Zermatt Sightseeing: Gornergrat and the Village

October 20, 2026

The sights of Zermatt fall into two groups: free ones in the car-free village, and paid ones that depend on a train or cable car. The Matterhorn is 4,478 m high and is visible from many spots, but cloud often covers it by afternoon. Start early and keep a spare morning in your plans. Prices are 2026-27 adult fares in Swiss francs (CHF).

In the village

The Kirchbrücke is a footbridge over the Mattervispa beside the parish church. It is free and a favourite place to photograph the Matterhorn at dawn. A short walk away, Hinterdorf is the old quarter, about 30 weathered larch barns, granaries and houses standing on stone slabs. The tourism office calls Haus Salzgeber, dated 1607, the oldest house in Zermatt. Residents live here, so stay on the public lanes.

Gornergrat railway

The red cog train rises from the station to Gornergrat at 3,089 m and passes Riffelalp (2,211 m), Riffelberg (2,582 m) and Rotenboden (2,815 m) on the way. From the top you can see Monte Rosa, the Gorner glacier and, by the operator’s count, 28 peaks above 4,000 m. The first train leaves at 07:00, with departures about every 24 minutes in summer. A return costs CHF 132 between May and October and CHF 102 between November and April. Stay on the platform and marked paths at the summit and watch for signs of altitude sickness. The line has a break of about two weeks in early November, so confirm the dates on the Gornergrat site .

Get off at Rotenboden for the short walk to Riffelsee, at 2,757 m, where the Matterhorn reflects on windless mornings.

Matterhorn Glacier Paradise

The multi-stage cable car from Zermatt reaches 3,883 m at Klein Matterhorn. A viewing platform looks across 14 glaciers and three countries, and the Glacier Palace is cut into the ice about 15 m down, with sculptures and a crevasse walk. The palace is included in the lift ticket. Return fares are CHF 104 from November 2026 to April 2027 and CHF 138 from May to October 2027. Under-3s cannot ride the top section. Walk slowly, drink water and do not leave the marked areas. A maintenance pause in autumn and spring replaces the main cableway with a pendulum car. For guided options, see Viator .

Mountaineers’ Cemetery and the churches

The Mountaineers’ Cemetery lies behind the parish church of St. Mauritius and holds the graves of climbers who died on the Matterhorn and neighbouring peaks, most of them from the 19th century. The guide Michel-Auguste Croz of the first-ascent party is buried here beside a stone shared by Peter Taugwalder and his son, who died of natural causes. Eleonore Noll-Hasenclever, a well-known woman climber of the 1920s, rests here too. Please walk quietly and treat the cemetery as a place of grief and remembrance, not a photo set. It is open free of charge. See the official cemetery entry .

The church dates from 1916, though a parish is recorded in 1285. Services are held there, so go in silently, dress modestly and leave the flash off. At the English Church lie Douglas Hadow and the Rev. Charles Hudson of the 1865 party, while Lord Francis Douglas, also of that party, has no grave. A marker for unidentified climbers was placed in 2015.