Journey to Zermatt

Hi All!

Woke up early with the sun beaming into the windows of our Airbnb in Geneva. It was a great motivator to get us up and out the door to start our road trip toward Zermatt.

Once on the road we decided to grab breakfast somewhere along the way. We ended up pulling off at Morges, this little town on the west side of Lake Geneva. It was a wonderful surprise to find they were having a street market. We grabbed a croissant & cafe and strolled through, looking at all the crafts, arts and food.

Wishing to stay, but realizing we needed to get back on the road, we continued on our journey toward Zermatt.

It was so beautiful driving through Switzerland, the views of Lake Geneva and all the alps were breathtaking.

(View driving into Chardonne on the 9)

(View driving through Evionnaz on the 9)

(View driving into Randa)

We arrived in Tasch and caught the train into Zermatt, since it’s a car free town. Upon arrival at Zermatt, was a mountain town filled with hustle and bustle all around us. We got settled into our room and then immediately set out to explore.

We ended up hiking all the way up to a small mountain village called Findeln. It took a little over an hour and it was steep the whole way. I mean, not a moment to catch your breath steep. It was great! That’s what I was expecting when I planned to hike in the Alps.

(Entering Findeln)

(House in Findeln, most date to 17th century)

(View of Findeln with the Matterhorn)

The entire hike and walk through of the village felt like it was only us on top of the mountain. We found a nice spot to sit and eat lunch with the view of the Matterhorn front and center. It was so majestic!

We even busted out some old acro moves.

Which got Zaq a really big and deep sliver in his foot. Not the best scenario for hiking down a steep mountain. 😦

Luckily there is a tram that runs from the top of Findeln back to Zermatt, so he only had to tough it out for 20 minutes uphill until we reached the tram to download. We ended up getting the front car of the tram so we got to look straight down into the steep tunnel of our decent. Which surprisingly, my claustrophobia was not a fan of. It was only an 8 minute ride and Zaq was amazing at distracting me – love that man!

Once back out in the open space of Zermatt, we decided to explore more of the mountain town. We ended up finding a great restaurant we wanted to have dinner at so we made reservations, since they can be hard to come by at dinner time.

After walking around a bit more we found the Gornergrat, which is the highest open air railway track in Europe! It climbs up to 10,132 ft and gets you 360 panoramic views of the Matterhorn, Dufourspitze (Switzerland’s highest mountain at 15,203 ft,) and the Gorner Glacier (the second -largest in the Alps.) We bought tickets for the next train and got on. The journey up alone has astonishing views, but when you get up to the last stop; get out and walk around, it’s really something to behold.

(Riding the rail car up the mountains)

(Hotel at the top, yes, I guess you can sleep up here)

(Zaq & I & Matterhorn)

Once we got back to Zermatt we were more than ready to eat dinner and headed straight there. Cafe Du Pont is where we dined. Where we ate some authentic Swiss dishes, Kaseschnitte & Sausage Rosti. We devoured both and were smacking our lips for dessert. After all the hiking we did, it was earned!

It was a great day and I can’t wait to explore more tomorrow!

~A&Z