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Well…(knocking on wood)…it seems like our Holiday trip is on! Very happy about this and thankful to have this site help walk us through the evolving situation. My thanks to all involved.
Now that we know we’ll be there, my thoughts have moved on to food. Particularly the food in Zermatt. I’ve done some reading and it seems the best places to eat are up and around the mountains. My question is how do you get to them without a car? Are there taxis? Do you take the train? Lift?
During our trip to Zermatt in 2019, we just meandered around and found places by accident, but mostly in town. We spent one day hiking around Fury and found a great place for wine and a cheese plate. Will probably do that again. But, this time we’d also like to try some of the best Zermatt has to offer. Any suggestions? We’re two adults and a 14 year old (fairly adventurous eater) just as an FYI….and we are not skiers if that matters.
Thank you!
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Hi Fballguy,
Great news. Hope your trip will go as planned.
Zermatt is a fairly small town, it’s possible to explore everything on foot. Although the whole place is a no-car zone, there are shuttle buses and taxis to help you get around. If you’re headed for the mountains, depending on which mountain in Zermatt, you probably have to travel by funiculars, cogwheel train, cable cars or gondolas. You can find more information here: http://www.myswissalps.com/zermatt/travel
Have a safe trip!
Regards,
Anna
There’s quite a lot of hype about a few ‘incredible’ mountain restaurants in the higher altitude areas surrounding Zermatt, but they aren’t really any better than choosing one of the 100s of restaurants in the village, all within walking distance.
In winter only certain routes are open for walking, and only certain of the mountain restaurants will be easily accessible.
One of the ‘out of village’ locations is Furi (I fear autocorrect has given us ‘Fury’ !) where as you discovered last time there area some restaurants.
It will be much easier for you to ask for advice when you get to Zermatt.
Thank you for the responses! Ahhh yes…Furi of course (Did you ever notice that auto correct only works when you don’t want it to?)
The problem we ran into the last time we visited is that we did wait until we got to Zermatt to ask for advice, and then were turned away from the restaurants we wanted because we didn’t have reservations and they were all booked up.
Are there any restaurants you would recommend? Chez Vrony was on our list to try. Any thoughts on this one? It’s my wife’s birthday while we’re there and we’d like to have a great meal that night for sure.
Thx,
Rob
Hi Fballguy,
I’m not exactly what/where you’ve read about best places to eat in/around Zermatt, but if they’re up in the mountains, there must be a way of getting there. It’s just a matter of finding that way. In 2018, when planning my trip, I was glued to Google maps. There’s a wealth of info to be gotten there. If you search ‘restaurants’ (on Google maps) you’ll see a bunch of restaurants come up. There are probably many more sites to explore, maybe fine tune, etc, but I looked at so many and read reviews, menu’s etc and still had no idea/ plan, where I wanted to go when I got there, even after I got there. Look around, read reviews, and see what catches your interest. I did eat what was my first fondue in a place called Zermatterstubli, which was on the “main drag” (Bohnhofstrasse) several blocks away from the train station. Another place was on Getwingstrasse (directly across from the Gornergratbahn). I didn’t eat there, but looking through the menu it looked like a great place to eat. I just stopped in to kill some time with a beer before boarding the Gornergrat. I believe it was the Viktoria (although it says Goldenindia on today’s map. Perhaps it changed hands since then?) but I would go there to eat my next time there. In my forty years as a cook (not a chef, mind you) I have always marveled at peoples’ reviews of eateries. Everyone has different tastes, preferences, etc. So its a very ambiguous question as to what one ‘likes’ or ‘dislikes’. They’re all just opinions. There are tons of places to eat/drink (as mentioned by 1060man). You just have to stop in and see for yourself after looking at the menu’s posted outside most places. Not sure what time if year you’re traveling, (with a 14 year old) summer, winter holiday, but maybe best to just ‘wing it’ and not worry about making reservations. No matter where you do eat, you will probably enjoy it. Hope this may help in some way. Enjoy your trip.
