The latest ‘Photo of the Day’ from the Matterhorn Chalets team is the great pic of the Matterhorn Express gondola. This was taken near where it passes close to one of our favourite lunch spots at Blatten.
It’s summertime out in Zermatt right now and we’ve been touring the valley to bring you some of the best photos of this wonderful Swiss resort. This is Riffelalp station on the Gornergrat railway, photographed by Ed from Matterhorn Chalets last week. The peak in the background is the Zinalrothorn (4221m).
Whilst this year sees the 150th anniversary of the conquest of the Matterhorn by Edward Whymper, the canton of Valais – or Wallis as they call it in Zermatt – celebrates its bicentenary as a full member of the Swiss Confederation. What did the Romans do? For the last 2000 years, the upper Rhone valley has had an interesting…
It was at 5.30 in the morning on Thursday 13th July 1865 that Edward Whymper and seven others set out from the Monte Rosa hotel in Zermatt on what was to be one of the most significant adventures in mountaineering history: the conquest of the Matterhorn. During the previous four years the young London-born artist…
Switzerland’s own soft drink….made from milk An almost unique feature of the Swiss soft drinks’ market is Rivella. Infinitely preferable to Coke or indeed, most anything else fizzy and non-alcoholic, the principle ingredient of this iconic beverage is milk serum, more commonly known as whey! The Dutch like it as well Ever since 1952…
Second only to the Matterhorn itself, the Gornergrat railway is one of Zermatt’s icons. It links the centre of the village at just over 1600 m, directly to the summit of the Gornergrat at more than 3000 m making it the second highest railway in Europe after the Jungfrau train in the Bernese Oberland. …
Despite the linguistic and cultural diversity to be found across Switzerland, there is something that never changes, whether you find yourself in Zurich, Geneva or even Lugano, and that’s the coffee. Consistently good coffee Across the confederation, the quality and, to a great extent, the presentation of a cup of coffee is reliably consistent. Unlike…
How do you say “Luxury Zermatt chalet” in the local lingo! Multilingual canton and country Ever thought it strange how in Zermatt, they speak German (sort of…), whilst just along the Rhone Valley in Sierre, they speak French? And both places are not only in the same country but also in the same canton.…
We don’t have a cuckoo clock in our luxury chalet in Zermatt! Originally from Southern Germany Often regarded as quintessentially Swiss, the origins of the cuckoo clock are to be found in southern Germany and in particular, the Black Forest where the basic concept of a time piece with an automaton bird calling the hours…
Amongst Switzerland’s most well known exports is its chocolate and in particular, the ubiquitous Toblerone bar with its Matterhorn mountain shaped triangles cleverly presented in a prismatic packaging. 2023 Update Invented in 1908 This most iconic of Swiss confectionary was first conceived in 1908 by Theodor Tobler and his cousin, Emil Baumann who incidentally, is…