To continue with my travels across Switzerland I took the train from Lauterbrunnen to Zermatt. Zermatt is the gateway town to the Matterhorn, sitting right below the magnificent peak. I didn’t realise that things could get even more expensive than they had been in Lauterbrunnen, but somehow they did.
Zermatt is a stunning, idyllic, ski town. It looked just like a winter resort town out of a Christmas movie – minus all the snow because it’s only October. However, this is actually a location where you can ski year round. While Zermatt is not a large town, it’s in a small basin surrounded by hills. So of course, my hostel was only a 20 minute walk from the train station but it was up a lot of stairs. It did have a great view of the Matterhorn though. On my first evening here I found my way to a viewpoint and watched the sun set over the town and mountain. It was so peaceful.
With the weather looking great, I had something very exciting booked. I was going paragliding! I met my paragliding pilot? in the town and we got straight on the famous Gonergrat train. This was a train I was probably going to take at some point anyway as it’s well known for its stunning views and scenery. So I killed two birds with one stone. We got off near the top and I got to take in all the views while he set up. The location which I got to launch from is considered one of the most stunning – you take off right out over a glacier. It’s only be used for about 6 weeks of the year when weather conditions are right, so I really lucked out with that one! I can’t describe how amazing the experience was!! We were in the air for about 25 minutes and it was fantastic. I had amazing views of the Matterhorn, surrounding alps, glaciers and Zermatt. While expensive, there is no denying how worth it this was. I was a bit nervous at the start, especially regarding take off, but it went perfectly. So shout out to FlyZermatt for that one!
The next day I went for a small hike through the Gorner Gorge, and to some nearby very small towns. There were other hikes I wanted to do, and cable cars to take but they were extremely expensive, and I felt I saw so much paragliding anyway so I spent the afternoon just chilling in Zermatt. Following this, I met a couple of Americans in my hostel and we grabbed some dinner together (from the supermarket because we couldn’t afford anything else lol). It was more of a chill day, but that was nice after all the action of the previous day.
I knew I wanted to spend my final day doing some kind of hike but I was having trouble planning one. Typically in these mountainous regions everything shuts down around mid-October to allow for maintenance and a transition from summer to winter. I imagine the same transition happens during the winter to summer to period. Unfortunately for me, this meant many of the lifts closed right before I arrived. I’m talking quite literally the day before I arrived. A couple of people had recommended the 5 lakes walk and it looked great but usually you would take 2 or 3 lifts to the start of the trail (depending on where you wanted to start from) and then the trail was around 11km from there. Unluckily only the first lift was open, so I took that one, and then hiked an extra 5km uphill to get to the starting point for the trail. It was a bit tough starting off on such steep terrain, but the actual 5-lakes hike was easy and stunning. I did take a few detours off the beaten track, and they certainly added some time to my hike. However worth it. There was one area I was walking along the very top of a ridge line that had sheer drop offs on either side, I ended up backing out of that route, retracing my steps and finding another path. The sun was out, it was hot, but it was beautiful. Well worth it.
On the conclusion of the 5-lakes hike, I spent my final night in Zermatt. The following day I took the Glacier Express Panoramic Train to St Moritz, another Swiss alpine town (they’ve hosted the olympics there). I didn’t enjoy the Glacier Express as much as I expected. I think there were a few reasons for this. One, I had spent the last week quite literally up in the midst of the mountains, hiking around, between and across them, so the views from the train were nice but not the same. Two, I do think the train ride would be much more impressive in winter when everything is covered with snow. Three, the train was packed, people were climbing all over each other to get the best photo out the windows, it was loud, and it was 7hrs like this. So honestly, I would probably only recommend this experience in winter, and if you can handle people basically sitting on top of each other for 7hrs. I can’t really give much of a review of St Moritz. I arrived at 5pm, and left at 7:30am the next morning, but I did see a stunning sunrise over the lake. There didn’t seem to be a lot there. I did meet a girl on the train who was training for the skiing World Cup, and that’s one of her main ski grounds, at-least in summer.
And all that brings me to the end of my time in Switzerland. I truly loved it here. The scenery was breathtaking, and parts of it did remind me a bit of home. I would love to see it in winter, that would be a completely different experience altogether.
~ Nikita’s Nomadic Notes
Nikita’s Nomadic Notes 