Mountains of Zermatt

During my summer month in Switzerland in 2021, I spent a long weekend in the mountains around the town of Zermatt. It was my introduction to hiking in Switzerland and I had a very active weekend. Though the highlight for me was Switzerland's ethereal beauty. The town of Zermatt is quite touristy, and picturesque by itself. With a river flowing through it, the lush green hills all around dotted with alpine houses, the clear blue skies making it all sparkle and the iconic Matterhorn mountain standing guard over it.

The Matterhorn

We spent the weekend doing two long treks - the 5 lakes walk and the glacier trail, and then explored the area around the mountain hamlet of Furi. The trekking was very strenuous but extremely rewarding. And the views throughout the weekend were spectacular. It was this weekend that I finally discovered for myself why Switzerland was the popular background choice in all the old Bollywood movies 😊.


Getting to Zermatt

The train network in Switzerland is very efficient - you can take trains from anywhere to anywhere and the connections work like clockwork. I also learnt how much of a stickler the Swiss are for their rules. I was using the SBB app for the train ride, switching the app on and off when getting on and off trains. The app calculates the fare automatically based on the GPS location. And the ticket checker fined me for starting the app 2 mins late, on a 4 hour journey! I laugh at it now, but at that time it was quite shocking.

We took an early morning train from Lausanne, changing to a mountain train at Visp, reaching Zermatt before noon. This train journey as every other train ride in the country was stunning. The train chugged though vibrant green valleys, lined with huge mountains on both sides, dotted with alpine houses. Near the city of Sion, we even saw a chateau on the hills. The whole ride was so enchanting, it was like already being in a fairy tale. 

In between though, we would see some modern buildings which felt out of place and even looked ugly when superimposed against such gorgeous backgrounds (even though that’s how most cities in the plains look like). At those times, I felt that such modern rectangular buildings made of glass and cement should be banned in Switzerland, for spoiling the beauty of this land. And only wooden alpine houses should be allowed here 😊.

At Visp, we changed to a mountain train which went through a valley to get to Zermatt. All along this valley were a few picturesque villages, very small and oh so cute. St Niklaus among those was really inviting. All along the train line was the road with cars driving to Zermatt, though in Zermatt no cars are allowed. We could see people walking along the rivers and into the mountains from the train itself. There were some ponies also wandering in the valley. By this time, I was already itching to be up in the mountains in all the bright green scenery. 

 

Zermatt

When we reached Zermatt, it almost felt like a huge town, not at all like the small villages we had ridden through. All around were flowers in all colours hanging from the alpine huts. Its main street was full of shops and tourists. Some were getting ready to go summer skiing, some hiking, lots were going mountain biking, and some were just shopping. It looked like Zermatt is a hive of activity, both in summer and winter. It was buzzing with activity all around. And we surely would have been able to enjoy a lot more if the pandemic was not still around.

River Vispa

After we crossed the main street, we walked along the Matter Vispa which flows through the town. It had gushing cold gray water, splashing furiously down the valley. It added quite a character to the town. After the river, we started walking up to our hotel, the Sonnmatten Boutique hotel, in the neighbouring village of Sonnmatten. As Zermatt is a no car zone, we decided to walk up the 20 mins to the hotel (we didn’t know then that the buses in the city are all free). It was quite a steep climb and felt quite tough to walk up with all out luggage - quite a sign of things to come soon😊 as this is howthe next 3 days turned out to be.

Hammock at hotel

Our hotel was a small place, very comfortable and with a gorgeous view of the mountains around. It also had a hammock overlooking the town which felt amazing every morning and evening😊. After quickly exploring the place and checking in, we left very quickly on our first hike of the weekend. My friend had planned the best walks for our weekend, and she was the guide directing us during the hikes. Its also a good idea to get the local app – Switzerland Mobility for the hikes as that has all the relevant information needed.


