Our typical day starts with a continental buffet breakfast at our hotel - delicious fresh baked bread and croissants, local meats and cheeses, cereal, fruit, coffee and juice - which gives us the energy needed for the upcoming tours. Soon we'll be out on the trail, where you'll get to choose between an easier walk or more strenuous hike for the day. Each morning, you'll be handed a lunch to carry, and at a mid-point along the way we'll choose a beautiful spot to stop and enjoy our picnic. We get a lot of compliments on our imaginative lunches - making them something to look forward to as well!

We should finish our hike around 4 pm, giving you time to wash up, relax, perhaps do a bit of shopping in town or relax in our fun hotel pool and spa. After that, we'll enjoy dinner together at our hotel or another local restaurant. These are usually multi-course feasts, featuring both local and international specialties like chicken, fish, or cheese fondue. Our hotels enjoy excellent reputations for their fine cuisine.

While hiking in Zermatt and Leukerbad, we have literally dozens of hikes to choose from each day. We've described some of our favorite hikes here, but expect your own tour to vary slightly.

Day 1 Arrive in Switzerland, and transfer by train to our meeting point in Zermatt. There is a train station in both the Zurich and Geneva airports, and transferring to Zermatt (4 hours) will be as easy as it is scenic. You'll have a chance to check out the town, take a short walk around Zermatt, or enjoy the wonderful pool and spa before settling in for our welcome dinner at the very friendly Hotel Europe. (Hotel Europe)
Day 2 It's nice to start with a walking tour of the village that takes you past 400 year-old houses and into the history of this fascinating town. Then perhaps up to the Findeln glacier, hiking through larch forests and passing numerous small lakes with the Matterhorn towering in the distance. Afterwards, we'll enjoy exquisite food and great Matterhorn views from our hotel on the outskirts of Zermatt. (Hotel Europe)
Day 3 Taking quiet trails through fields and forest, we have a range of choices up to the wide ridge of Gornergrat, past marmots and small glacial lakes, to what has to be one of the finest viewpoints in Europe. The jumbled mass of the Gorner glacier stretches out before us, and behind that, Dom, Monte Rosa, the Breithorn, and the Matterhorn form a spectacular backdrop. (Hotel Europe)
Day 4 There are many peaceful trails criss-crossing the larch forests outside of Zermatt. We'll take one that leads us to a suspended wooden walkway through a narrow river gorge. After a harrowing walk through the gorge, we emerge and continue on to the enchanting, centuries-old hamlets of Zum See and Zmutt. Perhaps we'll make the strenuous climb to the Schwarzsee lake, or even up to the Hornli hut (a sort of Matterhorn base camp) to enjoy fabulous, close-up views of the Matterhorn and and a sweeping look back at the valley below. (Hotel Europe)
Day 5 Leaving Zermatt, scenic train and bus ride in the morning brings you to the end of a neighboring valley and the quiet village of Leukerbad. Here you'll enjoy the slower pace of this tiny village to go with great mountain views. One short hike leads toward the end of the valley to Fluekapelle, a tiny chapel tucked below impressive cliffs. (Hotel Escher)
Day 6 A long and dramatic hike climbs leads up a serpentine path to the historic Gemmipass. Visit a small inn on the edge of an alpine lake and savor the high mountain views before returning to the village by cablecar for a soak in one of the thermal spas. (Hotel Escher)
Day 7 After breakfast at our hotel, we'll say our good-byes and leave for our post-trip destinations.

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This self-guided tour includes prepaid hotels with breakfast each morning and dinners listed above, a Swiss Flexipass railpass for 3 free days of rail travel plus 50% discounts on most other trains and cablecars, hiking maps, detailed route descriptions, and lots of useful information that will help your trip run smoothly.

This tour can be customized to fit your needs. If you'd like to lengthen or shorten the tour, upgrade hotels (or go rustic), or create a customized tour of Switzerland from scratch, let us know. We have extensive experience across the Alps, and will be happy to work with you to build the hiking vacation that best suits your needs.

See our self-guided Matterhorn tour page