Zermatt is known as the playground of the rich and famous, but can a regular person afford a trip to the home of the Matterhorn? We created the perfect 3-day itinerary to find out if it’s truly worth the price.
In this 2025 guide, we break down the costs and experiences, from the Gornergrat railway to the Matterhorn Glacier Paradise, to help you plan the ultimate, affordable adventure in the Swiss Alps.
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This Place Looks Like Italy but it’s Switzerland! https://youtu.be/7PpZXD3VBLA?si=UjpktCxAb_qrDZ-s
Don’t Go to Zurich Without Watching This! https://youtu.be/x-GYizSlcPc?si=WXjNawPtHNDFR-Uv
Forget teh Alps, Go to Basel Instead: https://youtu.be/_CF83hrfyHw
**⬇️ THE PERFECT 3-DAY ZERMATT PLAN ⬇️**
00:00:00 Intro: Is Zermatt Worth the Price?
00:00:28 Arriving in Car-Free Zermatt
00:01:58 Day 1: Sunrise Over the Matterhorn (Stellisee)
00:02:59 The Famous 5 Lakes Hike
00:05:48 Day 2: Gornergrat Cogwheel Railway
00:07:36 Hiking Down from Gornergrat
00:08:21 Finding the Black Nosed Sheep
00:09:13 Matterhorn Glacier Paradise
00:10:44 Exploring the Glacier Palace
00:12:11 Day 3: Exploring Zermatt Village
00:12:17 The Matterhorn Museum
00:13:02 Historic Old Town (Hinterdorf)
00:14:14 E-Biking the 4 Lakes Trail
00:16:44 Sunset at the Zermatt Lookout
00:17:40 2025 Pricing & Pass Information
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Read more at The Planet D – The Best Things to do in Zermatt https://theplanetd.com/things-to-do-in-zermatt-switzerland/
This Place Looks Like Italy but it’s Switzerland! https://youtu.be/7PpZXD3VBLA?si=UjpktCxAb_qrDZ-s
Don’t Go to Zurich Without Watching This! https://youtu.be/x-GYizSlcPc?si=WXjNawPtHNDFR-Uv
Forget the Alps, Go to Basel Instead https://youtu.be/_CF83hrfyHw?si=MXEOc6ZZMCEgNCCK
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Is Zermatt really that expensive? Join us as we explore Zermatt Switzerland and see if this mountain paradise is achievable for the average traveler. This travel video shows that you can experience incredible hiking and travel without breaking the bank. Prepare for some amazing Swiss adventures!
Zermatt Switzerland home of the legendary Matterhorn and playground of the rich and famous most people assume a trip here is impossibly expensive a bucket list dream that’s completely out of reach for a regular person but is that actually true we planned the perfect 3 day itinerary in Zurich to find out if you can experience the best of this incredible place without destroying your bank account we have arrived in Zermatt the Matterhorn is behind us and this is such a pretty town isn’t it it really is with all the Swiss buildings the the Matterhorn backdrop man it’s no wonder this is a postcard city you could spend weeks here really exploring if you love hiking there’s skiing all year round here really it’s a non stop adventure paradise I wish we had weeks but we only have three days so let’s explore Zermatt is a town that was built at the foot of the Matterhorn specifically to attract tourists to the Alps it is very busy and no motorized vehicles are allowed so to reach Sir Matt make your way to Matterhorn Terminal Tasch to catch the train it leaves every 20 minutes and will drop you off downtown where you can grab an electric cab to your hotel our hotel the Hotel Aristella Swiss Flare offered free shuttles from the station the great thing about Zermatt is that there are no cars allowed down here there are electric vehicles and electric bikes and electric taxis and lots of people so it’s still really busy I couldn’t imagine if they had cars down here but if you do want to get around you can take an electric taxi or I suggest renting an e bike for the day it’s a great way to get acquainted with the area we have arrived at Lake Stella C to for sunrise over the Matterhorn this is incredible you take the 5:30 gondola up and it’s about a 30 minute walk maybe 20 minutes it’s pretty fast and sunrise today was at 6:20 they change the gondola every time depending on when sunrise is so we made it up in time and it’s spectacular I’m on top of the world so right behind me is where all of the crowd is and naturally that’s the classic perfect reflection so if you want to get that spot you want to get up here early and maybe even camp up here and there you have it the sun has risen over the Matterhorn not a bad way to get up in the morning what do you think well we just finished sunrise here at Stella see with the Matterhorn it was awesome and now we’re heading off to do some more hiking in this beautiful area another amazing thing to do in Zermatt is the 5 Lakes hike you don’t need to be up for sunrise for this hike people take the entire day to enjoy the trails but if you do go for sunrise head out early because you’ll have it all to yourself I have to say doing sunrise at the Matterhorn over the lake and then getting to walk down the trail right afterwards it’s amazing cause we’re the only people here most people went off to breakfast we decided to skip that so that we could get some of the trails to ourselves and the rest can’t get up on the gondola until uh a little bit later so it’s pretty cool I highly recommend it the five lakes consist of Stellisee Grindelsee Grunisee Moosisee and Laisee each lake has different views of the mountains three lakes have reflections of the Matterhorn but I found them all to be picturesque settings in their own right wow we another reflection of the Matterhorn here at Lake Grindelsee we skipped breakfast and got here right away and it’s just a stellar shot and nobody’s here it’s spectacular alright this lake down it’s