5 lakes walk

The first hike we did was the 5 lakes walk. The actual walk is shorter, as you can take a gondola to the starting point and then visit the 5 lakes. Though we decided to not take the gondola and walked up the mountain to get to the first lake. And what a day it turned out to be – we walked for a total of 22 kms over 10 hours, with all the breaks and everything. Ascending more than 1100 meters over the day.

The first half of the trek was through the forests, going up the mountain. It was sunny and extremely warm, so we had a ball during the day. The Matterhorn was visible from most of the trek, and I think we kept photographing it too all through the day. It is quite an imposing mountain and its tough to avoid it. Also we noticed that there are clouds stuck next to the Matterhorn most of the day, its tough to catch it without clouds next to it.

We saw a few people doing paragliding next to the Matterhorn, and I really felt like doing that too, though I didn’t find time to do that. Also there were children on the hikes, lot of mountain bikes and also some people running up the mountain, which would not have been easy, as even walking up was tiring!

The views all through the trek were spectacular – valleys, mountains, greenery, rocky landscapes and so on. Everywhere you looked, it was gorgeous. It is very tough to explain all we saw and experienced. As it is in all treks. Some of the photos can capture the beauty of the looks around, but none can capture the feeling of being on top of a mountain, looking all around you and seeing nature in its full glory. You just have to be there to feel and understand it.

Leisee lake

Anyways, we kept walking on the trek, going up and down mountains visiting each of the lakes one by one. All were similar but still different in their look and feel. The first lake was Leisee, which had reflections of the Matterhorn. It was full of crowds and people were swimming in the water. We had no idea that could be done, else we would have gone swimming too. We had lunch on the sides of the lake, then walked the loop to the other 4 lakes. In between we also stopped at one of the restaurants for a quick snack. And I must say, these stops were always so welcome after walking so much!

Moosjisee

Moosjisee had a very different blue green colour to it and less people around it. It was a small lake and looked quite exquisite because of its colour. The third, Grunsee had some steep climbs before it and was not that spectacular. The fourth lake, Grindjisee was a small lake hidden in the bushes and quite empty. But as we walked around it, we took some impressive shots from there.

Grindjisee

The trek to the last lake had some very steep parts and by that time I was also extremely exhausted. We also realised that the last gondola down from there would had already left, so we had a long long walk back down the mountain to get back to Zermatt. We were thinking if we should give the lake a miss or not, but decided to push ourselves more anyways.

Stellisee

This last lake was the Stellisee, the largest of these 5 lakes, with reflections of the Matterhorn as well as a guest house in a mountain next to it. We could also see some of the fishes in the lake here. There were a few tents around the lake as people were camping there. I wondered how tough it would have been to carry all the camping equipment all the way up, but would totally be worth it to be able to spend a night in such a location. It was quite a scenic view and we would have stayed there longer if we weren’t in a hurry to get back home.

Going back down from here to Zermatt was quite a long trek, it took us 3 hours. And we realised it is sunnier up in the mountains longer than in the villages down in the valley. So even though it felt like it would be sunny for longer, it changed very quickly. The first part had some light but the second part was completely in the night, thankfully though the full moon was out. The first part was a clearly marked trail. We saw lots of marmots on this trail, as well as some black nosed sheep and wild goat or deer (not really sure). 

After the marked trail ended, we were a bit confused, sometimes following the app and sometimes the markings on the turns. Sometimes we walked through the forests, sometimes through narrow steep paths, and sometimes some barely visible trails. I was a bit scared, but people were still cycling down and trekking up, at that time of the day. Clearly the mountains are not as scary as I think of them to be.

Matterhorn viewpoint

When we were almost down, we could see the lights of Zermatt come into view. We did feel a lot more comfortable after that. I started noticing how beautiful the stars looked in the night sky. And we came to a viewpoint from where you can catch a view of the Matterhorn behind all the twinkling lights of Zermatt. It was quite a good view to end our trail at, given how worrying the last few hours had been.

We finally reached Zermatt about 10pm and we were completely exhausted. We had dinner in town at Le Chalet, as one of the few restaurants open after 10. It was a cosy place with great tasting food. And then we walked up to our hotel again at night. (Climbing never ends in the mountains, right?)

