Hi, in Sept we are returning to Valais but bringing one of our sons and his girlfriend this time. They would like Zermatt and going up on the cable car etc. but as we've been several times we thought it would be nice to leave them to enjoy Zermatt on their own and go hiking with a picnic for the day. Anyone done a nice walking route from Zermatt maybe 5 hours total? We walked up to Furi the last time we were there. For a really nice walk we'd make an early start to give us more time. We view the Matterhorn from the balcony at the chalet we stay at but its almost 2 hours to get to Zermatt from there what with the train etc.

Also, which is the lake that is often featured in photos of the Matterhorn? If the weather forecast was good I'd get up really early to be able to get that view and see the reflection in the water.

Thanks for any help

Bit of a bump here...

My wife and I will also be in Zermatt this September, and looking for a hike that is challenging and rewarding. We're planning on two nights there, so any several recommendations would be quite appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Bob

Hi,
I would recommend you just looking at wanderland.ch map, highlight trekking routes and plan something that just suits you. No need to follow same route as everybody else does
Being around Zermatt, you will probably always look at Matterhorn, so maybe plan one day just below it, and another in opposite direction. Or try Klein Matterhorn, but unless you know how to cross glaciers or pay a guide and hire equipment (harness, crampons,etc.) your only option would be take a cable car. And up there, there is not so much trekking (unless you have mentioned glacier skills and maybe acclimatization)

I've only done the mountain railway to gornergrat, funicular to Sunegga - no hiking but there is information on the zermatt website:

http://www.zermatt.ch/en/page.cfm/ex...ivities/hiking

When I was there in July lots of people were combining walking with the railways, funicular, cable cars so they didn't have to walk everywhere. That would allow you to cover more ground in less time.

You could try google earth to find the lake you were asking about and then compare that to the hiking trails shown on the link above.

If you do find something good please report back - it looks like there is a need for this sort of information.

Have a nice visit!!

Ok, I just did an image search on Yahoo for 'matterhorn lake' and came up with Lake Riffelsee, Gridgi and Stellisee.

On the Zermatt.ch page there is a walk (number 21) called Riffelseeweg - I think that is what you are looking for:

http://www.zermatt.ch/en/page.cfm/er...w_riffelseeweg

I think you take the Gornergrat railway part of the way to Rotenboden. I wish we knew about this before!! But I'm sure with all our visitors we'll end up at Zermatt again, and again and again......

If you have have a day, I would do the 5-Seen-Weg, followed by the Naturweg in reverse (i.e. starting at Sunnegga and going to Riffelalp).

That way you get to see both Rothorn and Gornergrat, and see some of the best views of the Matterhorn and the lakes above. Sunnegga is an ideal place to stop for lunch too.

http://www.zermatt.ch/en/page.cfm/er...n/ww_5_seenweg
http://www.zermatt.ch/en/page.cfm/er...rn/ww_naturweg

If you have a little extra energy at the end, you can walk up from Riffelalp to Riffelberg up the Mark-Twain-Weg.
http://www.zermatt.ch/en/page.cfm/er...mark_twain_weg
At Riffelberg there's a great hotel which would be a prefect place to have a glass of wine to mark the end of your journey, and from next to the hotel you can get the Gornergratbahn straight back into Zermatt.

Hi, I checked for a couple of weeks after I posted but haven't been on here since then, so I didn't see any of these replies . We ended up going up to Gornergrad on the train and walking down with a picnic on the way. It was a lovely day and we were rewarded by lovely photos like this one:


As it was such a lovely day the place was quite busy, so we took a different path to the one everyone else took after the lakes. We had quite a challenging hike lasting about 5 hours altogether but we had the route to ourselves and the views were lovely. If you do this, make sure you have plenty of time, water and a walking map as the signs aren't always obvious and you'll likely not see anyone else. A friendly Swiss luggage cart driver gave us a lift into Zermatt the last couple of miles or so when we joined the road just below Furi!! - no real views from that point!

I want to next time see the Matterhorn in Lake Grinjisee, you get some trees in the picture there, although the mountain is further away. Here is a link showing all the mountain in the lake views, if that's what your after
http://www.zermatt.ch/en/page.cfm/ex...cursions/lakes

Sorry I appeared not to respond to any of the replies I so love to walk in Valais and can't wait until we are back again.

Below the lake in your photo, did you go down the very steep zigzagging path that goes off to the left down into the valley and eventually leads back to Furi? It sounds like you might have done - best way down from the Gornergrat I think :-)

Yes, we did Stephen and it was lovely! I am not used to the crowds and had to wait an age for a picture at the lake with no people - and some random guy sneaked in on the right!! There was also a queue to stand on this rock !!(please excuse my bright yellow bandana but it was very hot and I didn't wanna burn my head!!)



so after the lakes, off down the not so beaten path we went. We had a lovely day but I prefer the quieter routes in the mountains