I have guidebooks and maps, but they don't give as much information about the terrain and views as first-hand information. What are your favorites? We are pretty strong hikers, like to climb and/or descend 3000 to 4000 feet on an 8 to 12-mile hike. I know we want to see the Gornergrat but probably don't want to ascend the whole 4500 feet on foot; if we were to half and train half (to or from Riffelalp), which would be the better portion wo walk? Other good hikes, where we can mix lift or train with a nice hike? What about Zmutt and on to Schonbiel Hütte?

I think I would like to avoid the Sunnegga lift (claustrophobia), but maybe I'm unduly concerned about this?

Since we are going to Zermatt specifically for the Matterhorn, our hikes will hopefully offer excellent views of this magnificent mountain (of course, everything depends on the weather, I know). We will have 4 days there, so hopefully at least one will be clear.

Thanks for your help.

Hi Enzian -

We've hiked in Zermatt many times. Here are some excerpts from my trip reports regarding hikes that might interest you:

"We decided to hike up to Z’mutt. The trail starts by the Zermatt gravel quarry, and then leads uphill to the right. It took one hour (all uphill) to reach the tiny village of Z’mutt, where we stopped for drinks at the Dorflein, one of three tiny outdoor restaurants. There’s nothing to do in Z’mutt but relax and admire the view. The entire village consists of nothing more than scattered huts and outdoor tables, but it’s peaceful and quaint, and makes a great rest stop. After Z’mutt, we continued on to Furi (45 minutes downhill) where we had lunch at the Restaurant Furri before undertaking the one hour hike back to Zermatt. The entire excursion, including rest and lunch/beverage stops, a side trip to the reservoir and a social visit with a family from Kansas, took us five hours."

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"We walked to the Furi cable station and caught the gondola to Furi.

From Furi, we walked to Z’Mutt, which was shut down for the season as expected, so we had lunch on a bench at a deserted restaurant and soaked up the scenery.

We then continued walking towards the reservoir, passing a glacial blue lake, and continuing on towards Kalbermatten.

The trail took us along the base of the Matterhorn, but the top of the mountain was shrouded in clouds, so we couldn’t see much of it.

Ten minutes past the tiny, shuttered Kalbermatten restaurant we reached a fork in the road. It was getting late, and our map wasn’t as detailed as we would have liked, so we decided to turn back towards Z’Mutt instead of choosing one of the roads at the fork. Once in Z’Mutt we walked back to Zermatt. The entire walk took 4 hours and 30 minutes.

The trail from Furi to Z’Mutt had some snow, ice and mud. It was a bit treacherous on the icy downhill sections, but overall it was a pleasant walk.

The walk from Z’Mutt to Zermatt is downhill, but rather steep and hard on the old shins (“old” being the key term). This is a moderate walk, but can be made more difficult by walking uphill to Furi or Z’Mutt instead of taking the gondola.

Being gluttons for punishment, we decided to finish the trail we began yesterday, now that we had a better idea of where the trail went. We walked to the Furi station and bought return tickets on the gondola. Once in Furi, we walked to Mutt Reservoir, on the opposite side of the valley that we had walked the previous day. This side of the valley was protected from the sun, so the trail was snow and ice packed and difficult to walk even with our hiking sticks.

We passed Mutt Reservoir and the glacial blue lake, and continued towards Stafel Alp, passing an assortment of chalets and barns along the way. We passed a shuttered sennhutte with snow covered picnic tables on the patio. We had a picnic near the sennhutte before continuing on the road towards Stafel Alp.

Ten minutes from Stafel Alp, we took the road towards the power station, passing it and heading back towards Kalbermatten. We crossed a bridge over a gorge and creek. There was a lot of snow here and it was very pretty and serene. Soon after crossing the gorge we were back on the trail we had taken the day before, headed back in the direction of Kalbermatten and Z’Mutt. Instead of walking to Z’Mutt, we crossed the bridge at the reservoir and backtracked to Furi via the power station tunnel.

We reached Furi 3 hours and 30 minutes after we began and took the gondola back down to Zermatt.

The first 90 minutes of this walk was steady uphill on an icy road. We saw about six other people on the trail near Furi, but only two people past that point."

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There's also a nice hike from Zermatt up to the Edelweiss Pension that might interest you - it takes about two hours up and back - the trail is a bit steep at the top and is a wee bit treacherous in ice and snow (we've hiked it in both summer and winter) - nice views over Zermatt.

Here's an excerpt regarding the hike to Findeln -

"We walked up Kirchstrasse and began the trail to Findeln that we’d discovered the day before. We walked for awhile, then decided we had the wrong clothing. The snow was heavy and wet, soaking our down jackets, so we turned back to Zermatt via Winkelmatten.

After changing coats, we retraced our steps, first walking to Winkelmatten then picking up the trail to Findeln. We made it to Findeln in just over an hour – all uphill and rather steep. The walk was made more difficult because of the ice, some of which was concealed by snow. We saw a few local folks wearing crampons. I understood why after I fell on my butt and couldn’t get back up because I kept sliding down the hill.

Findeln was shuttered for the winter and it seemed an odd place for a town, but this was Switzerland. We’d never been there before, so it was a bit of a surprise. Another 45 minutes would have gotten us to Sunnegga, but we were pooped from the uphill walk, so we turned back to Zermatt. The entire walk, including our first aborted attempt, took us over four hours."

Hope this helps.

I took the Gornergrat train to Riffelberg Hotel stop, and then we walked the rest of the way.
The day started off clear and we had one or two good looks at the Matterhorn before the clouds came rolling in very quickly.

Before we reached the end of the rail line the view was totally obscured and about half an hour later, snow was falling.

We took the train all the way down to Zermatt.

The views of the Matterhorn and Monte Rosa were good while they lasted.

I know this NOT a hike, but the most awesome view I have yet seen was from the Klein Matterhorn. We took the cable lift up on a clear day.

I am not exaggerating when I say that the Matterhorn blended in so perfectly with the other giants of the Alps that it was not the only jewel in the crown.

You could walk up part the way I am sure.

I hiked from Zermatt up toward the Matterhorn. Very nice hike, but i would have been wiser to take the cable car up and walk down rather than vice versa

Excellent ideas, thank you. Any more?