Gornergrat Railway — Attraction in Zermatt

So far, I've visited the foots of Mt. Everest in Nepal, Mt. Kilimanjaro from both Kenya and Tanzania, Mt. Elbrus from Georgian side, as well many Alpine peaks in Europe. Matterhorn - iconic and unique peak, was always on my list and this year I managed to "conquer" it with my family and our dog. Speaking of its beauty is useless - it's all well known, so I focus on tips that will hopefully help you planning. Switzerland is one of the most expensive countries in the world, so be prepared - Matterhorn and Zermatt are no exceptions, on the contrary.... On the other side, from their point of view, no other country has trains at such altitudes whose building and maintaining cost certainly very much. TIPS: Buy the 'Afternoon ticket' which is valid for the specific date for any train after 12.15 PM. They're around 25% cheaper - 72 CHF instead of around 100 CHF regular tickets. I don't know if they're available throughout the year, but they were available in late April when we've visited. We bought them on Gornergrat official site, but also do monitor others like Get your Guide (few years ago they were cheaper than official for Mt. Titlis and Pilatus), Before boarding the train arrive 15-20 min earlier to be among the first in line. This will enable you to SIT ON THE RIGHT hand side, which has non stop direct views of Matterhorn both ways, up and down. With regular tickets you can pay 7 CHF extra for priority boarding, with the Afternoon ticket you cannot, Train travels around 35 min one way, Once up, check the weather first. If it's fine do your photos immediately, as weather and visibility changes in minutes (which happened to us), 'Zoom the Matterhorn' 3D VR show is included in your ticket. Have in mind it's open only until 4 PM, so do that asap, specially if weather's bad, You can get on and off at any station (only once at each), just have your ticket for scanning, Riffelsee is a popular stop with a 10-15 min hike to same name lake with fab mirror views of Matterhorn. DO NOT do that unless you visit June - Oct. Throughout rest of the year it is covered with snow and ice, so you waste your time and energy which happened to us. FOR THOSE WITH PETS: Your pet rides Gornergrat for FREE (unlike other Swiss trains), DOUBLE think if to take it up with you, specially if the flat nose breed. We were with our French Bulldog, and once up at the highest station at 3.100 m he started behaving disoriented, scratching his ears and not in the mood. Therefore, my wife took the very first train back down.

To conclude: This is a memorable, life time, yet very expensive experience. Only one day in Zermatt costed us around 800 Euros (family of 3) including hotel (medium 3 star), train tickets and dinner, as well extra expenses you must count on in such places - the main road to Zermatt was closed that day due to landslide, so we had to leave our car in nearby town of Visp and pay extra train tickets which costed around 250 CHF both ways. However, the money I'll forget and earn again, but our Matterhorn day will be our...

Nothing wrong with the views and sceneries, they’re absolutely awesome, no questions about it and I actually had a great time up there.

If able to, take the flawless train system up to both Gonergrat and Matterhorn Klein as I attempted to but was unable to unfortunately due to what I deem as a human error or wrongful advise. The lady ground staff wrongly advised that I could do both peaks that day during my trip.

I thus happily paid for multiple trip tickets or tickets for both peaks but only got to go up to Gornergrat as the cable car at Riffelsee/Riffelberg linking to Furi was closed and I had to take the train downwards back to Zermatt main station to restart my ascend via cable car to Matterhorn only to be turned away as they said I would not have enough time, as they’re closing the cable car.

Had the lady on the ground selling tickets knew that the Riffelberg cable car was closed she would have probably advised differently. As it was, she told me I could easily change from train to cable car after my descent from Gornergrat and still be in time for Matterhorn Klein.

Having descended to Zermatt main station to clarify with her, it turned out obvious that she was the only one whom had no idea the cable car station at Riffelberg is closed during off peak season and she gave me a gasp and shocked face.

The hang/para glider Brit guy at Riffelberg knew, the station master at Riffelberg and Zermatt station knew, heck even the convenience store guy at Riffelberg knew.

When I nicely asked her for the possibility of a partial refund, seeing that I only completed half of what I paid for, she pointed me to queue at the ticket counters but offered no further assistance to help explain my cause.

As expected I was roundly and abrasively brushed off by the ticket sales guy. He directed me again to the Furi cable car and said that perhaps I can try over there. So I took a 15 min bus ride to Furi cable car and you guessed it, i was abrasively brushed off as well, and shot a disgusted look like I was trying to pull a fast one.

My experience in Switzerland was overall extremely good and impressive less for this episode.

Time your trip wisely, check the cable car to make sure it’s operational that day and don’t end up like me. Now I may just have to spend thousands again in the near future to complete the...

Took this today for my trip to Matterhorn. A few things to really consider:

Get tickets for the earliest time if you can. As in the very first train in the morning. You'll beat the crowds. Unfortunately, I was coming all the way from Thun, so the earliest train I could take was the 8:48AM train up.

Would HIGHLY recommend buying priority boarding. Not only you get to wait in a separate area, you get to board a few minutes earlier than general boarding and can grab a seat on the right side for the best views of the Matterhorn on the way up. Because as soon as the doors for general boarding open, the idiot large group of tourists will literally charge full speed to grab all the seats on the right side. I purchased priority boarding, but I ended up sitting on the left side of the train. FYI, the right side seats are on the same side as the doors. Now that I think of it, it's a good thing I did sit on the left side because I probably would have been shoved right off my seat by these obnoxious tourists.

I would NOT recommend printing your tickets out. I printed out 2 tickets, one for priority boarding and one regular round trip ticket. Both tickets were successfully scanned at the main station entrance at the start of my trip. But when you get off at Gornergrat (or any other stop) you have to scan your ticket again. I'm not really sure why they make you do this, especially with so many people exiting at Gornergrat Station. But my ticket would not successfully scan, so I couldn't exit/the gate wouldn't open. I had to push my way through the crowd behind me and find an employee to help me scan my ticket out. Then it happened again when I tried to enter Riffelberg to take the train back down to Zermatt. Had to try and get an employee's attention at the information desk to help me again. But when I arrived at Zermatt, I pulled up the PDF ticket on my phone and it worked. So, I would just buy...