One flight and a couple of expensive train rides later, we arrived in Switzerland from Mallorca. Zermatt was our stop and we arrived to cold and rain. Yours truly must have read the wrong weather report and had to go shopping for leggings! I knew Switzerland would be expensive but wow!! This will go down as the most expensive country I've traveled to. We got off the train station in Zermatt, wandered up the street and found our hotel. We had a sweet room with a deck that faced the Matterhorn except it would take two days before we were able to see it due to weather. On the one sunny day that we were there, we were able to do the Seenweg trail which is also known as the Matterhorn's five lakes trail and it was truly stunning! Cold but stunning! We were in Zermatt for three nights and felt that was a good amount of time there. It was time to move on to another part of the mountains- Oberland!
After five train changes and one gondola ride, we arrived in the town of Murren from Zermatt. Unlike Zermatt, where luxury commercialism (Hublot, Rolex, Patik Philippe) is in your face, Murran is a quiet small village. Although we did hear that in the prime of summer, this little village sitting on a cliff brings in 4K folks a day. Crazy to think! While folks go to Zermatt for the Matterhorn, folks come to Murren for the Schilthorn, the Eiger, Münch and the Jungfrau. On our second day here, the sun burst through the clouds so we decided it'd be a perfect day for the Schilthorn. $80 Swiss Francs takes you to the top of the Schilthorn from Murren and it was worth it! Views of the big three: Eiger, Münch and Jungfrau floating in the clouds with the cheesy James Bond theme in the background. We spent the next two days hiking the North Face Trail and the Mountain View Trail around these mountains with town visits to Gimmelwald and Lauterbrunnen.
The debate I've often read is, given one choice, would you choose Zermatt or Oberland?! Zermatt is busier, more commercialized, more hotels, more restaurants with tasty pizza such as Grampi's and Molino's. And, of course it has the Matterhorn which was my favorite hike in Switzerland. Oberland is smaller, hotels are more rustic, less traffic because cars aren't allowed in many of the towns above the valley. There are restaurants but only one deserves your money, time and calories and that's Le Grotte in Murren. Of course, you can choose to have broccoli beef for $28 Swiss Francs or pasta from the freezer for $25 Swiss Francs at neighboring restraurants. Oberland has countless hiking trails and view of Europe's highest mountain tops. So, I suppose it comes down to the atmosphere one wants! We were lucky enough to fit both in!
That's it for Switzerland!
One flight and a couple of expensive train rides later, we arrived in Switzerland from Mallorca. Zermatt was our stop and we arrived to cold and rain. Yours truly must have read the wrong weather report and had to go shopping for leggings! I knew Switzerland would be expensive but wow!! This will go down as the most expensive country I've traveled to. We got off the train station in Zermatt, wandered up the street and found our hotel. We had a sweet room with a deck that faced the Matterhorn except it would take two days before we were able to see it due to weather. On the one sunny day that we were there, we were able to do the Seenweg trail which is also known as the Matterhorn's five lakes trail and it was truly stunning! Cold but stunning! We were in Zermatt for three nights and felt that was a good amount of time there. It was time to move on to another part of the mountains- Oberland!
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