22 July 2018
We had one week in Zermatt to do some summer hiking and see the Matterhorn, Switzerland’s most iconic mountain that is shaped like the tooth of a shark pointing skywards.
Zermatt has about 400 kilometres of hiking trails in the area. The Summer Panoramic Hiking Map is an excellent pocket guide with overviews of the most popular trails and provided information on estimated hiking timings and difficulty level.
Summer Panoramic Hiking Map
The hardcopy of the guide is available at almost all the train and cable car stations in Zermatt. It could also be viewed and downloaded from www.zermatt.ch website. The guide also provides more detailed information of the trails. Based on that, we had pre-selected some popular easy and moderate hikes that we would do, depending on the weather forecasted for that day.
View from our apartment on our first morning in Zermatt. The Matterhorn was behind thick clouds.
The first morning of our stay had low clouds hanging over Zermatt. It would not be a good day to do any high altitude hikes or hikes with views of the iconic and famous Matterhorn.
We decided to do the easy Hängebrückenweg (Furi Suspension Bridge Trail) with extensions on part of the Gletschergartenweg (Glacier Garden Trail) trail. This is shown as Trail 17a and 17b on the Summer Panoramic Hiking Map.
The Hängebrückenweg is a circular trail that starts and ends at the hamlet of Furi at 1867 meter ASL (Above Sea Level). To get to Furi, we could either walk a distance of 5 km on a gentle uphill path from Zermatt (at 1620 meter ASL) or take the cable-car from the Matterhorn Express cable car station to the first station (Furi Mountain Station) above Zermatt.
The choice was a no-brainer for us. We took the cable car and saved our legs for the hike.
Travel Tip: Our SBB Half Fare Card (cost 120 CHF and valid for one month) entitled us to 50% discount for all the mountain railway and cable cars rides in Zermatt. This is an extremely good-value Swiss Rail Pass to buy.
Cable car from Zermatt to Furi, where we would start our hike.
The Matterhorn Express gondola took us from Zermatt to Furi in about 5 minutes. We alighted at the Furi station.
Note: The same gondola will bring visitors to the Trockener Steg Station where they could change to a bigger gondola going to the popular Matterhorn Glacier Paradise (also known as Klein Matterhorn) at 3,883 m ASL. Along the way, it offers stop at Schwarzsee. Schwazsee and Trockener Steg are both the starting and ends points of some scenic high-altitude hiking trails on the mountains around Zermatt.
Gondolas at the Furi Mountain Station.
The trail to the suspension bridge of Furi was well signposted. We followed the trail that led us through the hamlet of Furi and across green pastures with goats. We walked beneath gondolas heading up towards the next station (Schwarzsee) on the cloud-covered mountains.
Gondolas continuing from Furi to Schwarzsee and Trockener Steg, somewhere in the cloud-covered mountain above.
Some mountain restaurants in Furi. Zermatt could be seen in the valley below.
A Swiss cat transfixed by something in the distance.
Little goat in the hamlet of Furi.
Along the Hängebrückenweg (Furi Suspension Bridge Trail) near Furi.
After a short and easy uphill walk, the trail levelled off and we walked through a larch forest before arriving at the 100-metre-long suspension bridge, made of lattice and cables of steel.
This easy and relatively flat trail is quite popular with families so there were a few other groups arriving at the bridge at almost the same time. We waited for our turn to cross the narrow (0.7m width) bridge while taking in views of Zermatt.
Suspension bridge near Furi along the Hängebrückenweg. The official name of the bridge is Hängebrücke Zermatt / Gletscherschlucht.
The bridge leads from one side of the valley to the other and it takes a bit of nerve to cross it. It does sway and bounce a little with people walking on it. We could see and hear the waters gushing through the Gornerschlucht gorge, 90 vertical meters below us through the metal lattice floor.
This is not the most challenging or longest suspension bridge in Zermatt. The title of the longest suspension bridge for pedestrian travel in the world belongs to the Charles Kuonen Suspension Bridge. This bridge was opened in July 2017 and spans 494 meters. It is located in Randa, only two train stops away from Zermatt. We had planned to go walk this bridge on another day and crossing the Furi’s suspension bridge could serve as a warm-up.
Once across the bridge, there is a small picnic area with BBQ facilities and playground. This place is ideal for us to take a short rest and a snack.
There are a few trails leading from the picnic area. We followed the trail that led uphill towards the Gletschergarten or Glacier Garden. We had the option to go explore the Dossen Glacier Garden at this moment but decided to follow a signpost at the top of the trail towards the Gletschergartenweg.
This part of the trail was quite interesting as we had to scramble up a rocky path and go around rocky cliffs.
All this time, we had good views of the photo-worthy mountains, half covered with clouds, on our right.
We had to walk down a flight of wooden stairs built on the side of a rock cliff overlooking the glacier valley below. This was not something we did often and so it was quite a thrill to do this while admiring the gorgeous views all round.
Upon reaching the bottom, we found that the path we took round the cliff and down the wooden stairs is not the usual path along the Gletschergartenweg (Trail 17b).
