Zermatt is a small town at the base of the Matterhorn mountain complex not very far from the Italian border. While Zermatt village has been in existence for a few centuries it gained prominence as a ski and tourist resort after the first conquest of the Matterhorn in 1865. Since then the stories of the climbers and the mystique of Matterhorn have fascinated many tourists thus leading to the development of Zermatt into a tourist and Ski town. The main street Bahnoffstrasse houses numerous shops, restaurants and souvenir shops all centred around the Matterhorn theme. Don’t miss the clock tower and the commemorative plaques on the street. The town is a conventional car free zone and only electric vehicles are permitted as it is believed that pollution will obscure the view of the Matterhorn. Battery operated vehicles serve the local needs and most hotels have free shuttle services to their hotels but distances not being large it is best to walk.

A short walk from the Bahnofstrasse along the Vispa river takes you to the start of the cable car ride – Matterhorn Glacier Paradise. Was a bit disappointed to note that the cable car would not take us to the Matterhorn summit but to Klein Matterhorn (little Matterhorn) which claims to be highest cable car in Switzerland at 3883 m. The round trip costs 109 CHF but discounted to 60 CHF with a Swiss Travel card.Do note that this discount is offered only at the ticket office and is not available on an online purchase.

The cable car to the summit takes you past staging points at Furi and Trockener Stag and onwards to Klein Matterhorn. A variation of this is from Furi to Schwarzee and thence on to Trockener stag. Each of the stops is the start point of a easy hiking trail down slope to Zermatt. We hopped off and spent time at each of these staging points admiring the mountain peaks. The total journey to the top takes about 40 min to an hour.

One we got to the top we headed straight to the viewing platform for a breathtaking view of the surrounding mountains. It was a clear day and though we could see all the 38 mountain peaks they say are visible I could recognise just two of them – The Matterhorn and the Bret horn. Even the Matterhorn is difficult to recognise as the view from here is different from the one we saw the previous day from Zermatt. Like all Swiss mountain tops there are restaurants, souvenir shops and and audio visual show. There is an ice palace here which we skipped as we had seen something similar at Jungfraudoch a few days ago. After a happy and pleasant walk in the snow towards Brethorn and a hot cup of coffee we headed back to Zermatt for a ride on the Gornergrat railway for another view of the Matterhorn. My only regret was that we did not take the cableway to the town of Breuli- Cervinia in Italy more so since it was inaugural day and the passage was free !!