Mighty Matterhorn

From the sunny lake side town of Lugano and our visit to the Isola Bella on Lake Maggiore, it was time to head to the hill-side town of Zermatt. We navigated our way through the Simplon Pass and stopped at the restaurant opposite the Simplon Hospice. As a light drizzle trickled down on the window pane, we nibbled on some yummy apricot pie and indulged in a tasty hot chocolate to keep ourselves warm and fresh.

We arrived in Tasch, which is a town just few minutes outside of Zermatt as the latter is a car-free zone. We hopped on for a train ride and after a lovely trip through mountains we arrived in what I would say is a magical fairy-tale like town of Zermatt. The whole town is surrounded by mountains with clouds descending down  from the mountains along with the stone-tiled rustic homes make the journey an out-of-the-world experience. Electric cabs whisked out luggage away to the hotel. We were staying at Hotel Tschugge, which for us was one of the highlights of our stay across Switzerland. The view from our balcony was absolutely stunning with the whole town beneath us. I for one would  love to be in that hotel during Christmas with the whole city lit up, snows on the windowsill and hustle of people in a festive mood.

Next morning, we were all set for our bahn ride to the top of Gornegratt to view the mighty Matterhorn. Also called as the Toblerone Mountain because the Toblerone chocolatier was so amazed by the mountain that he gave the shape of chocolate to resemble the mountain and also has the mountain as its logo.

The train ride is simply breathtaking and I felt the view of the Matterhorn from the train were slightly more stunning as compared to that from Gornegratt. The train rides through the forest at first and then once it breaks open through the clouds, all you can see is snow, mountains and clouds below. The other advantage of the train ride was seeing Matterhorn from two different angles. Once you reach the top of Gornegratt you have people doing flag dance, the alp horn playing and place where you can eat and relax. There is also a museum on top with replicas of Matterhorn lookalikes from around the world, apparently there are many!! The Gornergrat panorama is among the finest in the world with the Monte Rosa massif along with Switzerland’s highest peak, Dufourspitze at 4,634 m, the Gorner Glacier and a total of 29 mountains above 4,000 m.

If you get a chance and if the weather is all clear, do stop at Riffelberg on your way to Gornergrat to capture the reflection of Matterhorn in the Rifflesee, a picture that has been made famous by countless number of photographers and tourists.

Enjoy the ride coming down, the same way you enjoyed it when you came up. The ride along with the view from the top simply leaves you spellbound and is one of the memorable experiences when visiting Switzerland. People might argue that it is not as famous as Jungfrau or Titlis but the view from the top is quite grandeur and one to cherish.

More stories and experiences to follow on my blog.