Trips & tickets
The cogwheel railway from Zermatt to the Gornergrat viewing platform at 3,131 m, with the Matterhorn in view much of the way up.
A guided small-group trip from Zermatt by cableway to Glacier Paradise: the ice palace, the viewing platform at 3,883 m and the alpine cinema lounge.
By road along Lake Geneva to Täsch, an electric shuttle into car-free Zermatt, then free time in the old village beneath the Matterhorn.
The full GetYourGuide listing for the Matterhorn — Gornergrat railway and cable car tickets, guided hikes and day tours from Geneva and Zurich, with live prices.
Nobody sells the Matterhorn itself — what you buy is a way up opposite it. From Zermatt, the Gornergrat cogwheel railway, the Matterhorn Glacier Paradise cable car and the Sunnegga funicular each lead to a different viewpoint, run by different lift companies.
Zermatt is car-free, so most visitors arrive by train, either staying in the village or on a day tour from Geneva or Zurich. These pages compare the lifts and tours plainly.
Plan it properly
Zermatt is car-free: how to get there by train from Zurich, Geneva or Basel, driving to Täsch and the 12-minute shuttle, getting around the village, and when a day trip from Geneva or Lausanne makes sense.
The two big Matterhorn viewpoints compared: the Gornergrat cogwheel railway to 3,089 m and the cable car to Glacier Paradise at 3,883 m — fares, timetables, the Glacier Palace, what each view is like and whether to do both.
How to give yourself the best chance of a clear Matterhorn: the seasons in Zermatt, the lift timetables and the November closure, sunrise versus midday, how many days to allow and what to wear at 3,089 m and 3,883 m.
The peak
Photographs licensed from Shutterstock.
No. Zermatt has no cars; private vehicles may go only as far as Täsch, and the shuttle train takes 12 minutes from there.
Matterhorn Glacier Paradise, at 3,883 m, has the highest mountain station in Europe; its platform looks out over 38 four-thousand-metre peaks and 14 glaciers in three countries.
From 1,604 m in the centre of Zermatt to 3,089 m. The line opened in 1898.
Gornergrat is the classic view across to the Matterhorn, reached by rack railway; Glacier Paradise is higher, among the glaciers, reached by cable car. Both are on the tours page.