- Where
- Canton of Valais, Switzerland
head of the Matter valley - Coordinates
- 46.02° N
7.75° E - Elevation
- Station 1,605 m
- Population
- 5,847 (2024)
- Cars
- No combustion-engined cars;
park at Täsch, train 12 min - Matterhorn
- 4,478 m; first climbed
14 July 1865 - Glacier Express
- To St. Moritz, 291 km,
291 bridges, 91 tunnels - Best visited
- Summer for walking;
winter for snow - Advisory
- Switzerland Level 1
exercise normal precautions
Not an exhaust pipe in the lanes: little electric carts humming about, and cowbells somewhere above. Dark wooden barns stood on stilts with flat stones under them, like people stepping over a puddle. And down every street, whichever I took, the same crooked white peak, eyeing me as if I had left something behind.
The short answer
Zermatt is a municipality in the district of Visp, in the canton of Valais in southern Switzerland, Wikipedia records; it had 5,847 residents in 2024. Its railway station stands at 1,605 metres. The whole town is a combustion-engine-car-free zone: almost all its vehicles are battery-driven and nearly silent, and people arriving in combustion-engined vehicles must park at Täsch, from where a shuttle train runs every 20 minutes for most of the day and takes 12 minutes. Above the village stands the Matterhorn, 4,478 metres, on the main Alpine watershed and the Swiss–Italian border, its four faces separated by the Hörnli, Furggen, Zmutt and Lion ridges. Zermatt is the southern terminus of the railway from Brig and Visp, and the western terminus of the Glacier Express to St. Moritz.
Why it's worth knowing
The climb, and the cost. On 14 July 1865 Edward Whymper led a party of seven to the summit of the Matterhorn: Michel Croz, Charles Hudson, Lord Francis Douglas, Douglas Hadow and the guides Peter Taugwalder and his son, Wikipedia records. On the descent the rope linking Douglas to the elder Taugwalder broke, and four of them, Hadow, Croz, Hudson and Douglas, fell to their deaths. Three days later, on 17 July, Jean-Antoine Carrel and Jean-Baptiste Bich reached the summit from the Italian side. The first ascent was followed by a rush on the mountains around the village and the building of its hotels, the article on Zermatt says; the story is told in the village’s Matterhorn Museum. The mountain’s own article puts the total of climbing deaths at over 500 by the late 1980s, about twelve a year.
A village that kept its barns. Zermatt’s Old Village, the Hinterdorf, holds more than 30 buildings in the traditional style of the barns and stores of the upper Valais, built between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries, Zermatt Tourism says: barns for hay, with one door, and stores for food such as dried meat, usually with four doors, one section for each family. They are built of larch, and many “sit on flat stone slabs balanced on stilts to keep out mice”. The name Matterhorn comes from the German Matte, meadow, and Horn, peak, Wikipedia records; the French and Italian name, Cervin or Cervino, comes from the Latin Mons Silvanus.
Railways up, and away. The Gornergrat railway, a rack line opposite the main station, began summer service in 1898 and climbs to 3,089 metres; Wikipedia describes it as “the highest open-air railway in Europe”. The Glacier Express, first run in 1930, links Zermatt with St. Moritz over 291 kilometres of metre-gauge track, crossing 291 bridges and passing through 91 tunnels, with its highest point at the Oberalp Pass, 2,033 metres; the end-to-end journey takes about eight hours, and it has been called the “slowest express train in the world”. Since the Furka Base Tunnel opened in June 1982 it has been able to run all year. It is operated by a company owned jointly by the Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn and the Rhaetian Railway.
The field notes
Ice, and less of it
A cable car opened on 29 September 2018 carries up to 2,000 people an hour to the Klein Matterhorn, 3,883 metres, in about nine minutes, Wikipedia records, and summer skiing is confined to the Theodul Glacier behind it. In August 2026 Zermatt suspended summer skiing there because of persistently high temperatures. In July 2026 the village’s mountain guides paused guided ascents of the Matterhorn over rockfall as the permafrost thawed, Swiss public broadcaster SRF reported (indexed).
When the valley floods
The valley has one way in. In June 2024 floods on the Vispa river cut the road and the railway and left Zermatt unreachable, Euronews reported at the time (indexed). The railway posts its service notices online.
Old larch-wood houses with slate roofs and the Matterhorn in cloud, July 2008.
Photograph: Joachim Kohler · CC BY-SA 4.0
The car-free village under snow, with the church spire and the Matterhorn.
Photograph: Miguel Joya via Unsplash · Unsplash licence
The old quarter of Zermatt: dark larch houses, stairs and balconies, August 2015.
Photograph: Manuel Velazquez · BARRIO VIEJO EN ZERMATT - panoramio · CC BY 3.0
The Gornergrat railway train on the high ridge among late snow.
