Boundless Horizons

Day 3 – Matterhorn Glacier Paradise

When we were planning this trip, a lot of guides prepared us for the Matterhorn to be hidden behind clouds. The conventional wisdom was that you needed to be up early to get the best chance of seeing the mountain before the clouds set in. We hoped we’d be lucky enough to see it at some point during our 3 nights in the town and we were delighted to have a slightly obscured view when we arrived. Well, we woke up today in Hotel Bellerive, and looked out of the window to find beautiful blue skies with just a handful of little clouds!

Breakfast was included in our room rate, and was served 7:30am-10:00am. The food was excellent, with a great selection of meats, local cheeses, breads, pastries, and cereals. The lobby has a TV screen showing weather information and views of webcams, which was great for helping us plan our day over breakfast. We had a rough outline of what we wanted to do, but we knew that some of it was weather-dependent so we had to be prepared to flex the schedule. Fortunately the great weather meant our original plan to visit Matterhorn Glacier Paradise could go ahead.

One of the challenges of this trip was packing for different weather conditions! It was really warm in Geneva, Strasbourg, and Disneyland Paris, but as you move into higher altitudes it gets colder. And it gets much colder at 3883m (12740ft), at Europe’s highest cable car station! We packed layers so that we could add and remove them as needed, and my lightweight down jacket was ideal for keeping me warm without taking up too much space in my luggage.

We stopped off at Kirchbrücke bridge for some stunning photos of the Matterhorn while the sky was still clear. I could never get tired of that sight! One of the great things about Hotel Bellerive was that it was pretty centrally located so it was just a 10 minute walk to the cable car station. We could have purchased tickets online to avoid potential queues at the station, but we wanted the flexibility to adapt our plans depending on weather. As it turned out, there were only a couple of people in line, and we were able to use our Half Fare card to get a reduced price.

The cable car from Zermatt up to Matterhorn Glacier Paradise is a Doppelmayr system, by the same company who installed the Skyliner in Walt Disney World. In fact, the gondolas on the first leg from Zermatt to Trockener Steg are almost identical to the Skyliner gondolas! The ride is comfortable, and the views during the ascent were amazing. The terrain shifted from grassy to rocky to snowy as we climbed.

We changed lines at Trockener Steg to the Matterhorn Glacier Ride which uses larger gondolas. This took us up to Klein Matterhorn, which is the highest cable car station in Europe (3883m / 12740ft), and home to Matterhorn Glacier Paradise. We decided to carry on Testa Grigia / Plateau Rosa on the Matterhorn Alpine Crossing, because how often do you get the chance to cross an international border by cable car? We’d considered going all the way to Cervinia but realised that would take quite a bit of time, and the last cable car back was in the early afternoon so our time in the town would be limited.

Testa Grigia / Plateau Rosa is the first stop on the Italian side of the border at 3480m, so that let us do the crossing and then head back. We descended 400m to the Italian side of the Alps, where there’s a little bar, Rifugio Guide del Cervino, beside the ski school. I was really glad I had waterproof walking shoes on, because we had to walk through deep snow to get there!

We found a table outside and ordered a couple of drinks. We had views looking down towards Cervinia, and I could have sat there all day. It was so peaceful and relaxing.

Eventually we pulled ourselves away and boarded the cable car back up to Klein Matterhorn. Matterhorn Glacier Paradise features the Glacier Palace, a Cinema Lounge, viewing platform, and the highest mountain restaurant in Europe, so we knew we wanted to allow some time to explore.

We started at the restaurant because we were ready for lunch! It’s important to know that the restrooms aren’t free. It costs CHF 2 per person, though they give you a voucher for CHF 2 that can be used at the restaurant or gift shop, both of which are right beside the restrooms. We made sure to go there before lunch so we could redeem the vouchers! You can pay using coins or card, though the card reader was having problems which caused a bit of a line to build to get in. Lunch was great, I had a rösti while Rhys had chicken nuggets and fries. We also had a chance to try the local Zermatter bier which was very nice.

After lunch it was time to check out the Glacier Palace. Entry was included with our cable car tickets, and you ride an elevator down into the glacier then walk down a ramp to the sculptures. It was pretty cold in there! We wandered around, grabbed some photos, then headed back up. I’d heard that the air is much thinner up there, but it wasn’t until we were walking back up the ramp that I really felt the impact of it.

After the Glacier Palace, we headed up to the viewing platform, where the views were spectacular. Then we stopped by the cinema lounge, where you can sit in an egg chair to watch short films about Zermatt and the Matterhorn. The films were interesting, but time was getting on and the last cable car back to the town was at 3:45pm. I was also starting to get a bit of a headache from the altitude.

The views back down were just as great as on the way up, and we spotted a couple of marmots! Unfortunately we passed them too quickly to get a photo. We headed back to Hotel Bellerive to drop off our extra layers and then walked to Banhofstrasse to check out the shops.

Banhofstrasse is the main street which runs from the station through to the church, and it’s lined with shops and restaurants. We found that Wega had a good selection of souvenirs at reasonable prices, so would definitely recommend stopping there.

A lot of restaurants served fondue, but after having so much cheese the previous night, we were looking for something different. Ristorante Molino had a nice outdoor terrace so we stopped there. Rhys had a pizza while I had a pesto pasta. We both had gelato for dessert, a Coppa Molino for me and Coppa Danimarca for Rhys. All excellent! We realised that the standard wine pour in Switzerland was 1dl (100ml), and it was at least CHF 10 per glass, so we opted for beer or a cocktail in restaurants and picked up a bottle of wine in the supermarket for less than the price of a glass with dinner.

After dinner, we took a stroll along Hinterdorfstrasse which is made up of old buildings, some of which date back to the 16th century. There’s signs giving some context to the structures, with the upper levels raised on stilts to keep out mice. From there we followed the river back up to the hotel for some more views of the Matterhorn, then relaxed on the verandah with a glass of wine to end the night.