I loved this trail and would definitely recommend it. It was quite strenuous though and the coming back late at night is avoidable. Still it was totally worth it for enjoying the untouched and delightful beauty of the Swiss Alps. The lakes were gorgeous and so were all the stunning views everywhere, especially with the Matterhorn being so omnipresent.


Glacier trail

The second day we did a glacier trail which was very different from the first day (another link to the trail). The 5 lakes was a green and fresh trail through forests and valleys, while today was through bare and rocky landscape left behind by the glaciers. This trek covers the area where glaciers had come to in the 1850s but then have retreated and left behind plants and rocks very different from elsewhere.

Towards Hornlihutte

We took a gondola up to Schwarzee and then did the 10 km trail to the Trockener Steg gondola which we then took to come back down. We ascended a total of 650 kms during the hikes, walking for about 6 hours in total. During the first half of the trail, we took a detour to go up towards the Hörnlihütte hut on the Matterhorn. People looking to climb the Matterhorn go to this hut and then walk up, while some just do a 2 day trek up to the hut and back. But we just did a part of it to see the Matterhorn more up and close😊. It was an extremely steep hike up the mountain, and at one point we had to walk on a narrow metal platform to cross the mountain. It was fun to get closer to it but then we had to turn around if we wanted to make the gondola down on time this time.

Stony valley

Then we continued through the glacier trail, which first went down to the river into the stony valley, and then up again all along the retreating glacier to the next gondola. The landscape here was bare - huge grey rocks everywhere, some lakes, lot of gravel and the mountains covered with snow even in summer. We could see some people skiing here even now, in the summer. This trail is open very rarely, only when the ice melts just enough to walk.

Rocky landscape

The area was bare of any plants, and its beauty was in all the interesting rock features in different shapes, sizes and colours. These are all rocks left behind by the retreating glaciers. And there were many lakes along the trek, each more exquisite than the last one. These mountain lakes are all glacier remnants and have a light blue colour, lot of them reflecting the Matterhorn. It was quite spectacular all along. And as usual, this trek too is something to be experienced. It is very difficult to explain how it actually was to walk along it. 

And I was exhausted, really. Surprisingly, lot of kids and even dogs were doing the hike. We also ran into a few people in their 60s and 70s doing the Matterhorn hike! And there were people biking along the route too – it was quite a crowded hike. So what is a great achievement for me is kind of like a daily walk for the Swiss😊.

View from gondola

We just made it to the gondola before the last one left (why do the last ones leave so early at 430?). We finally made it down to Zermatt on time today. So we explored the town a bit. We shopped for some hiking gear, and then had a lovely and tasty dinner at Golden India.


Revived by the food, we came back to the viewpoint to take a photo of the Matterhorn along with the city lights below it. The moon was right next to the mountain and the stars shone brightly - the photos were mesmerising. We walked through the old town in Matterhorn which has wooden houses still kept in their original form. They all looked so sturdy. Not a lot of people stay there anymore but it was nice to see how the village would have looked like a few hundred years ago. And then we walked up the mountain to our hotel, which was always the toughest part of the day, everytime.


Furi

Walk up the mountains

I decided to take the last day easy and just walked up the village of Furi that day. I had seen the village from the gondola the previous day. So I just started walking from my hotel, up the mountain towards the village. Some parts of the trail were in the forest, and some on the road up. And there were lot of people there, having a relaxed day out. Once near the village, I just walked around a bit, enjoying the bright greenery around me. There were beautiful chalets and holiday homes everywhere. For a while, I just sat with my feet in the river for a bit, enjoying the warm sun.

Suspension bridge

Then I walked up one of the mountains towards the Furi suspension bridge. It is a long and high metal suspension bridge connecting two mountains, and runs over a river flowing deep in the gorge. I never though I would find it scary but it took me a few tries before I could walk across it, stop in between and look around, and cross it without holding the sides. Sometimes it can surprise even you with what scares you, isn’t it? After I got over my fear, I crossed the bridge 3 times to make sure it sticks 😁. I also walked to the Gletschergarten Dossen which is an informative walk to understand what all the glaciers leave behind – barely balancing rocks, glacier holes and so on. It was quite an interesting walk through ancient history.

