Matterhorne: The Highest Station of Europe

The second day of this route is shining on the summit of Metterhorn - the Cervino mount - overlooking on the small gem of Zermatt, where you will stop soon.
Departing from Varzo, in about one hour and half, you will reach the Matternhorn Terminal in Tasch, a little district of the Canton Valais and also the last one accessible with the car before entering Zermatt, which is totally pedestrian free.
Here you will find the terminal with the parking lot to leave the car and from where you can take a shuttle - whose service is active 24h and departs every 20 minutes - that will take you to Zermatt in 15 minutes.
You can find more info here.

First thing arrived to Zermatt is probably take a walk around and enjoying this experience with just electric cars and horse drawn carriages.
Zermatt is a little district on the bottom of the majestic Matterhorn which has preserved its ancient atmosphere, by keeping the original buildings and wood barns.
It also surrounded by 38 mountains with an height of more than 4000 mt, that is a beautiful location to visit every moment of the year not just in the winter.
Of course if you are interested in skiing, you can start your day by checking out the ski facility and its opening hours.

From here you can take a cable car to the top to explore one of the highest mountain stations in Europe: 3883 mt above sea level.

The Matterhorn Glacier Paradise is a structure that hosts a terrace with a viewing platform, a cinema, a restaurant and a 25 km of ski slopes.
Entering the Glacier, you will step also into the Ice Palace, the place of eternal glaciers, situated 15 mt below the surface that is reachable through an elevator.
It hosts natural ice sculptures and also some made by artists and it is open all year.
From Zermatt it is possible to reach the Glacier with the cable car and you can book your ticket online. For your lunch break, there is of course the restaurant on the highest mountain of Europe!
The Restaurant Matterhorn Glacier Paradise is a building with a futuristic and modern style, view windows and zero-energy design.
You can taste the Valais specialties while they are prepared thanks to the open kitchen, and enjoying a breath-taking view on the mountains thanks to the view windows.
The place is also considered a model regarding its environmental standards, thanks to a photovoltaic system on the south facade, which makes enough energy to power the entire building.
The restaurant is open all year from 9.15 am to 3.45 pm and you can check out the site for more information. Another interesting spot at the Matterhorn Glacier, is the Cinema Lounge, the "highest cinema" of Europe.
It is a structure with anatomical seats and soft lights, which screens footages of few minutes duration, regarding alpinism, flora and fauna of the mountains, mountains stations and ice.
The entrance is free and it is an ideal program if the weather outside is not great.

The Gorner Gorge was discovered 130 years ago, it is a natural ravine situated just 20 minutes by walk from the center of Zermatt.
The waters of the Gornervispe have carved an ever deeper chasm where the water has a bright turquoise color, that is at its best to see, thanks to to sunlight, around 4 pm.
The path is open everyday from June to October and it is of low difficulty to cross.

After this amazing walk in the nature if you are craving some Italian cuisine the restaurant Le Chalet da Giuseppe is the right place to have dinner!
You can try bruschette, ravioli, scallops and vitello tonnato, everyday from 4 pm to 10 pm. You can book your table here.

This is the last stop of the day, your lovely residence for the night.
The Element Chalets is a complex built in 2017, made of various chalet each of them built on three levels, with a private sauna, a chimney and a terrace with a view.
The structure has also a direct access to the ski slopes and a storage for the ski equipment.