Zermatt lies in the Valais at the end of a dead-end valley below the Matterhorn, which stands at 4,478 m. The village is car-free: visitors leave vehicles at Täsch and come the last stretch by train, and inside the village everything moves by electric taxi or on foot.
How to get there: the train from Täsch runs the final five kilometres into the village, connecting onward to Visp and the main Swiss network. Geneva and Zurich are the nearest airports.
Slopes and lifts: 360 km of pistes in winter across four ski areas — Matterhorn Glacier Paradise, Sunnegga-Rothorn, Gornergrat-Stockhorn and Schwarzsee. The lift system tops out at the Klein Matterhorn, 3,883 m, which the operator calls the highest viewing platform in Europe.
Skiing into Italy: the connection to Breuil-Cervinia and Valtournenche runs year-round, so a day can start in Switzerland and finish in Italy.
Summer skiing: 21 km of glacier pistes stay open through the summer, which is why national teams train here in July.
Off the snow: 250 km of signposted hiking trails, 52 mountain restaurants and 38 four-thousanders in the area around the village.
Where you stay: the village has more than a hundred hotels and many chalets, and no large hotel blocks — a planning rule that has shaped how Zermatt looks.