Zermatt from the top

While going back to Zermatt we followed the markings and came to an area in Furi with 3 restaurants. We walked into one of them, called Aroleid. And what a find it was! It has to be one of the best restaurants I have been to. In the mountains with spectacular open views around. And one of the best foods we have had. We spent 2 hours there, just sitting and enjoying the food and its view. I just didn’t want to leave the place at all. But of course, we had to.

On the walk

After this idyllic end to our trip, it was time to say goodbye. We again took connecting trains and were back in Lausanne by the end of the day, with the ride back home being the most boring part of the trip. The weekend was amazing and I was fully inspired to do more of these weekend hiking trips. Of course I was exhausted, and every muscle in my body hurt. But we had a few days of rest before going for our next hiking weekend. To Grindelwald.

Other Switzerland posts from this stay

Mountains of Grindelwald

Living the swiss life in Lausanne

Summer weekend in Geneva

The happening island life of Mykonos, Greece

In summer 2021, I finally got a chance to visit the Greek islands - a place that has been on my list for decades. We spent about 10 days on two islands, 7 in Tinos and 3 in Mykonos. And they were both from a different world.

There was sun all the time, so much so that it stopped being exotic. The high winds sometimes dampened its warm effect, but not so much. We had nowhere to get to and nothing to do. And for me, that was the highlight of this holiday - a typical laid back Greek island vacation.

Principote beach

We started and ended in the island of Mykonos which was the busier of the two islands. There were more crowds and it had fancier and more stylish places to go to. We visited many of its amazing beach bars and had some awesome evenings on the beaches, all with magnificent views. It was definitely more happening than Tinos, which was a lot more tame, idyllic and remote.

Our trip itinerary in Mykonos was as follows

Day 1: Land in Mykonos; stay at Hotel Super Paradise Suites; explore Paradise Beach Club; dinner at Jackie O
Day 2-7: Ferry from Mykonos to Tinos; Stay in Kardiani, Tinos; Explore Tinos
Day 8: Ferry from Tino to Mykonos; dinner at Scorpios
Day 9: Explore Mykonos Town; Agios Sostis beach; Principote beach bar; Nammos beach bar; dinner at Yalo Yalo at Platis Gialo beach
Day 10: Platis Gialo beach; fly back to Amsterdam


Reaching Mykonos

Surprisingly in summer, the Greek islands have direct flights from many European cities. So it was quite convenient to get there. The views while flying over the islands were superb. We could see many islands strewn across the Aegean Sea. As we were landing into Mykonos, we could see all the white houses on the cliffs along the shore. They were everywhere. And there were loads of churches too, with their blue domes. There were lots of boats moored all around the coast. And the island was dry. Brown bare lands with some shrub vegetation, dotted with only the Cycladic houses breaking its monotony.

Greek islands from above

I had no idea the Greek islands are so dry, so that was my first shock of the trip. The second which came later was how windy it was (I had no clue!). This is when I decided to read a bit about the islands😊. There are about 2000 of these, with about 200 of them inhabited. They are divided into 6 groups - Ionian, Cyclades etc. And all of them are different - some greener, some less, some windier, some less, some Venetian in culture, some Ottoman and so on. All are different and their differences are very evident when you get there.

The Cycladic islands are the peaks of a submerged mountain range, so they are mountainous themselves. The climate is generally dry and mild, but with the exception of Naxos the soil is not very fertile. And they are very windy, making them colder than the other ones. They are quite bare and have the typical Cycladic houses, white with some blue, juxtaposed across the yellow of the sand and the land. Santorini is the most famous of these white blue islands and all these islands look similar.

But for now, as I got out of the plane, the warmth and island vibe was in the air. Which got me into the vacation mode immediately.


