Zermatt is 62 km southwest of Gstaad and is situated at the end of a south-facing valley, at an altitude of 1620 metres.
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Zermatt is famed as a ski resort and as a general tourist destination. Until the mid-19th century, it was predominately an agricultural community; it was "discovered" mid-century by British mountaineers, whose conquest of the
Matterhorn made the village famous world-wide.
The town is car free, 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 cars 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
Breithorn and
Matterhorn that offers spectacular views in all directions.
It is also 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 3089 metres;
Zermatt is also one terminus for the
Glacier Express connecting to
St. Moritz.
