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Day 7: Beautiful Zermatt

Zermatt is a small village that lies in the foot of the famous Matterhorn. We departed from Grindelwald by train to Zermatt where the entire journey took approximately 5 hours. 


Scenic view along the way to Zermatt

Scenic view along the way to Zermatt

The moment I arrived at the train station, I hurried to look for Matterhorn, the mountain icon that appears on the Toblerone chocolate.

Zermatt is a car-free village and upon arrival, you'll find a street lined with shops - including the luxury watches - Rolex. The style of the houses, however, is significantly more homely and rustic that the ones I've seen at Grindelwald or Interlaken. 









The village does have its charm, almost like the village portrayed in fairy-tales book. I can understand why so many tourists come here, to catch a glimpse of Matterhorn, framed between the rooftops of the houses within the village. Indeed, to get the best view of Matterhorn, you have to come to Zermatt. As the village is car-free (except for mini electric vehicles that transport tourists to their accommodations), it is free from air pollution. The air was really refreshing!

The first thing we did other than catching sight of Matterhorn was to look for our cottage. I'm a little bit excited with the cottage because I've heard good reviews about it. I've booked the Backstage Serviced Apartment which is facing the river and just right at the bottom of Matterhorn, which means, I can catch a close view of this magnificent mountain right at my doorstep. 

Backstage Hotel

The apartment was designed by Heinz Julen and is part of the property managed by Backstage Hotel. To check in to the serviced apartment, you can approach the backstage hotel located within 5 mins walk from the train station. The hotel will arrange an electric car to transport you to the apartment, which is at least 15 mins walk from the train station. 

The design of the cottage is really cool, entirely in wood. The view of the apartment is awesome as well. The interior of the apartment is modern and we can lay in bed and gazed through the glass panel out to the river. What's even better is that the apartment has the coffee machine where we can make ourselves some nice coffee. We were also told that the tap water is the glacier water and I can remember that it tasted nice like Evian water.  Definitely one of the nicest cottage that I've stayed. 








As we were only staying for one night, we wasted no time exploring the village. It was really a quaint place to be if you needed to relax and recharge. I love how quiet the village was and how amazing that the Matterhorn popped up at every angle from the village. How blessed it must be for the people who lived there. 







For dinner, we were recommended to have our dinner at this cosy restaurant, Zermatterstubli that served delicious cheese fondue. I ordered a classic cheese fondue which had some liquor in it. It's really yummy and I finished the entire pot, feeling extremely satisfied. My husband ordered beef steak which tasted really good with the herbs butter and mashed potatoes. 





The very next day, we decided to visit Sunnegga which is a nice place to catch the pefect view of Matterhorn. But first, we had to have our breakfast at the lovely Backstage Hotel. We took a morning stroll to the hotel, which made a good pre-exercise before our hearty breakfast. 

Of course, if you have the time, you can also choose to go all the way up to Matterhorn and have the entire view of the Alps. 





Breakfast was really good!
Sunnegga offers equally amazing view and can be reached easily via the Sunnegga funicular. Within 10 mins, we were busy taking pictures of the spectacular view of Matterhorn. By the way, there is a park overlooking Matterhorn, which offers a great picnic spot and can get really crowded during summer. 
























We spent some quality time up there admiring the nature and Matterhorn before going back to the village and head off to our next destination, Montreux. Overall, I super like Zermatt and personally, I think that it's not as touristy as it was said to be. The village does has its charm and I really hope to return again and stay longer. 





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