Summer holidays in Zermatt
Spend your summer holidays in our hotel in Zermatt! You can explore the unique surroundings on countless hiking paths. Master difficult trails on your mountain bike or set yourself the challenge of a round of golf on the imposing landscape of the GC Matterhorn golf course. Indulge your love of skiing with summer skiing on the glaciers of the Klein Matterhorn. Climb the Matterhorn – the dream for many mountain climbers. With the right conditions and an experienced Zermatt mountain guide, you can experience setting foot on the mountain summit. Get a bird’s eye view of Zermatt during a tandem paragliding flight.
Hiking in Zermatt
Would you enjoy going for a leisurely walk and savouring Zermatt’s unique landscape? Or would you like more challenging or even Alpine hikes? Hiking in Zermatt offers both options. You can choose from more than 400 kilometres of hiking trails, which lead you to the nature reserves around Zermatt. You can reach heights of 3000 metres comfortably with the cableways and lifts and then go hiking. In the valleys, you can wander from one charming village to the next, and there are plenty of places to choose from when you decide to have a rest. If you enjoy more of a challenge, you have many uphill mountain trails to choose from. Zermatt offers more than seventy routes for Alpine hiking. Stop off for a rest and a snack at one of fifteen mountain cabins.
Our tip:
Sign up for a guided theme walk. You will learn exciting, humorous and interesting stories about the Matterhorn and Zermatt as well as the people and nature in Valais. You will be following in the footsteps of certain prominent personalities: follow the endeavours of Albert Einstein, Emile Zola and Edward Whymper, who was the first person to climb the Matterhorn via the Hörnligrat.
Even in the height of summer, you can experience walks through snow and ice here in Zermatt. Crossing the Theodulgletscher glacier is a pleasant way to spend two or three hours. Hiking in Zermatt is a fun adventure for the whole family.
Golf in Zermatt
The Matterhorn Golf Club has a lot in store for its guests. Just outside Zermatt, between Täsch and Randa, you can play golf with a view of the Breithorn and Klein Matterhorn mountains on a flat “Alpine parkland”-style 9-hole golf course. Visitors are warmly welcomed here, whether they are already accomplished golfers or beginners keen to try their hand at the game. If you haven’t brought your own, you can rent clubs and trolleys in the clubhouse. Lessons can also be arranged. In the golf club shop, you will find a selection of souvenirs of your golfing experience in Zermatt.
If you are looking for a particular challenge, come to Zermatt in August to play golf. The Matterhorn Eagle Cup takes place on a weekend in August. In this Alpine golf tournament at an altitude of about 3000 metres, there are no greens, just flattened earth which is referred to as “brown”. For this reason, there is also no putting; instead, balls are normally “chipped in” to the holes. Each player can take only 3 clubs and receives 3 marked balls. From the competition location, you have a breathtaking panaroma view of the Matterhorn directly across from you and 37 other surrounding mountains of over 4000 metres.
You can also get to 18-hole golf courses in Talgrund within an hour by car.
Summer skiing in Zermatt
In the height of hot summer, you can go skiing with a view of the majestic Matterhorn. The Theodulgletscher glacier invites you to have fun in the snow on 21 kilometres of piste. You can enjoy snow and ice here every day of the year.
The Theodulgletscher is the highest and largest all-year skiing area in the whole of the Alps. You can show off your skills on the downhill ski slopes, explore the pistes at a leisurely pace, or have a go at carving. If you prefer snowboarding to skiing: the Gravity Park on the glacier offers rails and kickers, a 200-metre superpipe, and a halfpipe.
The imposing 4000-metre mountains sparkle like jewels in beautiful sunshine. Journeys with the cableways and ski lifts are breathtaking experiences in themselves. You leave summery Zermatt behind and travel to the Trockener Steg mountain ridge via Furi and Schwarzsee lake. The landscape underneath transforms from lush green, to grey-brown craggy rocks with sparse vegetation, and then to the dazzling, sparkling white of the glacier.
From the Trockener Steg, you can reach the Kleine Matterhorn (Matterhorn glacier paradise with ice grotto) by cable car and the Furggsattel mountain pass with the Furggsattel glacier lift. From up there, you’ll feel as if you’re near enough to touch the Matterhorn and the many other 4000-metre mountains and you will also be able to view the summits of Gran Paradiso and Mont Blanc in all their glory. Watch the clouds passing over the summit of the Matterhorn before you start your descent.
And if you need to brush up on your skills: there are ski and snowboard schools in Zermatt.
Mountain biking in Zermatt
With six marked routes, Zermatt is a paradise for exploring on your mountain bike. There are over 100 kilometres of marked route. You cycle through mysterious forests, luscious green meadows, gravel roads and single trails. The spectacular views in this world of 4000-metre mountains are your constant companion.
Routes are available for all levels of difficulty – easy, medium and hard. The shortest one takes about 90 minutes, while you will need a good four hours for the longest trail. You also have the option of sparing yourself the strenuous ascents: the cableways will transport you and your equipment to the highest points and allow you to enjoy the dizzying descents afterwards.
On all routes, you will find restaurants, mountain inns and ski cabins which are ideally suited to the needs of mountain bikers. Passionate downhillers and four-cross racers meet on the routes towards Sunnega in the eastern part of Zermatt. The Zermatt Erlebniswelt activity centre with bike park offers opportunities for stamina, coordination and strength training. Special technique and amusement areas make mountain biking into a lot of fun for cyclists of all ages.
The four-cross route starts at an altitude of 2250 metres in Sunnegga Paradise. In Zermatt, you can rent perfectly maintained mountain bikes and the appropriate protective equipment if you are not travelling with your own gear. The renting stations will be happy to give you route tips, maps, and instructions on cycling techniques.