Danielsan
Back in Sept of 2019 we stayed at Hotel Julen, just a couple of blocks from the “church” (what I always used to figure out where I was in relation to our hotel)
We had half board so we ate dinner in their restaurant. It was quite good. Really delicious menu choices and a great selection of wines. (the hotel was great as well!)
https://www.julen.ch/en/Restaurants-and-Pub/
Restaurants and Papperla Pub » Tradition Julen Zermatt
Thanks for the tips Danielsan. My wife and I are experienced travellers, however, when we travel somewhere sans car it tends to be to places with extensive public transportation systems (NYC, Tokyo, Singapore). I don’t believe Zermatt has installed a Shinkansen since 2019? 🙂
The restaurants I was referring to came from an article in Conde Naste Traveller entitled “The Best Restaurants in Zermatt”. 🙂 In it, it expressly mentions getting out of the “town” and heading into the mountains but offered no instruction on how to actually get there aside from mentioning that some you could ski right up to. The article was written a few years ago, so not sure if anything has changed but it mentions Chez Vrony (which we were already considering based on research prior to our last trip), Les Marmottes, Z’Mutt, Zumsee, Restaurant Blatten, Findlerhof, Ferdinand, 1818 and Whymper Stube. While not calling out the restaurants at the Hotel Julen, it did mention the Papperla Pub (though I think the restaurants look great and I appreciate the suggestion Pkerr. We’ll definitely check them out).
I’ve travelled enough to know if you eat in the places that are easy to find, in the populated areas, then you are eating with the tourists and most likely not getting the best food…and that kind of happened to us last time. After being turned away a few times, we settled for what was near the hotel. This is why I like to ask those in the know, where the locals would go for a good meal…..and how to get there. 😉
Hi Fballguy,
Yes, its to bad Cande Naste didn’t give you any locations. (But at least you know you can get there by skiing…lol.) Have you tried looking at Google maps to try to see if they show up? I have seen the Julen hotel (restaurant) recommendation many times on these threads. Maybe something to look into. The Zermatterstubli that I mentioned also had another restaurant attached to it which seemed a bit more fancy that I only noticed after I ate. Le Gitan. I enclosed a pic of where it is (where they both are). It may be a bit off the beaten trail. Again, enjoy your trip.
Danielsan
Attachments:Another place was on Getwingstrasse (directly across from the Gornergratbahn). I didn’t eat there, but looking through the menu it looked like a great place to eat. I just stopped in to kill some time with a beer before boarding the Gornergrat. I believe it was the Viktoria (although it says Goldenindia on today’s map. Perhaps it changed hands since then?) but I would go there to eat my next time there.
On my almost annual ‘extended family’ visits to Zermatt in the roughly 10 year period 2005 – 2015, we usually ate one night at the Victoria (Italian risotto a speciality). Sadly these visits are no more since my Mother developed dementia and both my parents passed away in the last 2 years
Shown on MAP Search ch mapping, but no website, maybe it has indeed gone 🙁 but not perhaps because of the Golden India which I believe is next door.
Your take on restaurant eating seems to be different to mine so I’m going to gracefully withdraw from this discussion. Conde Naste ‘best restaurants’ article is exactly the sort of ‘hype’ I was thinking of. Not for me I’m afraid as I consider the ‘not the best food and other tourists’ restaurants to be the best type! I’ve certainly had no complaints about any of the restaurants I’ve eaten in in Zermatt village.
Yes, Chez Vrony is the ‘famous’ one ‘out of town (in Findeln) (but does it make the food any better than the ‘Walliserkanne’ in Bahnhofstrasse?
Quote from the Chez Vrony web site:
“In summer 30 minutes on foot from Sunnegga
in the direction of Findeln ZeGassen.
In winter with skis on slope no 6.”
I’ll just step in here and suggest a restaurant that was suggested for us by our hotel the last time we were in Zermatt (2012), and it was very good. The Stockhorn – traditional, big fire, grilled lamb, all very good, and cozy. Hope to visit again when we return next year (10 years??!!).
I agree with the recommendation for Stockhorn – very cozy (snug) and also the Hotel Julen’s “Schaferstube” in their lower level. The Spycher has been recommended to me by locals but I haven’t been there yet (maybe in 2022), and I think experiencing Chez Vrony at least once is worthwhile. I also like the Findlerhof and Zum See.
Hi 1960man,
To me the Viktoria looked like a nice place to eat. It kind of struck me as a place with locals hanging out there. Just an impression I had gotten. (Could be wrong, but…) But the menu, and the plates that I saw being served, certainly looked good enough to eat, for sure. (Sorry to hear about your folks.) What else do you recommend on their menu? I’m definitely going to go there to eat when I do go back, hopefully in Sept/23′.
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