Activities at Grand Hotel Zermatterhof or nearby

• Accommodations:

  • Single / Grand-lit rooms: 22

  • Standard double rooms: 20

  • Luxury double rooms: 16

  • Junior suites: 13

  • Medium suites: 7

  • Large/Chalet suites: 4/2

  • Some rooms have their own fireplace and a Jacuzzi bath.

  • Most rooms have a balcony with a view of the majestic Matterhorn.

  • Wi-fi Internet access

  • Minibar

• Dining options:

  • Prato Borni Restaurant (fine dining)

  • On the menu:

    • Beef tartare prepared at your table with toast

    • Chestnut cream soup with crispy pork belly and cranberry foam

    • Pink Melata pigeon breast on a bed of parsnip puree and winter truffles

    • Rosscoff anglerfish for 2 people, roasted in one piece with young spinach, rosemarie - potato gnocchi and nut butter

    • Swiss roast saddle of lamb on Risina beans, thyme, dried tomatoes and curry gravy

    • Lobster tails flamed with Armagnac, tomatoes, potatoes and leek

    • Flamed seasonal fruits with vanilla ice-cream

  • Lusi Terrace Restaurant (casual dining)

  • On the menu:

    • Mixed salad with a choice of dressings

    • Marinated salmon with horseradish, toast, alpine butter and a small salad

    • Ciabatta Sandwich with salami, cooked ham, raw ham, mountain cheese, tomato-mozzarella or smoked salmon

    • Clear beef soup with old sherry

  • 2 Bars: Ruden Bar & Stars Bar

• Meeting facilities:

  • 5 meeting rooms

• Sports/Relaxation facilities and services:

  • Spa & Wellness featuring:

    • Spacious pool

    • Whirlpool

    • Saunascape with hot-air sauna, steam bath, alpine grotto and ice grotto

    • Various treatment rooms

    • Private SPA for couples

    • Massages

• Other facilities or services:

  • Parking

WHAT TO DO AND SEE WHILE STAYING AT GRAND HOTEL ZERMATTERHOF

• Evenings in an alpine hut

• Curling tournament

• "Ice bar" near the Klein-Matterhorn

• Aperitif at the Ice Palace on the Klein-Matterhorn

• Guided hikes/walks

• Climbing lessons on the Riffelhorn

• Ice-climbing lessons on the Findel Glacier

• Climbing a 4,000-meter peak (Breithorn, Allalinhorn, Weissmies)

• Climbing in the Blatten Gorge

• Swimming in the alpine lakes

• Guided glacier tours

• Visit to the Glacier Garden

• Flight around the Matterhorn

• Drink a glass of champagne on the Monte Rosa (with helicopter flight)

• Picnic beside an alpine lake

• Paragliding

• Golf tournament

• Mule trekking

• Guided climb on the Breithorn

• Mountain bike tour

• Sledging

• Guided ski tours (with ski skins)

• Downhill skiing, ski tours or heliskiing

• Summer skiing on the glacier

• Visit to the Alpine Museum

• See the sun rise on the Unterrorhorn or Gornergrat, incl. farmhouse breakfast

• Observation of the wild fauna and birds, botanical walk

• Folklore evenings

ABOUT ZERMATT

66km (41 miles) SE of Sierre; 48km (30 miles) SW of Brig; 242km (151 miles) E of Geneva

Zermatt, 1,594m (5,228 ft.) above sea level, is a small village at the base of the Matterhorn. It made its debut as a hiking and hill-climbing resort more than 150 years ago when it was discovered by English tourists. World attention was turned on the Matterhorn in the 1860s, when Edward Whymper, the English explorer and mountaineer, made a series of attempts to ascend it. Approaching the Matterhorn from the Italian side, he tried six times to climb it and failed. Then, on July 14, 1865, after changing his strategy and approaching the mountain from the Swiss side (using Zermatt as his departure point), he succeeded, and -- accompanied by two of his guides -- became the first person to reach the summit of the Matterhorn. During the process, however, four climbers in his team had fallen to their deaths.

Three days later, an Italian guide, Jean-Antoine Carrel, spurred on by the acclaim of Whymper's feat, successfully made the climb from the Italian side. Since then, the Matterhorn (known as Mont Cervin to the French-speaking Swiss) still lures mountain climbers, although only a few of them attempt to reach its summit. Two of the most memorable hikes are the climb up to the Mettelhorn (3,300m/10,824 ft.) and the hike up to the Matterhorn Hut, a few thousand feet below the wind-blasted cliffs that surround the summit.

Zermatt is a world-renowned resort with many luxurious accommodations and dozens of fashionable boutiques. You can walk from one end of the town to the other in about 15 minutes, which is handy because no cars are allowed on the local streets. The town does, however, have one of the best networks of alpine cable cars, gondolas, and cog railways in Switzerland -- 36 of them operating in the winter and 21 in the summer. In the peak season it's mobbed with hundreds of tourists.