International (Europe/Japan/Southern Hemisphere) IKON trip to Zermatt

[Black Dog]

We are planning on taking a trip to Zermatt to use our days on our IKON pass.
We are flying into Geneva and home from Amsterdam. Will be there for roughly a 2 week span.
How flexible can we be with our lodging in late Jan? Good places to stay? We were going to try to hit some other areas to ski and some sightseeing, any suggestion on Itinerary?. What is the best way to travel. Train or car?
Thanks for any suggestions.

 

[Jacob]

We are planning on taking a trip to Zermatt to use our days on our IKON pass.
We are flying into Geneva and home from Amsterdam. Will be there for roughly a 2 week span.
How flexible can we be with our lodging in late Jan? Good places to stay? We were going to try to hit some other areas to ski and some sightseeing, any suggestion on Itinerary?. What is the best way to travel. Train or car?
Thanks for any suggestions.

If you haven't skied in Europe before, I'll start with my standard warning. Take a good look at the trail maps of the places you're thinking about visiting before making plans to go resort hopping, because the ski areas are probably bigger than you can imagine.

Here's a trail map for Zermatt https://www.zermatt.ch/en/Lifts-pistes/Panoramakarten-Facts/Piste-map-Winter-panorama. Keep in mind that the elevation numbers are in meters (I find this page easy to use for converting to feet https://www.metric-conversions.org/length/meters-to-feet.htm). So for example, the cable car that goes from Furi up to Trockener Steg covers 1072 m of vertical, which is 3517 ft. And that's just the middle of three lifts necessary to go from the base to the highest part of the area.

If you're doing two weeks of skiing, then I'd recommend skiing Zermatt-Cervinia for the first week and then switching to one other resort for the second week. If your entire trip is going to be two weeks and you want to do some sight seeing, then I'd recommend only skiing in Zermatt-Cervinia for a week and then spending the remaining days sight-seeing in Paris and Amsterdam.

I personally find trains to be more comfortable if you're not carrying too much luggage, so I'd recommend the trains if you're not bringing your skis.

So, my personal itinerary if I were doing the trip myself would be to fly to Geneva and take the train to Zermatt, and then ski there for about a week. Then, I'd take a train to Paris and spend three or four days there. Then I'd take a train to Amsterdam and spend two or three days there before flying home.

 

[Jacob]

So, my personal itinerary if I were doing the trip myself would be to fly to Geneva and take the train to Zermatt, and then ski there for about a week. Then, I'd take a train to Paris and spend three or four days there. Then I'd take a train to Amsterdam and spend two or three days there before flying home.

Just to clarify, that’s the trip I would do if I were intent on flying out to Geneva and back from Amsterdam, skiing Zermatt, and doing some sightseeing. If I were planning a trip to the Alps at the end of January and had carte blanche, then I’d do a different trip altogether.

 

[Black Dog]

Just to clarify, that’s the trip I would do if I were intent on flying out to Geneva and back from Amsterdam, skiing Zermatt, and doing some sightseeing. If I were planning a trip to the Alps at the end of January and had carte blanche, then I’d do a different trip altogether.

Great, Thanks for your help. If you had Carte Blanche what would you do? The only reason for Zermatt is we have IKON. What is that saving us?
The only thing cast in stone is arrival in Geneva and flying home from Amsterdam.
We will be traveling with a couple of intermediate skiers who have not skied a lot. So going for more groomers and sightseeing.
So a week of skiing and week of sightseeing is probably the best interaly. One of them has Bruges Belgium on his bucket list.
We probably won't bring skis, just our boots.

 

[dbostedo]

One of them has Bruges Belgium on his bucket list.

Personally, I thought Bruges was nice, but if you haven't been to places like Paris and Amsterdam, I'd spend more time there and forget Belgium. I suppose if you can fit it in while travelling from Paris to Amsterdam, that would be OK. But it's a little bit out of the way.

