Illustrative photograph — not necessarily this resort · Phil Evenden / Pexels
360 km Piste length52 Lifts
Zermatt is an Alpine ski resort in Switzerland. Zermatt sits at a base altitude of 1620 m. The published figures cover 360 km of piste and 52 lifts.
Village-linked sectors (Sunnegga/Rothorn, Gornergrat, Schwarzsee) typically run early November to early May (2026/27 example: opens 1 Nov 2026, Sunnegga/Rothorn & Gornergrat close mid-April 2027, remaining lifts close ~3 May 2027). The high-altitude Matterhorn Glacier Paradise / Theodul Glacier sector is marketed by the operator as skiable 365 days/year, though summer glacier operation is smaller in scope (piste count/area) than the winter operation. Zermatt is car-free (no combustion-engine private cars). Visitors drive to Täsch and take a shuttle train (~12 min) into Zermatt, or arrive by regular rail via Visp/Brig (connections from Zurich ~3.5-4 hr, Geneva ~4 hr). No commercial airport in Zermatt itself.
Piste breakdown by difficulty
Green
Blue
Red
Black
— km
74 km
227 km
20 km
True cable cars (aerial tramways)
Gondolas and chairlifts are listed above under Notable lifts. These are specifically two-station reversible aerial tramways — a distinct lift type.
Zermatt–Furi cable car
Schlumatte → Furi
230 m · Vertical riseBuilt 2023
Blauherd–Rothorn cable car
Blauherd → Unterrothorn
514 m · Vertical riseBuilt 1996
Resort map
Verified locations only: the resort area and its named cable car stations. We don't have precise coordinates for individual accommodation listings, so those aren't plotted here — use the booking link in the sidebar instead.
Amenities
Ski school (multiple operators, e.g. Zermatters, PDS Snowsport)
Snowpark Zermatt (freestyle terrain park on the Theodul Glacier, ~3,250 m)
Night/moonlight skiing on the Rothorn on full-moon nights (Dec–Apr)
Natural and artificial ice rinks in the village with skate rental
Every note below is drawn from the resort's own or an independent official publication.
Altitude of the highest lift-served point is genuinely disputed between sources: matterhornparadise.ch's own current page text states 'the highest point in the international ski area is at 3899 metres', while Wikipedia and most independent travel/ski press cite 3,883 m for Klein Matterhorn/Matterhorn Glacier Paradise (the figure repeated for decades as 'highest lift station in Europe'). Could not resolve which is currently accurate, so altitude_summit_m is left null rather than guessed.
piste_km_total (360 km) and the blue/red/black breakdown are for the combined cross-border Matterhorn Ski Paradise network (Zermatt, Switzerland + Breuil-Cervinia/Valtournenche, Italy), per matterhornparadise.ch's own page ('approx. 360 kilometres of slopes... 74 km of blue runs, 227 km of red runs, 20 km of black runs and 36 km of yellow freeride runs'). No officially published Zermatt-only (Swiss side only) piste-km figure was found separate from the combined network figure.
The resort does not publish a 'green' grade; easiest pistes are graded blue. There is an additional officially-stated 36 km of 'yellow' freeride/off-piste-marked routes not counted in the four requested difficulty fields.
Lift count: matterhornparadise.ch's own skiing-overview page states '52 lifts'; several third-party travel sites (e.g. WeSki, general travel guides) cite 54. Used the operator's own figure (52) but flagging the discrepancy.
Zermatt itself is the resort village (not a separate 'nearest town'); Täsch is the gateway/parking village, not a town in its own right.
Exact passenger capacities were not found for the Rothorn (Blauherd–Rothorn) and Schwarzsee (Furi–Schwarzsee) cable cars in official sources checked; left as null rather than estimated.
Night skiing at Zermatt is a limited, full-moon-night event on the Rothorn rather than nightly floodlit skiing; noted as such rather than a generic 'night skiing' claim.
Equipment shops list includes both independent (Julen Sport, Bayard, Slalom Sport) and chain-affiliated (Zermatt Glacier Sport / Intersport Rent) rental operators, all confirmed via zermatt.swiss and their own sites.
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