Stay at Super Paradise Club

Super Paradise Beach Club

Our first stay in Mykonos was at the Super Paradise Club boutique hotel and we stayed there just a night. We had a hotel shuttle to the hotel, and the route was extremely curvy and mountainous. The roads were so narrow, it would have been tough for me to drive here. It was a beautiful little hotel close to the airport next to the Super Paradise Beach Club. It had a magnificent view of the beach club in front, and had enough things to do nearby. So we did not leave the hotel at all.

We ended up spending a very lazy day at the beach club. We had lunch and lounged in the sun first. It had a lot of sunbeds, warm water in the sea and great music. It was quite expensive though. There were lot of water sports options there too. But it was emptier than we expected, and that is when we got our third shock – the tourist season was coming to an end and lot of places had shut down for the winter. Crowds were also lower at a lot of places.

Jackie O dinner

We saw a beautiful sunset and for the evening, just crossed the beach to the Jackie O restaurant. It had a gorgeous view and was very very happening. There were a lot of interesting people there, and the food was to die for. The beach club also had music playing till very late, providing a nice ambience while we had our dinner at Jackie O.

View from Paradise hotel

The next morning, we woke up to the first sun rays slowly lighting up the white houses one by one, and finally over the hotel. It was quite a sight to see the blue water slowly start sparkling. We however did not do much that day, just soaked in the sun the whole morning at the beach club. And then took the shuttle to the ferry terminal in town, to take our ferry to Tinos. On the way, we drove through town and saw that it was quite busy and active. There were loads of shops and tourist activities everywhere, so clearly this was a popular place. And after this short stay, we had to say goodbye to Mykonos before coming back a week later.


Stay at Palladium Hotel

When we were back in Mykonos after a quiet time in Tinos, it felt like coming back to civilisation. And it was almost like holidaying with a vengeance! We stayed at a 5-star resort and visited the best and most famous beach bars of the island.

Palladium Hotel

We stayed at the Palladium hotel near the Platis Gialos beach. It was a boutique 5-star hotel, with personalised service. And we loved it. We got upgraded to a gorgeous suite right next to the pool. And since the hotel had been renovated just before the pandemic, it was all shiny and new still.

After the stay in an Airbnb in a village, this felt like luxury. We swam in the outdoor pool, and the heated pool in the spa, just to take in the luxury. It had a great restaurant with a view, for breakfast and lunch. And the attendants were extremely helpful, helping us book a car rental, find the right places to go to, and so on. It was also walking distance to the beaches of Platis Gialos and the Nammos beach bars which was convenient. The hotel was definitely a high point of our stay at Mykonos.


Beaches and beach bars of Mykonos

The beaches of Mykonos felt larger and more sandy than the ones in Tinos. And the beach bars we went to were definitely more posh and trendier. We spent most of our 2 days there just exploring the best of these.

Scorpios

The first night, we took a taxi to Scorpios which is a posh beach bar near Paraga beach. Apparently all the celebrities go there and it is tough to get a reservation. We were able to get a 2 hour booking for dinner as it was the low season. It was quite a fancy place, with a fabulous view. There were many seating areas – casual sitting with sunset views, lounges on the cliff, beach chairs as well as a formal dining area. We had dinner there and the food was tasty.

Mykonos, from Scorpios

The highlight of course were the views from there – of the beaches below and Mykonos town across the bay. The twinkling lights far off made it look like heaven on earth and I loved it. It was quite windy though, which made it tougher to stay there longer. Of course, being there after being on the non-pretentious island of Tinos, I found the place too posh for me😊. This is when I realised, I enjoy the non-pretentious places lot more than the fancy ones.

Agios Sostis Beach

The second day we visited a few of the beaches and beach bars on the north part of the island. First, we drove to Kikis tavern. It is a small restaurant in the north which is quite popular for its cliff location, great food and casual vibe. However, it had a long queue, so we decided to swim on the Agios Sostis beach and totally loved it. I think it was one of the most picturesque beach I visited on the islands. The beach extended for long, the sand was yellow, the water extremely blue, the bay kept the waters calm and the swimming was outstanding.

