We are trying to find a place in Zermatt for the peak ski season, and as you would expect have had little luck. Are there towns nearby that provide good lodging alternatives, since Zermatt appears to be completely booked?

What sites have you used to book in Zermatt?

Have you looked at nearby Tasch?

I've primarily tried the Zermatt tourist information site, and also expedia. I've also attempted to contact directly the hotels listed in a couple guidebooks.

Have not looked at Tasch... convenient alternative? Any other sites you'd recommend?

Täsch is where you board the shuttle train to Zermatt. We ate at a hotel there, name not remembered, that looked very, very nice. The dining room was beautiful and the food was excellent. Best meal I have had in Switzerland.

I think you can find a good place.

Stalden at the fork of the valleys, one fork leading to Saas Grund, Saas Fee and Saas ETC, and the other to Täsch and Zermatt, is not a good option.

We stayed at hotel there last year that was ok, except it was run by a nut.
Room was ok; the operator was not.

I can't believe they are all fully booked---there are so many hotels there! My son was able to get rooms in early March last year on very short notice. Perhaps try taking the e-mail addresses from the Zermatt.ch website, and e-mailing directly.

Have you tried the Hotel Sylvana in nearby Furie?? You'll wonder why you ever even considered staying anywhere else!

If you keep trying, you should be able to find a hotel, even in peak season. Call the hotels individually, rather than using e-mail. As for staying outside the village, even in Furi, I would not recommend it for a new visitor to Zermatt.

What website are you using, and what are your dates? I checked www.zermatt.ch, put in several inquiries for stays of 10 nights, and got lots of availabilty. Here, for example are rooms available for a stay from March 5 to the 15:

http://ch-zermatt.concentrator.net/srch_hotel_list.asp

Later in the month, there were even more rooms available. And I would expect for a shorter stay (say 5 nights to a week), even more will appear.

FYI - we round a room! Initially, we had contacted about 15 hotels, and tried Expedia and Orbitz. All to no avail.

Then, we chose the 5 hotels that we liked best, and just kept dropping them a daily email to see if they had any cancellations. On the same day, 2 hotels replied saying they both had some availability open up.

One offered us a room for $150 a night, the other for $500 a night. Guess which one we took. Hint: We're not rich.

Thanks for all the advice.

Just a note of warning. A room in Zermatt for US$150 per night during high season, is highly unlikely. Are you sure is was not $150 per person per night? Are you sure it was in the village, and not outside? If you provide the name of the hotel, we'll know for certain.

TTT