Photograph: Mayur Arvind via Unsplash · Unsplash licence
- Leave the car down the valley and ride in by train, with your face at the window.
- Rise before the sun and watch the peak go pink while the valley is still asleep.
- Draw the mountain. (Drew it from the station, from the churchyard wall and from my window. Each came out a different shape, and the list, unable to choose, has kept them all.)
- The barns on stilts are somebody’s. Look as long as you like from the lane; leave the stones and the doors alone.
- In the museum about the first climb, go slowly, and keep the pencil in your pocket.
The Matterhorn. The mountain at the head of Zermatt’s valley is 4,478 metres high, on the main Alpine watershed and the border between Switzerland and Italy, and its four faces are divided by the Hörnli, Furggen, Zmutt and Lion ridges, Wikipedia records; Edward Whymper’s party first reached its summit on 14 July 1865. The name joins the German Matte, meadow, and Horn, peak. It is looked at from the village below, and it stays where it is.
Tally, in the marginFor three days I was sure the peak was following me, waiting at the end of whichever lane I chose. On the fourth morning it came to me that it had not moved once, and that I had been the one paying all the calls. I raised my hat to it, by way of apology.
Getting there
How to get there. By train. The railway from Brig and Visp, where it meets the standard-gauge lines, ends at Zermatt, Wikipedia records. Drivers must leave their cars at Täsch and take the shuttle train, every 20 minutes for most of the day, 12 minutes to Zermatt. From the east, the Glacier Express arrives from St. Moritz or Davos via Andermatt and the Oberalp Pass, in about eight hours end to end.
When to go. Summer for walking and the high railways; winter for snow, when avalanche risk in the mountains rises after heavy falls, Canada’s travel advice warns (updated 13 October 2026). Weather at altitude changes fast even in summer.
What to arrange ahead. As of 20 October 2026, the Glacier Express’s own timetable page says the train is not running between 11 October and 4 December 2026, and that a seat reservation is mandatory on top of any ticket or pass (indexed; one booking guide gives CHF 54 a person per single journey for 2026, not confirmed with the operator). The ordinary trains of the two railways cover the same route without a reservation, Wikipedia notes. Hotels in the village run electric shuttles from the station; book rooms ahead for the ski season and high summer.
Safety. The State Department’s advisory for Switzerland is Level 1, “Exercise Normal Precautions”, dated 14 August 2026; Canada says to take normal security precautions. Canada’s travel advice for Switzerland (updated 13 October 2026) warns that weather changes rapidly at high altitude, even in summer, that avalanches can be fatal even after light snow, and that high-altitude illnesses can be fatal; the rack railway climbs to 3,089 metres and the cable car to 3,883 metres (above). Talk to your doctor before the trip if altitude is a concern.
Mark this place
Common questions
Where is Zermatt?
Zermatt is a village in the district of Visp, in the canton of Valais in southern Switzerland, at the foot of the Matterhorn on the Swiss–Italian border, Wikipedia records. It is the end of the railway from Brig and Visp.
Can you drive to Zermatt?
No. Zermatt in Switzerland is closed to combustion-engined cars: drivers park at Täsch and take the shuttle train, which runs every 20 minutes for most of the day and takes 12 minutes, Wikipedia records. Vehicles in the village are almost all battery-driven.
How high is the Matterhorn?
The Matterhorn, above Zermatt on the border of Switzerland and Italy, is 4,478 metres high, Wikipedia records; a GPS survey in 1999 measured 4,477.54 metres.
Who first climbed the Matterhorn?
Edward Whymper’s party of seven first climbed the Matterhorn, above Zermatt in Switzerland, on 14 July 1865; four of them died when a rope broke on the descent. Jean-Antoine Carrel and Jean-Baptiste Bich reached the summit from Italy three days later, Wikipedia records.
What is the Glacier Express?
The Glacier Express is a panoramic train between Zermatt and St. Moritz in Switzerland: 291 kilometres, 291 bridges and 91 tunnels, about eight hours end to end, over the Oberalp Pass at 2,033 metres, Wikipedia records. It was first run in 1930.
Do you need a reservation for the Glacier Express?
Yes. The Glacier Express’s own timetable page says a seat reservation is mandatory on top of the ticket or pass, and that the train does not run between 11 October and 4 December 2026, by its indexed text on 20 October 2026.
What is the Gornergrat railway?
The Gornergrat railway is a rack railway from Zermatt in Switzerland to the Gornergrat, 3,089 metres, which began summer service in 1898, Wikipedia records. Its valley station is across the street from Zermatt’s main station.
Can you ski in summer at Zermatt?
Summer skiing at Zermatt, Switzerland, is confined to the Theodul Glacier behind the Klein Matterhorn, Wikipedia records, and in August 2026 it was suspended because of persistently high temperatures.