 

[Jacob]

Great, Thanks for your help. If you had Carte Blanche what would you do? The only reason for Zermatt is we have IKON. What is that saving us?
The only thing cast in stone is arrival in Geneva and flying home from Amsterdam.
We will be traveling with a couple of intermediate skiers who have not skied a lot. So going for more groomers and sightseeing.
So a week of skiing and week of sightseeing is probably the best interaly. One of them has Bruges Belgium on his bucket list.
We probably won't bring skis, just our boots.

Since lift ticket prices in Europe are quite cheap compared to the US, going somewhere else that's not covered by the IKON pass will cost you around $60 per day. For example, a 5-day pass for Val d'Isere and Tignes for that time of year is 265€, which is $287 at the current exchange rate.

Zermatt is a good destination for intermediate skiers. But, there are a number of other places around Geneva that are quite good as well, so you're a bit spoiled for choice. My favorite in the area is Val d'Isere and Tignes, but it's one of the farthest from Geneva. It takes about 3:30-4:00 to get there from the airport by bus. Also, it's quite a high ski area, so it can get a bit cold mid season. I'm sure others will have some good recommendations for places to visit.

Keep in mind that a lot of accommodation in the Alps is oriented toward 7-night stays running Saturday-Saturday. So, planning around those days will give you the most options. Ski rental is pretty reasonable in most resorts. There should be loads of shops wherever you go with a good selection of skis, so just bringing your boots is best.

Getting from Geneva to Paris is just over 3 hours if you get the direct train, and going from Paris to Amsterdam is only a touch longer. But getting to Bruges involves a change in Brussels and getting on the slow train, which means it's about 2:30 from Paris and just over 3 hours to get from there to Amsterdam. So, your buddy might struggle to convince the group to take the detour.

BTW, a good site to use to get travel details www.rome2rio.com. I never book anything from there, but I use it to get basic info on travel time and logistics.

 

[sky_chicken]

I'm visiting Zermatt with my wife from Feb 3 through Feb 11th. Will just miss you! Turns out the flight and stay in Zermatt will be cheaper then our annual domestic US trip to Snowmass, but all our friends bailed, anyway. Here's some general info I've gathered.

On the way there for the Geneva to Zermatt train, preorder the Saver Day Pass for CHF52. Otherwise the train ticket is almost double. On the way back, if you're willing to make a specific train schedule, you can have it as low as CHF35 or so per person.

We booked some refundable hotels on booking.com, a few days in town, and a few days up on Hotel Schwarzsee for the whole staying on the mountain business. When it gets closer, I'll look for better deals but I can't imagine giving up the ski in ski out chalet.

I intend to rent skis there rather than bringing them. Hotel Schwarzsee recommended Matterhorn Sport Zermatt, but I'm still open for more suggestions on this one, especially if I can find a tasty discount, or a store that will rent me a nice pair of Stockli Laser AX that I'm desperate to try out.

That's all I've got for now. Anybody else going to be in Zermatt early Feb?

 

[Jacob]

I intend to rent skis there rather than bringing them. Hotel Schwarzsee recommended Matterhorn Sport Zermatt, but I'm still open for more suggestions on this one, especially if I can find a tasty discount, or a store that will rent me a nice pair of Stockli Laser AX that I'm desperate to try out.

The Stockli testing center is in Zermatt https://www.zermatt.ch/en/Media/Tickets/Stoeckli-Skitesting-Trockener-Steg.

I'm sure you'll be able to find some shops in town with decent prices for rentals as well.

 

[Black Dog]

Just curious, how much grooming do they do in Zermatt?

 

[dbostedo]

Just curious, how much grooming do they do in Zermatt?

I'm sure others more familiar can let you know specifics... but I think in general almost all the marked runs are groomed at European resorts. Things that are ungroomed are usually not marked as a run - although that's not universally true.