The Gletschergartenweg trail now runs almost parallel to the Gornerbach River along the glacier valley floor as we headed towards the Gorner Glacier, that we could see in the distance. The river carries the grey, dirty looking melt water from the glacier and this river actually runs through the Zermatt town and next to our apartment, further downstream.
In the glacier valley along the Gletschergartenweg.
There are interpretative boards providing information about how the growth of young larch trees and presence of fossilised trees along the valley had given clues about the advancement and receding of the Gorner Glacier over the course of time. During the last 150 years, it has retreated by over 3,000 m. A sure sign of global warming affecting our planet.
By now, the clouds have parted a bit and the midday sun was shining through. Continuing along the Gletschergartenweg would lead us to Riffelberg. We had no intention of climbing up the cliff to get to Riffelberg and made a U-turn back along the trail towards Furi. This trail will lead us back to the Gletschergarten (Dossen glacier garden).
Taking a photograph of the rugged terrain of the glacier valley with the Gorner Glacier in the distance.
On the Gletschergartenweg heading towards the Gletschergarten and Furi.
We arrived back at the picnic area by the suspension bridge and took the same path to see the Gletschergarten (Dossen glacier garden).
Layout of the Dossen Glacier Garden and what we could see.
Entry to the Dossen glacier garden is free of charge. The glacier garden shows the effects of the last ice age on the landscape. There are glacier potholes and rock cauldrons eroded by melt water from the Gorner Glacier that once covered this area.
A glacier pothole formed by glacier meltwater that formed whirlpools with speeds of up to 200 km/h, which scoured cylindrical cavities in the rock.
From the glacier garden, we followed the yellow signposts and took the trail downhill towards Furi where we started the hike.
By the time we arrived at Furi, it was slightly past 2 PM. This was an opportunity to experience dining at the Zum See Restaurant, known to be one of the best mountain restaurants in Zermatt. This restaurant is within walking distance from Furi.
On the way down from Furi to Zum See.
We took a small footpath, signposted with handwritten “Zum See”, down from the Furi gondola station.
Arriving at the hamlet where Restaurant Zum See is located after a 20 minutes’ walk down from Furi.
Rustic Zum See hamlet, surrounded by the mountains and green meadows.
The restaurant is in the midst of farm houses and rustic chalets, some over 300 years old. The Zum See Restaurant serves excellent meals and wine and is very highly rated. Some visitors to Zermatt who are non-hikers would actually take the cable car to Furi and walk 20 minutes down from there, just to dine at this restaurant. Others may even try walking up from Zermatt!
We managed to get a table without prior reservation since it was a bit past the time for lunch. Like other diners, we sat beneath huge parasols, on wooden benches and table decorated with a small pot of white Edelweiss as centrepiece.
The experience of eating in the outdoor terrace of this restaurant, surrounded by beautiful Swiss mountains in summer, was something very special.
One must-try dish in Switzerland is the Rösti. Rosti is a Swiss potato dish that can be described as a cross between hash browns and a potato pancake. We had one of the best fillet of lamb served with Rösti. The restaurant also serves excellent home-made pasta that was worth trying too.
Fillet of Lamb “Provençale” with Rösti at Restaurant Zum See. This is yum!
Homemade noodles with Veal Bolognese at Restaurant Zum See.
Rustic Zum See hamlet, surrounded by the mountains and green meadows.
After lunch, we continued on our leisurely walk down to Zermatt. Matterhorn should be visible along this path if we looked back and up, but it was still partially covered by clouds. The sky was partly clear but the mountain seems to always attract clouds to linger on its north face.
Wild flowers decorated the fields and footpath down from Zum See to Zermatt.
On the path to Zermatt. Turning back occasionally to look at the Matterhorn but it was still covered by clouds on this day.
The Matterhorn is covered in clouds as we arrived in Zermatt.
As we were making our way back to our apartment, located on the other side of Zermatt town, we heard familiar sounds of bells. Instantly, I recognised these are the bells on goats or sheep and we all whipped out our cameras.
Two young goatherds, dressed in red, was driving a herd of Blackneck goats through the streets of Zermatt.
For six weeks, from the start of July until the middle of August, young kids from the area, accompanied by an adult person, drive the goats through the centre of the village every morning at 9.00 AM and every evening at 5 PM.
These are the Blackneck goats, also known as gletschergeissen (glacier goats).
While it was fun snapping pictures of the Blackneck goats, we had to be vigilant for the rest of our walk through the streets since they left a trail of poop and pee!
Zermatt was busy and crowded with day-trippers in the afternoon as we made our way slowly through Bahnhofstrasse, the main shopping street.
Zermatt’s main street was packed with visitors in the late afternoon.
The Matterhorn decided to show its face just as we arrived back at our apartment. This was the first time we got to see the “face” of the famous mountain since arrival.
We hoped that we would be blessed with clearer skies in the days to come as we intended to go for hikes that offer good views of this iconic mountain.
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