There were also a lot more people there than expected. We stayed there for a long while, swimming for hours. There was a lot of wind later though, but it didn’t matter as the water was amazing.

Principote beach bar

After the swim, we went to the Principote beach bar for lunch which was right next to the beach. It was the last open day for Principote too. I think this was my favourite beach bar of the lot. It was located on a huge yellow sand beach with panoramic views of the beach and bay. It was huge and sitting there, you felt close to nature. We had a long relaxed lunch there while looking out at the sea. The beach there also had soft yellow sand and it was fun to swim there. The waves were too huge though due to the wind, so we got out soon to avoid any accidents as there were no lifeguards there.

Nammos beach bar

In the evening, we walked to Nammos beach bar and realised it was their last day too! It was a fancy beach bar and we spent some time there just enjoying the views of the ocean (though we couldn’t see the sunset). It was located at one of the most posh areas on the island and you could see it in the high end shops, huge apartments and cars all around. It also had different vegetation – it was all so green with huge palm trees making it look like an oasis.

Nammos beach

It was tough to eat dinner there though given how loud the music was, so we walked to the closeby beach of Platis Gialo and had dinner at Yalo Yalo. It was clear this was a touristy place as a few waiters came and spoke to us in Hindi saying they had learnt it for the tourists😊. The Pakistani chef also came and said hello to us there.

Platis Gialos beach

The last day, our flight was in the afternoon. And the attendant in our hotel kind of convinced us to go for one last swim. So we walked to the Platis Gialo beach again and this time swam in the water. It was a gorgeous beach, quite shallow till quite far and we enjoyed the swim. Though it got windy and cold very quickly. The beach was lined with beach hotels which looked like a good option to stay at a place with easy access to the beach.


Exploring Mykonos town

Windmills in Mykonos

The second day, we had hired a car and started the day with exploring Mykonos town. Overall, it was quite big and touristy, with loads of cars. The main town had cobbled streets and shops on every street, with the typical white houses, blue doors and green plants adding to the colours.

Little Venice in Mykonos

There is an area in town called Little Venice which is a must see. But it turned out to be just some restaurants on the sea giving it a feel of being right next to a canal. It felt a bit of a let-down. And there are some windmills on a hill which felt quite old and gave a nice photo opportunity. We walked around just a bit but overall found the town to be average. A highlight of course was two churches which I finally saw from the inside. There were some ceremonies going on and it all felt so elaborate – the decorations, the candles and incense, the priest robes and so on. I found it so different from the other churches I have been to in Europe, it was quite interesting.


Leaving Mykonos

The airport was just 5 mins away from the hotel. And as usual as happens in covid times, we were early at the airport which was not needed at all. It was so chill, with only a single gate and everything managed quite ad hoc. Was such a welcome change than all the busy airports we are used to flying from, like Heathrow and Schipol. The flight to Athens was quite picturesque, over all the small sparkling Greek islands in the Aegean Sea. And then I took the connecting flight back to Amsterdam, back to a faster pace of life.


Impressions of Mykonos

Mykonos has been made famous by all the celebrities who come here. Like the Kardashians, Kylie Jenner etc. In fact our hotel driver made fun of it too saying he didn’t understand how these celebrities had made the island such a popular spot when it was so cold, and there were better islands to visit.

Mykonos had more lights and more holiday homes than Tinos. It was more commercial, more crowded, and had a better vibe and fancier places with more things to do. The roads were narrower and had more turns, with bigger cars, so driving was tougher. Renting an ATV would have been a good experience here.

It was definitely more touristy, and surprise surprise, we ran into a Pakistani petrol attendant in town!


Greece had been on my list of places to travel for long, and I thoroughly enjoyed this holiday – especially interesting was the contrast between the two islands I visited. It was as relaxing and fun as I wanted. I can see myself visiting some of the other islands too, though I would definitely prefer the greener and less windier ones the next time.

The idyllic life of Tinos