Exploring Zermatt: Gornergrat, Matterhorn And The Monte Rosa Massif

Good morning once again, Interlaken.

After exploring Jungfraujoch the day earlier, our destination for the day was Zermatt - home to one of the famous mountains in the world - the Matterhorn.

But first, one last view of Interlaken from my hotel room.

Before I forget, just want to mention here that this post is part of the Switzerland travel series which I am now writing after about 2.5 years.

Found no photos of breakfast because... it must have been the same.

Anyway, right after breakfast, we departed Interlaken by train via Zweisimmen and Visp. Another train ride meant that we had another treat to the scenic views of Switzerland.

Spamming photos here of those that I took from our journey towards Zermatt from Interlaken.

Turns out, I didn't have that many photos of Zermatt once we arrived there (at least not on my camera, maybe on my phone). Zermatt is a combustion engine-free zone, only eco-friendly electric cars are allowed in this quaint little town. When I say quaint little town, I mean literally - this place only has less than 6,000 inhabitants.

From the photos of the scenic view, the next series of photos in my camera were photos of me travelling up to Gornergrat via the Gornergrat Bahn, which was the world's first fully electrified cog railway.

Yo, I got the VIP zone. I know it's written there Ski Pass but we didn't go skiing.

Here are some photos were taken from inside the train as we went from the foot of Matterhorn to get closer to the mighty mount. The trip from Zermatt to Gornergrat took us about 30 minutes.

And finally, we're here. We got the best view of the Matterhorn from the summit of the Gornergrat at 3,089m. Felt surreal. I must say it felt very rewarding to be able to see the blue skies and the mountains standing tall and mighty - because this was exactly what I expected to see and feel when I went to Jungfraujoch the day earlier but alas, it was foggy when we were up there.

We took our lunch at Panorama Self, a self-service buffet restaurant.

Gornergrat is my favourite destination in Switzerland of all the places that I visited during this trip, but the food for lunch was simply underwhelming. Lol. I guess the magnificent view made up for it.

According to Zermatt Tourism, the sunny observation deck remains accessible throughout the year. I read somewhere that the Ice Palace at Jungfraujoch was built with visitors in mind so that people have something else to see when the observatory deck was filled with fog (which was the case when I visited as I mentioned earlier).

Anyway, I'm just gonna spam more photos here.

A panoramic view of the Monte Rosa massif and Matterhorn.

What's amazing about Gornergrat is that this place is surrounded by 29 peaks rising above 4000m. Starting counting, people.

Went back to the place we had lunch to chill for a bit. Got some hot chocolate. Nothing will beat the hot chocolate drink I had in Zurich. Nothing.

Anyway, not long after we began our descent back to the little quiet town.

Spotted some people who went paragliding. The weather was fine so it would have been a waste not to.

We were headed to Sunstar Style Hotel, where we should spend the night. One look and I think we kinda know this was a small accommodation, but it was so cosy I love it.

There was only one person in the small reception area and he was really friendly. Somehow, when I replayed the encounter in my mind, it reminded me of the shopkeeper of the trading post and sauna in Frozen (the animated movie). Super odd.

This was my room at Sunstar Style Hotel. It was small and cosy and also probably one of the cleanest hotels that we've been to. It's my favourite accommodation throughout the whole trip.

This was the view from my room. Can see the Matterhorn peeking at the top right corner there.

Look at the thick snow.

Media kit things.

It was one of the rare occasions when we had some spare time and the shops in town were still open. It's a nice place to get souvenirs like magnets here.

The Bahnhofstrasse is Zermatt’s main street where you can find rows of shops on your left and right. Also spotted everyone's favourite fast-food restaurant, McDonald's.

Oh, I mentioned earlier that Zermatt is a combustion-free zone, which means no cars and such. And Zermatt has been car-free since 1961! This is the vehicle that you'll find in Zermatt, usually to transport stuff. It'll be easier if you can walk to get around this small town. If you or someone you know is visiting and is disabled, Zermatt Tourism has prepared the contacts and resources available here to make sure that you're not left out and get to go around and enjoy the best views possible.

Dinner was at this place called Ristorante Pizzeria Non Solo Treno (Bahnhofbuffet Non Solo Treno). We went to another section of the restaurant but the whole place was pretty empty.