The biggest difference with European skiing is that almost any time you're off-piste - off the groomed - you're likely also outside the resort. The "resort" or ski area is mainly just the groomed runs; it's not defined by a boundary like North American resorts. And therefore it's often not avalanche controlled or patrolled. For that reason, a lot of folks will recommend hiring a guide if you want to get off the groomed runs at places you're not familiar with.

There are several threads on here discussing the differences between Europe and NA... and folks here can give you some more detail and specifics about how to think about the resort and being off-piste.

 

[RollingLeaf]

A nice page from the folks at Where To Ski and Snowboard (UK): http://www.wheretoskiandsnowboard.com/resorts/Zermatt

 

[P-Ute]

Just curious, how much grooming do they do in Zermatt?

I skied Zermatt in 2018 and it is an absolutely beautiful place and huge. It seems like every time you turn around you have another fantastic view of the Matterhorn!
Most marked runs are groomed daily, if not daily, than very frequently. Some runs are wider and some are very narrow. Sunnegga, Gornegrat and Cervinia (Italian side) have a lot of nice wide blue & red runs. Italian side has some nice long red cruisers. Quality of grooming was good to excellent.
North America vs Alps
Green = Blue
Blue = Red
Black = Black
= Yellow are ungroomed, but marked routes.
At the end of the day runs returning to Zermatt from Gornergrat & Schwarzee are narrow, crowded and mogeled up. Consider downloading gondola/train instead, in particular if overtired.
Hotel: Stayed at Hotel Perren with large tour group, half-board. Room was nice and had a great view of Matterhorn. Food quality was average to good.
Transport: Took a targe bus from Geneva airport to Zermatt It seemed very long, but after the long flight I was happy to sit back and let someone else drive. Private cars are not allowed in Zermatt and are unneeded. The system of electric buses is fantastic! Just try to get a hotel within 1 to 2 blocks of a bus stop. If you do rent a vehicle you are required to park it down valley from Zermatt and take the train up to Zermatt.
Food: Lots of great on mountain restaurants around Findeln and Italian side. Rack of lamb at Bontadina Restaurant in Cervinia was best ever. If you walk into a self-serve restaurant I recommend you go somewhere else.
après Ski: Favorites were Harry's Ski Bar in town and the champagne bar near bottom of run #2 (Sunnegga).

 

[RollingLeaf]

@P-Ute I'm kind of curious about the skiing to Cervinia from Zermatt. Is that fairly easy to do? Can you switch to Cervinia for a while and then head back to Zermatt, or do you have to plan ahead and make a day of it?

 

[Lilia]

In light of the C virus spreading in Italy, does anyone know if skiing to Cervinia will still be open in Zermatt?

 

[ARL67]

Also FYI , the Ikon Pass for 2021 does NOT include access to the Cervinia side of Zermatt.
That is really disappointing as Zermatt was planned to be our Europe destination for 2021.

 

[Swiss Toni]

The link to Cervinia is currently open, there are no recorded cases of the C-virus in the Val de Aosta at the moment.

You can get day tickets for Cervina / Valtournenche for CHF 42.

 

[sky_chicken]

Also FYI , the Ikon Pass for 2021 does NOT include access to the Cervinia side of Zermatt.
That is really disappointing as Zermatt was planned to be our Europe destination for 2021.

I skied Zermatt/Cervinia in early January on Ikon pass. It was a lot of fun, and 2 of our days we never even got to the Italian side. But I wouldn't go if you can't. There's not a lot of skiing that you'll want to lap, it's mostly the fun of exploring new area (which is enormous). Like downhill resort touring. Without that, it's not worth it.

 

[ARL67]

I’ve been twice before to Zermatt so know the lay of the land. We’re mainly concerned about eating on the Italian side

 

[sky_chicken]

Good point, I wish I could have had dinner over there, too!

 

[Black Dog]

We had a great lunch in Cervinia, we were there 7 days so made the trip.
There was some nice skiing there.