Zermatt and the Gornergrat railway: what the operator and Zermatt Tourism say

The short answer

The Gornergrat railway is a cogwheel line that starts at Zermatt station and climbs to the Gornergrat, high above the village, which the operator presents for its views of the Matterhorn, the surrounding four-thousand-metre peaks and the Gorner Glacier.[3][2][1] It is run by the Gornergrat Bahn, whose legal notice gives an address in Brig.[4] Of the high viewpoints Zermatt Tourism lists, it is the one reached by rack railway; the Matterhorn Glacier Paradise, covered briefly below, is reached by the cable cars of Zermatt Bergbahnen.

The Gornergrat is not in the village. It is a mountain above Zermatt reached by this railway, and XTOUR treats Zermatt as the base for it.

The line and its stations

The Gornergrat Bahn's ticket page says the train climbs more than 1,500 metres from Zermatt to 3,100 metres, and that you can get off and on as often as you like along the way. It names four intermediate stations: Findelbach, Riffelalp, Riffelberg and Rotenboden.[2] The operator's nature page describes the climb through the stone-pine (Arven) forest at Riffelalp and the alpine meadows at Riffelberg before the bare rock at the top.[3]

Rotenboden is the station for the Riffelsee. The operator puts the lake at 2,770 metres, inside a nature reserve, a 10-minute walk from Rotenboden station, and says the Matterhorn is reflected in it on windless days.[3] The operator gives the ride from Zermatt to the Gornergrat as 33 minutes; that is its figure, not XTOUR's.[2]

At the top, Zermatt Tourism lists the "ZOOOM the Matterhorn" exhibition, a photo point it calls the Golden Spot, the Gornergrat chapel dedicated to Bernhard von Aosta, restaurants including the Kulmhotel Gornergrat, and marked trails such as the 360° Loop Gornergrat (No. 91).[5] The operator adds a toboggan run in winter and, in summer, black-nosed sheep grazing freely on the mountain.[2]

Two official sources, different figures

The operator and the destination's tourism board do not agree on the numbers, and on one point the operator does not agree with itself.

• Height of the top. The Gornergrat Bahn says the railway takes you "up to 3,100 meters".[1] Zermatt Tourism's Gornergrat page is titled "at 3,089 m".[5] XTOUR gives both and adopts neither.
• How many four-thousanders. The operator's home page counts "28 four-thousanders".[1] Its own nature page says the Gornergrat is surrounded by "twenty-nine 4,000-metre high peaks", and Zermatt Tourism also says 29.[6][3]
• The glacier. The same nature page calls the Gorner Glacier "the third longest glacier in the Alps" in one paragraph and "Switzerland's third largest glacier" in another.[3] Longest and largest are different measures; XTOUR repeats neither as fact.

Tickets, as far as XTOUR has read them

The Gornergrat Bahn's own FAQ pages on tickets, reservations and discounts did not render their answers as text when XTOUR read them, so this guide does not report the operator's rules on passes, reservations or refunds. What XTOUR could read is limited to what other official pages show.

Zermatt Tourism's Gornergrat page sells single and return Gornergrat tickets through its own booking listing, which is a shop window rather than a timetable; XTOUR does not infer from it when the railway runs. When read on 9 October 2026, the same page marked the sunrise trips at the Riffelsee and the NostalChic Class as "Currently not available".[5]

A combined pass exists from the other lift company. Zermatt Bergbahnen says its Peak Pass gives unlimited travel, not for skiers, on the routes from Zermatt to the Matterhorn Glacier Paradise, to the Rothorn and to the Gornergrat, and from Furi to Riffelberg, according to the timetable.[8] XTOUR has not read the Gornergrat Bahn's terms for that pass.

Whether a Swiss Travel Pass gives a discount on the Gornergrat is something the Gornergrat Bahn's readable pages do not say. SBB's description of the pass is in what the Swiss Travel Pass covers.

The Gornergrat or the Matterhorn Glacier Paradise

Zermatt Tourism lists three high viewpoints together: the Gornergrat, the Rothorn and the Matterhorn Glacier Paradise.[6] They are different systems run by different companies. The Gornergrat is reached by the Gornergrat Bahn's railway from the station.[2] The Matterhorn Glacier Paradise is the lift system of Zermatt Bergbahnen, which also sells the Matterhorn Alpine Crossing to Cervinia; Zermatt Tourism describes that crossing as a cable-car connection between Italy and Switzerland.[7][8] XTOUR has not read which company runs the Rothorn lifts.

XTOUR's reading is that the choice is between a train with stations at a lake and alpine meadows on the way up, and a cable-car system that also continues across the border to Cervinia. XTOUR does not rank the views, and it does not suggest doing both on one day.

Getting to Zermatt: car-free, via Täsch

Zermatt Tourism is unambiguous that there are no private cars in Zermatt. It says private vehicles, electric ones included, may drive only as far as Täsch, five kilometres before Zermatt, where the Matterhorn Terminal has 2,100 covered spaces; from there the Matterhorn Gotthard Railway runs a shuttle train to Zermatt, or a taxi licensed for the Täsch to Zermatt road takes you on. The board warns of large fines for driving to Zermatt without authorisation.[7]

By rail, Zermatt Tourism says trains run to Zermatt every half hour, and that the Glacier Express also reaches the village.[7] What the Glacier Express's operator says about tickets and seat reservations is set out in Glacier Express and Bernina Express seat reservations.

Zermatt Tourism says the village "has always been car-free".[7] Its attractions page shows a "Car-free since" counter whose number did not appear in the page text, so XTOUR gives no date.[6]

What XTOUR does not tell you

XTOUR does not publish Gornergrat fares, timetables, operating seasons, weather or accessibility information, and it does not sell tickets. The history of the Matterhorn's first ascent is a separate subject from the railway. For the village, see the Zermatt destination page; for the country, Switzerland.