absolutely beautiful we’re off to the next one well this is a very scenic trail everything is something new on our hikes to the all of the different lakes and lookouts and view points it’s just massive hiking around here it’s awesome let’s quake the rock fall another gorgeous lake out here is grunsee uh it’s another beautiful reservoir the Matterhorns in the back and you can see all the glaciers surrounding it Lake Gruncy is a popular lake for swimming the sandy bottom lake is the perfect place to have a picnic and sit back and relax we suggest packing a picnic lunch and plenty of water but there are restaurants along the way where you can stop and recharge if you need to use the washroom you do need to order something so make sure you have some cash on hand well this is a nice little picnic stop right here at Mujosi but it’s this beautiful turquoise lake with the Matterhorn in the background yeah fantastic what a day great thing about hiking up here in Zermatt is that you can take the gondolas and the lifts up to so many places so you don’t have to do some serious uphills which you know we all love doing this is great because you know most of it you start at the top and then work your way down and you just have some undulating hills that you’re climbing making for a really pleasant day I did not have to work very hard to get up here it was like a 20 minute walk not bad eh well we’ve made it up here to Gornergrat and it is the highest point at which a cogwheel train goes the Gornergrat Cogwheel train has been operating since 1898 and is Europe’s highest open air cog railway the full journey is 9.4 km from Zermatt and takes 33 minutes to reach the destination of 3,098 meters it just keeps on going I guess we get off at the end it’s a steep climb with awe inspiring views and we had constant views of the Matterhorn all the way up welcome to gornergrat it’s so cool because you get right up here and you’re amongst all the glaciers and you’re just surrounded by these peaks usually you’d have to fly or trek in or do a helicopter tour but the cog train took us right up and it’s pretty special ride definitely Gornergrat is home to Europe’s highest hotel there’s a small chapel a restaurant and an interactive museum so it’s worth spending a little bit of time once you reach the top well it’s worth going into zoom that’s a really cool interactive place where you can do some virtual reality there’s a great film that makes you feel like you’re right in like you’re part of a flying through the air and there’s some history on the area as well so definitely go inside I keep using the term spectacular and I don’t know what else to use because it really is every time I turn around it’s so beautiful it doesn’t seem real after you finished looking around you can take the train back down or you can hike we highly recommend hiking because it’s one extraordinary scene after another this is worth the hike the great thing about hiking in the Zermatt area is that most of the hikes are downhill the hike from gornergrat to rotenboden was about 45 minutes but we probably took at least an hour because we kept stopping to enjoy the sights the trail follows the train tracks down and once you reach Rotenboden you can hike to Lake Rifflse to see the beautiful reflections of the Matterhorn while you’re there keep an eye out for the Zermatt black nosed sheep the sheep are not too hard to find if you’re willing to hike a bit as they have GPS trackers on their collars once we reached the train station we followed our GPS and found the Shepherd with her herd where she allowed us to have a little visit with these cute creatures well we found the beautiful black nose sheep here and the sheep herder Debra by using the app that’s really great I was like I didn’t know if it would work or not and I’m walking down going I think the sheep are somewhere around here and here they are they’re lazy this afternoon it’s been a long day it’s late but this one loves having her ears pet yes you do yes you do we’re at Glacier Paradise 3,883 meters whoo one of you Matterhorn glacier paradise is Europe’s highest mountain station at 3,883 meters the trip starts in Zermatt and you transfer to three different cable cars before reaching the top the gondolas move 2,000 guests per hour so make sure to get there early to beat the crowds are you excited Dave I’m excited we get to go up to the glacier paradise here where you can look over all the highest peaks in Europe I’m excited we are riding the highest gondola in the world up to glacier paradise here at the Matterhorn it is about a 40 minute ride to the top you have one transfer that you have to no two transfers that you have to do to get up here then you get onto this luxury ride of like it’s the ride of all rides on this gondola and you’re surrounded by glaciers already it’s amazing a standard round trip peak season price is 120 Swiss francs for 2025 and it’s valid for two to 10 days so you have the flexibility to wait for good weather we’re at Glacier Paradise this is amazing there’s people up here skiing and you can ski all year long here people come up here for the view but there are plenty of other things to do up here and we’re going to start with Glacier Palace which was our favorite experience how often do you get to walk underneath a glacier wow this is so cool it’s like again another like incredible ice palace underneath a glacier man this is really out of this world you know the photographs they do do not do this justice they show ice sculptures down here and I think it’s far more interesting that we’re just going through tunnels under a glacier because