Adventure: Zermatt — SpiritScout

2023

Traveling to Zermatt, Switzerland is like landing in a chapter of ‘Heidi’ only with gourmet meals, great friends, and deep winter as the cast of characters. This will be a post of pictures because they truly are worth more than any descriptions I could write. If you like to travel, ski, eat, enjoy life to the fullest—or even just one of these things at a time—then Zermatt is for you.

In late February my pals and I flew to Geneva, loaded with ski gear and Icon ski passes, ready to rock the Matterhorn. We flew United and the flight was flawless. Right inside the airport, we purchased tickets and boarded the Visp train, and then a subsequent one, that delivered us punctually to the charming car-free town of Zermatt. Swiss timing is no joke—this is a precise, pristine, and competent culture and everything from transportation to lunch reservations run like clockwork. Every hotel has a cute, cleverly designed minivan for transportation to lodgings, and they are waiting for you at the train station.

The mountain is vast and modern with every conceivable lift, tram, and gondola dotting three mountain areas. My friend, Sandy, said ‘What the USA invests in war, the Swiss invest in ski resorts.’ She is so right!

The winter snowfall had been bleak for Switzerland, and we were greeted with exposed rock and dead grass in large swaths on the mountain face. But due to the crack efforts of the ski resort’s crew we were able to enjoy great skiing on about 50% of the mountain. Our first day we skied in an icy white out—but being Vermonters, we felt right at home, lol. The rest of the week was beautiful and sunny (with only a little fresh pow.) Ironically, the week after we departed, Zermatt was blessed with 4 fresh feet!

My husband, Jeff, skied here in 2019 so our group was lucky to have a built-in guide for the week. This was a godsend as the learning curve for navigating the three mountain areas and lift service can feel a bit complicated initially. If this is your first visit I recommend booking a ski guide for the first day or two to expedite the fun factor and get the inside scoop. There is also the option to ski over to Italy and have lunch, so go prepared with passports and a reservation.

Alder Hitta was my favorite outdoor dining experience not only for the food, but for the free party hats!

Each morning we indulged at the lovely hotel buffet breakfast, carbo loading for the demands of the day ahead. A decadent coffee and dessert break around 11 am held us until the most exciting part of the day in Zermatt: lunch! We managed to secure reservations to the top slope side restaurants for @2 or 3 pm each day. I recommend doing this well ahead of your trip, the websites are instructive and it’s easy to manage via email, as the hosts are very responsive. Alder Hitta, Zum Zee, Restaurant Furri, and Restaurant Chez Vrony (twice!) are the hot spots, and each place blew our minds and palates with the deliciousness of their meals and the gorgeous alpine setting. The Swiss truly know how to eat and live well—the photos above are just a few of the ‘lunch’ dishes we enjoyed.

This is Rösti with tomato and mozzarella at Restaurant Furri, the best I tried all week (and I sampled everyday!)

The national dish of Switzerland, Rösti, a potato pancake with limitless variations (like pizza) was my favorite food by far. The Irish in me will always choose potatoes —first and last—so I was in food heaven all week.

Also fun to check out in town are Elsies, Brown Cow, Fuchs, Cervo, Culinary, After Seven, Unique Hotel, Ristorante Capri, and Grampies. The food and hospitality in Zermatt is next level, with a deep matriarchal vibe, and you will be very well cared for and happy wherever you end up.

We stayed at Hotel Eden which was a great location for walking everywhere, but I would opt for their sister hotel, Rex, next door on a future trip. We ended up there every evening for drinks in the cozy bar. They have an outstanding spa, beautiful rooms, and an artisanal bakery, Backzeit, that sells wonderful sandwiches and cookies—exactly what we desired for ‘supper’ after our huge midday mountain feasts.

Après ski we went for drinks in various hotel bars and shopped. We were too pooped to check out the nightlife much, content to put on our comfy clothes and recount our day’s adventures fireside or indulge in a massage.

If you are not a skier, don’t stay home—there are beautiful winter hikes, spa options, world class shopping, and people watching galore to enjoy. Non-skiers can take the tram up for lunch. Our Zermatt adventure was truly a fairytale experience, sweetly complemented by the fact that my co-traveler, Sandy, and I had visited here in 1980 as we backpacked all over Europe. We skied the glacier in t-shirts and jeans on a brillant bluebird day in late September, and it was a thrill that has richly informed our lives. I cannot wait to return to the land of Heidi in the epic Swiss Alps with my pals—and this time I won’t wait forty-three years to return!