SWITZERLAND: Zermatt, village in the Alps 4K

Zermatt is a village (small town) in the district of Visp in the German-speaking section of the canton of Valais in Switzerland. It lies at the upper end of Mattertal at an elevation of 1,620 m (5,310 ft), at the foot of Switzerland's highest peaks.

Zermatt is famed as a mountaineering and ski resort of the Swiss Alps. Skiing in Zermatt is split up into four areas: Sunnegga, Gornergrat, Klein Matterhorn and Schwarzsee.

The town of Zermatt, while dense, is geographically small. There are three main streets which run along the banks of the Matter Vispa, and numerous cross-streets, especially around the station and the church which forms the centre of Zermatt. In general anything is at most a thirty-minute walk away.

Zermatt is traversed by the main river of the valley: the Matter Vispa, which rises at the glaciers at the feet of the highest peaks: the Gorner Glacier on the east side near Monte Rosa and the Zmutt Glacier on the west side.

Much of the local economy is based on tourism, with about half of the jobs in town in hotels or restaurants and just under half of all apartments are vacation apartments.Just over one-third of the permanent population was born in the town, while another third moved to Zermatt from outside Switzerland.

The name of Zermatt, as well as that of the Matterhorn itself, derives from the alpine meadows, or matten (in German), in the valley. The name appeared first as Zur Matte ("at the meadow") and became later Zermatt.

Zermatt is almost completely surrounded by the high mountains of the Pennine Alps. Most of the Alpine four-thousanders are located around Zermatt or in the neighbouring valleys.

Summertime is cool in Zermatt, with mild days and cool nights, while winter is cold and snowy, with highs around freezing.

The entire town is a combustion-engine car-free zone to prevent air pollution that could obscure the town's view of the Matterhorn. Almost all vehicles in Zermatt are battery driven and almost silent. Passenger vehicles include small electric shuttles provided by hotels to carry visitors from the main train station.

There are two e-bus routes in Zermatt, the Green line and the Red line. The Green line runs from/near the train station (center) to the lift station going to Furi/Schwarzsee/Trockener Stegg/Klein Matterhorn (ski-bus). The Red line runs from/near the train station to Winkelmatten (suburb of Zermatt).

The use of the electric bus service in Zermatt is free of charge, as of April 2022.

The town has a heliport and a local helicopter operator, Air Zermatt, which also provides alpine rescue services.

September 13-17, 2023

Zermatt on a very cloudy day:    • SWITZERLAND: Zermatt on a (very) cloudy da...  

More videos of Zermatt:    • 🇨🇭 Zermatt (Switzerland)  

Our apartment stay in Winkelmatten/Zermatt: https://www.booking.com/hotel/ch/haus...

VIDEO: Walking from Winkelmatten (suburb of Zermatt) to the train station, through the town center. And back to Winkelmatten by (electric) bus.

00:00 Zermatt & Matterhorn
00:27 Winkelmatten, suburb of Zermatt
00:55 Matter Vispa, river
01:28 village houses & traditional barns
02:31 Town Hall &
02:31 center of Zermatt
03:26 Matterhorn Museum
03:53 Mountaineers' cemetery
04:40 Kirchbrücke, bridge & viewpoint
05:38 Church of St. Mauritius
06:07 Bahnhofstrasse, shopping street
06:59 railway station & taxi square
07:23 Red line: electric bus service to Winkelmatten
08:40 Winkelmatten, suburb of Zermatt
09:15 chapel of Winkelmatten
09:38 traditional barns, on stilts and flat stone slabs
11:01 apartment stay in Winkelmatten, overlooking the Matterhorn
12:01 Zermatt valley