| • Science | • People | • Locations | • Timeline |
Zermatt is famed as a ski resort and as a general tourist destination. Until the mid- 19th century, it was predominately an agricultural community - its name, as well as that of the Matterhorn itself, derives from the alpine meadows or matten in the valley. It was "discovered" mid-century by British mountaineers, whose conquest of the Matterhorn made the village famous world-wide.
The town is carfree, although motor vehicles are permitted with permission from the cantonal police (generally granted only to some permanent residents). Most visitors reach Zermatt by cog railway train from the nearby town of Tasch . Trains also depart for Zermatt from farther down the valley at Visp. The only passenger vehicles operating within Zermatt are the tiny electric shuttles that hotels provide to carry visitors from the town center to the hotel properties.
Zermatt is a starting point for many hikes into the surrounding mountains, including the Haute Route that ultimately leads to Chamonix in France. A complex of cable carCable car can mean: a light rail system using a cable in the road to pull the light rail cars along; see Cable car on rails. a cabin suspended along a cable in the sky, pulled by a cable; see Aerial lift.s and chair lifts carry skiers in the winter and hikers in the summer; the highest of them leads to the Klein Matterhorn , a small outcropping on the ridge between BreithornMountains of Italy Mountains of Switzerland The Breithorn is a mountain in the Alps, considered the easiest 4,000 m peak to climb in the Alps. This is due to the Klein Matterhorn cable car which takes climbers to over 3,870 m (12,700 ft) for a starting po and Matterhorn that offers spectacular views in all directions. It is possible to cross into Italy via the Cervinia cable car station. A spectacular rack and pinion railway line, the highest open-air railway in Europe, runs up to the summit of the Gornergrat at 3089m (10134 ft). Zermatt is also one terminus for the Glacier ExpressThe Glacier Express from Zermatt to St. Moritz in Switzerland is one of the great train journeys in the world. It is not an "express" in the sense of being a high-speed train (it isn't) but rather in the sense that it provides a one-seat ride from end to connecting to St. MoritzMoritz Sankt-Moritz is a popular resort town in the Engadine valley in the canton of Graubunden, Switzerland. Popular pastimes include skiing and hiking, nearby there is also the world famous Cresta Run toboggan course. The year round population is 5,600.