Having his roots in the Valais, my father-in-law goes to Zermatt for skiing since his youth, i.e. many, many years now! His love for Zermatt and in particular skiing has passed down to his children - one being my wife nowadays. As a consequence, I've been to Zermatt quite a few times over the past decade - spending New Year's Eve 2019/20 up there!
Time for a small personal guide to Zermatt.
Zermatt
How to get there
Zermatt is car free - a feature I appreciate quite a bit. In my opinion, the easiest way to get there is by train. Even if you fly in from abroad to ZRH or GVA, the train is still an option. There are direct trains from Zurich or Geneva to Visp - there you have to change to the little train that goes up to Zermatt (takes 1 hour). Just one word: the station of Visp gets quite crowded in Winter and the connection to Zermatt is somewhat tight, so be prepared for a fast connection! Once you arrive in Zermatt, your hotel will normally pick you up with their own little electric car.
Outline of a skiing day in Zermatt
The ski resort consists of three main skiing areas: Sunnegga / Rothorn - Gornergrat and Matterhorn Glacier Paradise. The beauty is that all the three areas are connected to each other. From Matterhorn Glacier Paradise, you can also access the Italian ski resorts and slopes of Valtournenche and Breuil-Cervinia - but at an extra cost. Is it worth it - yes!
On a sunny day, we normally start our ski day at Matterhorn Glacier Paradise, going up to the very top of the Kleine Matterhorn and then transfer to the Italian slopes! In the morning, this plateau is full of sun - together with an Italian coffee (2 EUR), it's quite a start into the day! I do suggest to invest into the ski pass that includes Italy as well!
We will ski both resorts Valtournenche and Breuil-Cervinia until about midday! Then we normally head back to the slopes of Zermatt - mostly Gornergrat or Sunnegga / Rothorn. A few more slopes there and then skiing down to the village with an Après Ski at Cervo or Blatten!
Apart from the vast miles of ski slopes, what I appreciate most when skiing in Zermatt are the installations! They are top-notch, modern, comfortable and efficient in terms of capacity. This helps that you will not queue that long even on a peak day! Zermatt also does not attract too many day-tourists for skiing (other than e.g. Davos), that also helps for efficient skiing!
Eating
Zermatt is well known for its gastronomy - the village counts a total of 242 points in the GaultMillau! I will for sure write some more posts about this topic - e.g. where to eat on the slopes, where to go for a romantic dinner etc.
In this post, I will cover two restaurants in the village.
Cervo pop-up Stazione
For years, I thought it would be cool to have a good bakery / coffee shop close to the station - so that you can equip yourself with a good coffee and a quality bite to it for the train journey! So, I was quite happy when I discovered this year the "Cervo pop-up Stazione". It's run by the crew of the Cervo Boutique Hotel and adds a missing piece to Zermatt. We stopped there several times when strolling through the village - and of course, when we were heading for the train. They serve good coffee and have a selection of bakery items / desserts on display.
Elsie's
We missed out on skiing on the first day as we arrived too late in Zermatt. So we strolled through the village and after the coffee at Cervo Stazione, we were looking for a place for apéro. When we arrived at the central Kirchplatz, I remembered that a new crew has taken over at Elsie's. So we decided to check it out - good decision! It's now a wine and champagne bar with a small, adjacent restaurant. The style is quite old-school, featuring a bar and some tables in a rather small space but nevertheless cosy! Their drink menu is quite extensive and features a great selection of wines from the region - I like! We went for some white wine from Cave Caloz to start and my Miss ordered a mixed platter of the oysters she spotted on the blackboard. We went for a further round of white wines and spend a relaxing hour at Elsie's for the apéro!
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