This iconic lake is an essential part part of the Gornergrat experience. We suggest first riding the mountain train up to the Gornergrat viewpoint and spending about an hour exploring the top.

Then ride the mountain train down one stop to Rotenboden. The train leaves about every 25 mins, so check the schedule to make sure you don’t have to wait long.

• Tip: From Gornergrat, you can hike down to the Riffelsee instead of riding the train. The "Höhenweg" trail takes about an hour, descending about 270m. See trail map.

From the station, it's about a 10 min walk down to the lake. You can easily spend an hour here, strolling around the lake, taking pictures, and having a picnic.

• More info in our Riffelsee Trail article.

Hiking

After visiting the lake, you can walk back up to the train and ride down the mountain. But it's so much nicer to hike a bit to spend more time with the Matterhorn views and escape the crowds.

The trail past the lake splits a few times. For the shortest walk, follow signs to Riffelberg, about 1 hour (View trail map).

Or a longer, more difficult descent to Riffelalp, about 2 hours. Either way, you can catch the mountain train at the end and ride down to Zermatt. (View trail map)

You could even hike all the way down to Zermatt, if you have a few hours to spare.

How to get there

The Gornergrat train station is directly across from the Zermatt train station: Bahnhofplatz 1 Zermatt. The Riffelsee is at the Rotenboden stop.

In most cases, you need a round trip ticket to the Gornergrat. You get a discount with the Swiss Travel Pass, SBB GA and Half-fare.

➡️Book Gornergrat tickets

If you plan to hike, you can pay a little less. The ticket office staff speak English and can help you buy the correct ticket.

When to visit

Most tourists visit this area between 9:00 and noon. So either get up very early or visit in the afternoon, when things quiet down a bit. The train is open year round. But this area is usually free from snow from about mid June to mid October.

Conditions: webcam • forecast • trail status