you can see ice sculptures anywhere in the world but you can’t walk under a glacier anywhere in the world look at this like this is pretty amazing like there’s nobody here we have this whole ice palace to ourselves to walk around and explore it’s pretty awesome you don’t get that very often I think a lot of people come up to the lookout and forget that there’s a restaurant and an ice palace and other things to do it’s really worth it even if the weather’s bad whoa this is crazy the minute you step outside you feel the wind it’s freezing you feel the altitude I can’t believe people are skiing up here it’s warm down in Zermatt and it’s winter conditions up here if you are looking for a real adventure you can even trek to the summit of Bright Horn the easiest of all the 4,000 meter peaks in the Alps hey where else can you take an elevator almost up to 4,000 meters I don’t think anywhere else there are many things to do in town and one of your first stops should be a visit to the Matterhorn Museum Zermattlantis the museum focuses on the climbing history from the first ascent of the Matterhorn in 1865 there are plenty of interactive displays and a recreation of the Old Town taking you back in time there is climbing gear on display from the early pioneering days to the modern technology used today plus there are interviews with climbers who have summited the Matterhorn and memorabilia from their expeditions it really is a great way to spend a couple of hours in the afternoon come up the steps of the church and look over the Old Town and you have a great view of the Matterhorn and all of the old original buildings here in Zermatt Saint Maria’s Church in the main town square has great views of the Matterhorn and from here you can also see the 30 historic buildings dating back to the 16th century known as the rear village or hinterdorf you can take a stroll through here and then make your way out to some hiking trails for better Matterhorn views or you can stroll down to the Vispa River there’s great trails all around Zermatt that you can just follow the river you can go on your bike you can walk around it really is a great walking and biking city Zermatt may be all about exploring the Swiss Alps but one of the best things you can do is stroll around town taking in all the different views and you cannot miss heading out to the pedestrian only shopping street for some high end shopping and dining well walking in the Old Town is a super busy place to be if you want to come out and go to the bars or have a beer and sit on people watch come on down here it is busy man we have our mountain bikes and we’re ready to go we picked them up here from slalom sport and the great thing about Zermatt is you can get mountain bikes that are e bikes it’s really hilly here so why not have fun you’re on vacation get an e bike so you can go touring can’t wait we are off to cycle all around the region of Zermatt here the Matterhorn is just gonna be in our view all day long we’re heading to the 4 lake cycling trail this is awesome if you want to try something different the 4 legs Bike Tour is awesome going down some single and double track mountain bike trails Zermatt is very bike friendly and you can take your bike onto the funicular from the Sonnega Rothorn valley station and then transfer to the gondola to blauhard when you get to the top you’ll follow the route to all of the lakes of Zermatt okay we have transferred from the cogwheel train now we’re getting on to the gondola and then it’s easy riding after this no uphill awesome so what’s pretty cool is that you can load your mountain bikes here into the gondola head up and then just ride off all at the top here in Zermatt it’s pretty amazing if you’re a biker you gotta do this alright we’re here doing some mountain biking in Zermatt we have the Matterhorn behind me look at these views it’s something you have to do when you come here to Zermatt the Four Lakes bike route follows a lot of the same trails that the Five Lake hikers take from Stella See to Moose GE after stopping at Moose GE we split from the Five Lakes hike and joined the Oberer Hohenweg bike tour this is where we had some really fun single track riding through the trails and one hair raising cliff to cross well we follow the bike trail path and we are not riding here ladies and gentlemen that’s a sheer drop sometimes you just gotta get out and walk spectacular now that was epic we are at the Zermatt Matterhorn lookout and we are overlooking the entire village of Zermatt and right there behind those clouds you can just barely make it out is the Matterhorn on our way up here it wasn’t covered in clouds and now it is but uh you know what it’s still a spectacular scene so we’re gonna wait it out and see what happens the Zermatt Matterhorn lookout is one of the best places for sunset the weather didn’t cooperate with us but it was still a beautiful view over the entire town so it’s worth going up to see it well the viewpoint is pretty high up along these uh a cobblestone path up to the lookout it’s really worth it though for a beautiful view over the town it’s a lot of work so leave early it’s much easier going down I’m enjoying this much better for access to all of these hikes and lookouts check out the official Zermatt website for the multi peak pass deals as they change frequently up to Gornergrat cost approximately hundred and twenty six Swiss francs and about 1 hundred and twenty francs for Matterhorn glacier Paradise but you can bundle everything together to save money and if you enjoyed our videos make sure to subscribe because we put up new travel videos each week