Matterhorn

Hi everyone - on our first visit to Switzerland in 2001 we were on a 3-centre package holiday, Hilterfingen on lake Thun for 4 days, Zermatt for 3 days and St. Moritz for 4 days. Since then we have spent 2 weeks every year in Hilterfingen as we fell in love with the Bernese Oberland. We now organise our own holiday and buy a Swiss Saver pass onlone before we go and have visited many lovely cities and going on our own excyrsions - I usually make good use of the online timetable to check out journey times and feasibility of trips before we travel. I have just discovered it is perfectly possible to do a day trip to Zermatt and this is in our plans for this summer. Looking at the photos from 2001 and trying to remember where we went to get them is a problem - I have looked at the Zermatt website but that has confused me. I know we went on the Gornergrat cog railway where it says we can see the Matterhorn but because of the weather sadly we didn't! I do have some lovely photos of the Matterhorn which according to my cataloguing were taken from Klein Matterhorn but this trip is not mentioned on the website. We also went to the Ice Palace inside the Glacier so is Klein Matterhorn a stopping off place on this trip or are they two separate excursions. I really want to get some more pictures of the Matterhorn now that I have a better camera so which excursion would be best? Or should we make two day trips tp Zermatt and do two excursions? Can anyone help? Thanks, Maggie

Hello Maggie, there are plenty of locations in and around Zermatt offering wonderful views of the Matterhorn. They include:

• the Gornergrat. If weather is fine if you get back to Zermatt this summer, I'd recommend that you try again. The views up there are wonderful and the Matterhorn can be seen very well, as is the case with a large part of the Monte Rosa Massif. On your way up or down, you could also get out at the intermediate station of Rotenboden and take a short walk to the Riffelsee. You can make beautiful pictures of the Matterhorn here with the small lake in the foreground. Some examples can be found here. You could even take a hike from Rotenboden to Riffelalp;
• Klein Matterhorn is a nice viewing point as well. The views include the Matterhorn, but you'll see it from another, less characteristic side than most popular pictures will show. There's an ice grotto up there as well, so you're probably referring to this;
• Sunnegga is another viewing point above Zermatt, which can be reached very quickly by a mountain lift. From the terrace you'll have a clear view of the Matterhorn. You could extend your trip by hiking to Riffelalp (which is on the route to the Gornergrat), but this takes about 2h30 and this would result in a very long day trip from the Bernese Oberland. Of course you could choose to spend a night in Zermatt and have two days for exploring the area. But a one day trip in good weather will definitely offer good photo opportunities as well.

If you have a very tight schedule you can even choose not to get up by cable car or mountain train: from the village itself the Matterhorn can be seen very well, too. You could stroll along the more quiet districts, such as Winkelmatten, and take some pictures there.

I hope that weather is fine this time and that you'll succeed in taking your pictures! Of course you're more than welcome to post some of them in this forum.

Thank yu for your help, Annika. We will have about 6 hours in Zermatt according to my scheduling so will probably do as you suggest and try the Gornergrat again and include the walk to Riffelsee which we didn't do last time. As I already have good photos from Klein Matterhorn, it would good to have some from the other angle! I would be happy to post my 2001 photo on the forum and any future oictures but am not sure how to do this!! Technically I mean. All my photos are stored as tiffs (big files!!) on an external hard drive. I know how to convert them to jpgs but not how to post them on here. I don't have my own website - never particularly wanted one so haven't set one up. I occasionally send photos as attachments to friends and family but that's all. Anyway thanks again for your advice. I'm so glad I found this forum after so many years holidaying in Switzerland - just wish I'd found it sooner. Best wishes Maggie

Hi Maggie,

It's good to hear that you like this forum! You can post pictures by using the link named "attach files", just below the text box where you enter your post. As an example, I posted a picture of the Riffelsee and the Matterhorn, shot in 2003. Forum visitors can click the attachment and save the picture to their computer if they wish.

Thank you Arno. Here goes with my picture of Matterhorn 2001 taken from Klein Matterhorn. Maggie

Hi Maggie, I'm glad to see that you managed to upload your picture! It's a beautiful shot. I hope you can show us some more photos after your next visit to Switzerland. Have fun!

maggiehorswell said: Thank you Arno. Here goes with my picture of Matterhorn 2001 taken from Klein Matterhorn. Maggie

Great Maggie, I'm glad you asked how to upload a photo! Now I also know how to do it ;-). By the way, great picture!