelalp hotel up on Gornegrat and do not have to deal with this (which is why I stay there.) If your hotel is down in the village, you have to get one of the free public buses to the lifts in the morning, carrying your skis and other stuff. There are several lifts as well as the cog railway that goes up the Gornegrat and the underground railway to Sunegga. The lift/railway stations are all fairly busy in the morning, so it can take up to 40 minutes form door to door to get up to a run. If your hotel is near to a cable car or train station you will save a bit of time. At the end of the day, there are only two trails down into town. The one from Gornegrat/Sunegga is often not covered in snow, so you have to walk quite a ways with your skis. The other one can become bare in spots, and with a lot of tired skiers descending at the end of the day, can become congested at times. You then have to wait for a bus to get back to town and then get to your hotel. The Riffelalp is a 5 star, so you may not want to consider it. There is another hotel, the Riffleberg, further up the Gornegrat. It is a 3-star. I have had lunch there, and it seems like a nice place. Take a look at zermatt.ch/riffelberg/ The only issue there is that I don?t think you can get into town at all at the end of the day, and would have to take all meals at the hotel. Maybe not an issue for you, and being right on the mountain and avoiding the morning rush for the lifts is a definite plus.

If you want to ski over to Italy for the day, which is fun and the skiing is great over there, plan to be at the lifts 15-30 minutes before they open in the morning. It takes an hour to get up over to the runs to the Italian side, and longer if there are lines for the cable cars.

A big second to lunch at Chez Vroney, great food and views to match.

For more 3 star hotels in Zermatt take a look at http://www.zermatt.ch/e/hotels/list/3star.html

Thanks for all of your help on this thread. Fodors folk always have come through for me!

topping