August First is Switzerland’s Independence Day!
 The Matterhorn with it’s crooked peak is a spectacular sight to see from the resort village of Zermatt. The car-free enclave has international flare, friendly people, petite size restaurants, shops filled with Swiss-made products, and, of course, year-round skiing. Zermatt is located near the Northern Italian border; Italian, German, English and French are widely spoken.
I have stayed at two hotels in Zermatt; the Hotel Admiral and the Perren Hotel. I highly recommend both. In Zermatt, you can’t really go wrong with lodging. The entire village is typically Swiss pristine and you really can’t go wrong with your options. You can choose from small luxury hotels to chalets, which, of course, dominate the village. And, the Grand Hotel Zermatterhof, a 5-star historic hotel, is situated in the center of Zermatt in a small park.
In order to reach Zermatt, I parked my car in Tasch, which is in the valley below Zermatt. A parking lot is provided for Zermatt-bound travelers and is located adjacent to the Matterhorn Gottard Bahn train station. Trains depart every 20 minutes for the 7 km ride up to Zermatt. The price of the ticket is 15.60 CHF. If you have a lot of luggage, there are small covered electric golf cart-like taxis, which zip between the Zermatt station and the hotels.
I arrived in Zermatt without a reservation. I would advise against this, though. The hotels are booked during peak times and I happened to arrive on August 1, a national holiday. It happens to be Switzerland’s birthday, which is celebrated in the same manner as Independence Day in the states. Fortunately, I had gone into the information center in Tasch where a reservationist had checked a number of hotels for me, and led me to Karin, a half-Swiss half-American owner of the Admiral Hotel. She had a room for two nights. After checking in with Karin, she then referred me to the Perren Hotel for another two nights.
The river Vispa runs through the village. During the summer, the raging water level is high due to the glacier melt. Both hotels, where I stayed, are actually within site of each other and located on each side of the river.
During the ski season, the Admiral Hotel offers ski packages and can arrange lift passes up to seven days in advance. After seven days, they need a photograph. For ski and boot rentals, the ski shop, Flex Rent is conveniently located next to the hotel. Skis can be stored at the hotel in the ski room. Guests can take the ski bus, which is included in the ski pass to the gondolas.
http://www.hotel-admiral.ch/
http://www.hotel-perren.ch/
by Susan Fogwell
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