Zermatt Travel Forum

I will be in Zermatt for a couple of nights (1 full day) at the end of March. I am not a great skiier but enjoy trying - do you think it would be worth the effort for one day of skiing or could I better spend my time seeing the village itself? Is skiing easy to organise (I will need to hire everything), and is it very expensive?

Would be greatful for any advice...

Hi,
I'm johan,
used to be ski-instructor in france, Swiss and Austria.
Zermat is great, 1 day maybe short.
but if you go there, you want to go skiing.

First, hiring is best, and try to go early to the "ski-verleih" (ski-hiring shop). It is relatively cheap. And for 1 day it'll be for shoes, skis a 25 US dollars. Then the ski-permit (for the lifts) which will be like the same.
Ski-material is made friendly for beginners.

Do choose the green slopes (signed greed on the maps)
they are the most easy,
mostly walkingpaths, but then downhill. great scenery, and silent.
that's why you want to try them.

A ski-instructor will cost you a 150 usd a day. Is costly, but maybe a good
investment to help you overcome incidently occuring obsticles.
show you nice places, to look, eat and apres-ski.

hope you'll have a lot of powder,
sun and fun.
bey,
johan

Hi,

I was just in Zermatt to have a look around a few weeks ago. I didnt really like the village all that much. Its mostly geared towards ski shops and shopping tourists. If you deside to skip the skiing (I'm not a skiier so I cant say how great the area is), I did have a great hike. If you start walking to the far side of town, towards the big church and away from the train station, you can find a hiking path that leads towards Rothorn Paradise (the idealized photo view of the Matterhorn). From just a little bit up the hike you get, in my opinion, the best view of hte Matterhorn. It looks just like it does if you go all the way to the top, but its free. Hope you enjoy your time there.

Everything in Zermatt is expensive :-)

If you've skied a bit before, you would probably be ok up the Gornegrat mountain. It's also a great view of the Matterhorn, and worth the train trip up.

The village is pretty, but the mountains are why people go.

Plenty of ski shops to hire stuff for one day, the night before. I'd expect to pay about CHF50-60 for skis, sticks and boots for a day. They don't do clothing/jackets from what I remember