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ZERMATT |
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The shark's-tooth Matterhorn (4478m) is the most famous of
Switzerland's peaks, and no other natural or human structure in the
whole country is so immediately recognizable: in most people's minds,
the Matterhorn stands for Switzerland like the Eiffel Tower stands for
France. One reason it's so famous is that it stands alone, its
impossibly pointy shape sticking up from an otherwise uncrowded horizon
above ZERMATT village; another is that the quintessential Swiss
chocolate, Toblerone, is modelled on it. The only way to reach Zermatt
is on the spectacular narrow-gauge BVZ train line (ER no discount, IR
half-price for under-26s only, SP free), accessed from mainline
junctions at Brig and Visp . BVZ trains depart on tracks laid in the
road outside both stations. The most celebrated way to arrive is on the
long east-west St Moritz-to-Zermatt Glacier Express which takes in some
of Switzerland's finest scenery in a day-long journey by panoramic train
(reserve at any train station; ER & SP free; IR half-price; small
supplement payable on the Disentis-Brig section; www.glacierexpress.ch
). Coming from Zürich, head for Göschenen, where you switch onto the
narrow-gauge FO Furka-Oberalp line through Andermatt to Brig (ER & SP
free; IR half-price).
Zermatt's main street throngs year-round with an odd mixture of
professional climbers, tour-groups, backpackers and fur-clad socialites.
Electric minibuses ferry people between the train station at the
northern end of the village and the cable-car terminus 1km south. In the
village, the Alpine Museum (May-Oct daily 10am-noon & 4-6pm; Nov-April
Mon-Fri & Sun 4.30-6.30pm; Sfr5), commemorates the tragic first ascent
of the Matterhorn, led by Edward Whymper in 1865: one of his party
slipped on the way down, sending four people to their deaths. They, and
many more Matterhorn hopefuls, are commemorated in the town's burgeoning
cemetery. Opposite the station, GGB Gornergrat-Bahn trains (ER no
discount, SP 25 percent discount, IR half-price) climb above the
village, giving spectacular Matterhorn views (sit on the right) all the
way up to the Gornergrat , a vantage point with a magnificent Alpine
panorama including Switzerland's highest peak, the Dufourspitze (4634m).
In summer, GGB trains leave Zermatt once-weekly at dawn to arrive in
time for a breathtaking Alpine sunrise. At the south end of Zermatt
village a cable car heads up via Furi to the Schwarzsee (2583m), the
most popular point from which to view the peak and, in summer, the
trailhead for a zigzag walk (2hr) to the Berghaus Matterhorn inn
(3260m), right below the mountain. All Zermatt's cable cars and trains
bring you to trailheads and spectacular views, and lifts to Trockener
Steg give access to 21km of ski runs and a snowboard half-pipe that are
open all summer long (day-pass Sfr60).
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