Gornergrat / Gornergratbahn

The rack-railroad climbs the east side of Nikolai valley, crosses the Findelnbach on a high bridge and then runs through the curving Unteralp tunnel. 4km/ 2mi: Riffelalp (2,213 m/7,261ft), with a superb view of the Gabelhorn group. The line continues up the slopes of the Riffelberg in a wide curve, with ever more impressive views of the Matterhorn. (6km/4mi: Riffelberg (2,582 m/8,472ft) with the hotel of the same name. 7.5km/5mi from Zermatt lies Rotenboden station (2,819 m/9,249ft). A few minutes' walk below the station is the Riffelsee, with the pyramidal peak of the Matterhorn mirrored in its water (particularly fine in the morning). The line then runs high above the Gorner glacier to the summit station (9km/6mi, 3,089 m/10,135ft), from which it is only a five- minute climb to the famous Gornergrat (3,130 m/10,270ft: observatory), a rocky ridge rearing above the Gorner glacier. From here there is one of the most magnificent panoramas in the whole of the Alps: in the middle the Matterhorn, with the Breithorn, the Zwillinge ("Twins" - Castor and Pollux), the Lyskamm and Monte Rosa to the left; to the north the peaks of the Mischabel group, including the Dom (4,545 m/14,912ft), the highest purely Swiss mountain; and to the west the mountains between the Zermatt and Zinal valleys.