Hiking in the Swiss Alps
One of things we normally do before we leave before a trip is we make sure we have the key essentials; passport, cash/card, tickets and phone. Little did we know whilst setting off early in the morning that we had forgotten something pretty essential that would turn into a bit of a nightmare.
When we arrived at the airport, we realised what we had forgotten, Jonnys driving licence (face palm). We spent the next couple of hours before our flight left gaining access to his UK DVLA check code (an online/paper copy of a UK licence which has all the same details on the card copy) which in theory should work as a licence with the rental company. It works in the UK and we were told it would work within the EU.
We had hired our car from the French side of Geneva airport. Europcar told us that they would not accept the check code nor would any rental company in the airport. We were gutted and thought that this simple mistake had ruined our entire trip. They said all they needed was the licence number which was on the check code, so we were very confused why they wouldn’t accept it.
Eventually, we made our way over to the Swiss side to see if we could hire a car and with a hope that different rules would apply. One of the car hire desks said that (ironically) Europcar would let us hire a car if we had DVLA fax a signed document over. We had to wait two hours for the fax to come through and pay a lot more for the car but at least we would be able to continue with our trip. We also managed to get the original car refunded through rentalcars.com which was fantastic news.
We won’t be making that mistake again but now we were on the road towards the mountains! A few hours delay but it felt good to be on the road and not have to figure out any alternative plans getting to Zermatt. Hannah has been to Zermatt before and this would be Jonny’s first time. It was difficult to contain our excitement that we were so close to reaching our destination to a paradise nestled in the mountains.
You cannot drive directly to Zermatt and you can leave your car in a car park in Tasch. Then we caught the train up to Zermatt. We arrived just before sunset so once we had checked into our hotel we headed straight out to get our bearings of the town before calling it a day. There were lots of street food vendors along the main street which we found out only happens twice a month or so. The streets were full with raclette (melted cheese and potatoes or meat) and grilled bratwurst (sausage).
We were staying at at the Schlosshotel which was a family run hotel with beautiful and very authentic feel of a mountain chalet. The rooms were big, cozy and comfortable with balconies looking out towards the Matterhorn and and the spa and pool areas was the perfect place to escape and relax after a day in the mountains.
After a tasty breakfast we explored the local shops to get supplies for lunch ready to take with us on our afternoon adventure. We caught the funicular up to Sunnegga (similar to a cable car where it is connected to another one on a track, one goes up whilst the other comes down). Amazing panoramic views from the top are all around you and a great view of the Matterhorn overlooking some lakes. As the last funicular down the mountain was around 4pm there weren’t many hikers after that time. We hiked down to a lake and spent time soaking in the incredible scenery and watching the sunset. Once the sun had gone down we started making our way down the mountain, we had made sure we had our head torches and began the two hour hike. It was a long very steep dusty path back down and the moths and other bugs kept swarming towards our head torches. We wouldn’t recommend doing this unless you have done this before as it can be quite easy to get lost in the dark on trails. Eventually at 10:55pm we made it back into Zermatt absolutely starving. The only place open was Mcdonalds and that closed at 11pm and were able to order burger and fries and headed back to our hotel. Covered in dust and dirt and very tired we were starstruck from such an epic day exploring the beautiful mountains with incredible views of the Matterhorn.
Whilst staying in Zermatt we also caught the Matterhorn glacier paradise cable car. This is the highest cable car in Europe and has stunning views of the Matterhorn and the Breithorn as well as many other high peaks in the area. You can also ski in this are most of the year and there are also lots of mountain climbers that were making their way to the top of the Breithorn. You can also discover an underground world of ice 15m below the surface. It’s a magical world of smooth shiny ice with an ice slide (the best bit) and a glacier crevasse you can walk through and be in awe of the incredible blue hues within the ice.
The train up to the Gornergrat was one of our favourite day trips. The journey on the train is fantastic as it winds its way up the side of the mountain with the smell of fresh pine in the air. The final destination is the Gornergletscher glacier, surrounded by peaks of the Monte Rosa. We wanted to watch the sunset over the Riffelsee lake with the reflection of the Matterhorn shimmering on the surface. We then walked during the blue hour to the Riffelberg station which has beautiful plains with views of the Matterhorn and caught the last train down the mountain.
We loved getting up into the mountains and hiking all day with such majestic mountains all around us. Using cable cars and trains is a great way to quickly get up into the mountains but can be quite expensive, we’d recommend taking the cable car up to where you plan to do a hike and then walk down to save your pennies. Another way we would save money was by buying lunch in the town that we could make sandwiches with on our hike so we could spend all day out hiking.
After spending 3 days in this beautiful part of Switzerland we caught the train back down the valley to our car, loaded up our luggage and headed on towards our next destination, Interlaken. Interlaken is large town built on a narrow stretch of valley in the Bernese Oberland region of central Switzerland. Historically this town became a hotspot for tourism during the 1800’s due to the landscapes from Frank Nicklaus Konig and other artists and came for the fresh mountain air and spa treatments. Today many of this history is still evident throughout the town in the architecture of the houses and hotels which are typical examples of Swiss architecture. We ate dinner at the Sapori restaurant and had some delicious margherita pizza.
The next day we caught the train from Interlaken Ost station to Lauterbrunnen which only takes around 30 minutes. The weather was incredible and we walked to our next stop which was Stechelberg where we would catch the cable car up all the way to the Schilthorn which is at 3825m and has a famous revolving restaurant. It is also well known for being filmed in James Bond. On our way up we were surrounded by clouds and didn’t think we would see anything at the top, but after waiting for a while the clouds would disappear and reveal the amazing panorama. We then caught the cable car down to Mürren a beautiful small mountain village nestled ontop of a plateau and cannot be reached by road. You can find fresh and local cheese sold here and watch the para gliders take off over your head. We then headed back down the cable car and back to our hotel for the evening.
We were both very excited about our adventure up to the ‘Top of Europe’ is Jungfraujoch as the highest train in Europe. It is an engineering triumph and was a pioneering project and goes through the face of the Eiger along a 9.3km route. You can walk on the snow and also walk across a marked glacier trail to Mönchsjochhütte which is the highest altitude serviced hut in Switzerland. There is the Sphinx observation deck where you reach it by an ultra-fast lift to the top. On the way back down we stopped off at Eigergletscher which has great views of the Eiger.
