This beautiful winter trail is a great way to get lots of interesting photos of the Matterhorn from different perspectives. The snowy path is groomed with machines meaning you can walk on it with regular hiking shoes.

To reach the trail, you ride the Gornergrat mountain train to the Rotenboden stop. The trail hikes down to the Riffelberg stop where you can get back on the train and ride down to Zermatt.

We did this trail after visiting the Gornergrat viewpoint higher up the mountain. We also did the Rotenboden sled run a couple times before starting the hike. You have a lot of options to mix and match activities here.

If some of your group prefers not to hike, they can wait for your at one of the restaurants at the Riffelberg stop, where they can enjoy Matterhorn views in a lounge chair on their outdoor terrace.

Trail: Easy • 1 hour • 2.3 km • 240m descent See trail map

TICKETS

Your ticket price depends on what you want to do on the mountain. At the Gornergrat ticket office, tell the agent what you'd like to do and they'll direct you to the correct ticket. Here are some options:

• just the hike: ride up to Rotenboden, ride down from Riffelberg

• Gornergrat viewpoint + hike: ride up to Gornergrat, ride down to Rotenboden, hike to Riffelberg, ride Riffelberg to Zermatt

• Gornergrat viewpoint + hike + sled: you'll probably need the SnowFunPass which has the most flexibility

The best value is the SnowFunPass Half Day, which is valid from 12:15 and include the train up to the Gornergrat viewpoint, access to winter trail, snowshoe & sled rental, unlimited sledding from 13:00 - 16:00. Even if you aren't doing all those things, it's a better price than a regular return ticket to the Gornergrat viewpoint.

In all cases, you get a discount with the Swiss Travel Pass and Swiss travelcards.

OPENING TIMES

This winter trail is typically open from end of December through mid April. But check the trail status on the website before making plans.

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