Riffelalp Resort 2222m

At 2,222 metres on the Gornergrat line, guests step off the cogwheel train at Riffelalp and board a small tram that runs along the hillside to the front door. The Riffelalp Resort 2222m above Zermatt stands on a terrace with the Matterhorn straight ahead, on the site of a nineteenth-century hotel that burned in 1961.

History

The first Hotel Riffelalp opened in 1884, built by the Seiler family, the dynasty that shaped Zermatt's hotel trade in the second half of the nineteenth century. It was a large summer house popular with British climbers and travellers, and it had its own chapel. In 1899, a year after the Gornergrat railway opened, a short electric tramway was laid between the station and the hotel so that guests did not have to walk the last stretch.

Fire destroyed the old hotel in 1961. For almost forty years the site lay largely empty and the tram stopped running. The present resort, built on the old terrace, opened in 2000, and the tramway was rebuilt and returned to service soon after; it is usually described as the highest in Europe.

Architecture and design

The new building is a large hotel of stone and timber under steep roofs, closer in spirit to the old Riffelalp than to a cluster of chalets. The small chapel beside it, which survived the fire, is still used for services and weddings. The interiors are lined with local wood and kept plain, so attention goes to the windows and the view.

Rooms and suites

Rooms and suites face either the Matterhorn or the slopes and forest around the hotel. The Matterhorn side is the reason most guests come: the peak fills the window, seen from high above the village. Those on the other side look into the trees.

Dining

The hotel has several restaurants. Alexandre is the main dining room, with a seasonal menu, and Al Bosco serves Italian dishes and pizza on a terrace facing the Matterhorn. In winter skiers stop for lunch on the terraces, since the pistes of the Gornergrat area pass the door.

Wellness

The spa has an outdoor pool heated through the winter, one of the highest hotel pools in Europe, along with saunas, steam rooms and treatment rooms. Swimming in the open air with snow banked on the terrace and the Matterhorn in front is the image most guests take home.

Weddings and events

Weddings take place in the Riffelalp chapel beside the hotel, with receptions and dinners in the restaurants or on the terraces. The hotel also takes small seminars and private groups. Everyone arrives by train and tram, and luggage follows the same route, which suits parties that want to be cut off from the village for a few days.

Location

The Gornergrat railway leaves from opposite Zermatt's main station and reaches Riffelalp in about twenty minutes before climbing on to the Gornergrat at 3,089 metres. In winter the hotel sits inside the ski area, with pistes running down to the village. In summer the paths around it lead up to the Riffelsee, where the Matterhorn is reflected in still water. The resort usually closes between seasons. Zermatt itself is car-free: trains run up the valley from Visp, and a shuttle from Täsch serves those who arrive by road. Geneva and Zurich airports are each about three and a half hours away by rail. As a luxury hotel above Zermatt, it is set apart from the village by the railway journey and some 600 metres of height.