Zermatt Gorner Gorge

The Gorner Gorge, aka Gornerschlucht, is a narrow river gorge on the outskirts of the Zermatt village. You can walk through the gorge on a wooden walkway suspended on the gorge walls, with views down to the turquoise water cutting dramatically through the landscape.

Since visiting the gorge is a relatively short activity, we added on a short walk through the forest and foothills, with views of the Matterhorn, Zermatt and surrounding mountains.

This is a good choice for a cloudy day that is obscuring the views, a “down day” when you need something easy, or add-on to other activities, since it doesn’t take much time.

Gallery

How to get there

The Gorner Gorge is located on the south side of Zermatt, near the base station of Matterhorn Glacier Paradise cable car.

The entrance to the gorge is about a 15-20 min walk from the center of the Zermatt. See location on Google Maps.

If you want to shorten the walk, you can take a shuttle bus to Zermatt, Matterhorn Glacier Paradise stop, then walk about 750m to the gorge entrance. Both the red and green buses go there and run about every 10 mins.

You can simply walk there and back. But since the gorge is only 200m long and a relatively short activity, we suggest combining it with a short hike through the forest before going back to Zermatt, as shown on the hiking map below. 

Hiking map

We suggest visiting the gorge as part of this short hike along the river and in the forest near the gorge. The path I’ve marked below starts at the south end of Zermatt village (at the Matterhorn Glacier Paradise shuttle stop). It walks up to the gorge, through the gorge, loops around the Blatten, then back down to Zermatt.

It’s about a 2.75 km loop in total, probably take about 90 mins with picture taking time. The trail is not difficult but the path is narrow and gorge has stairs, so no strollers.

See interactive map on Komoot

If you want a shorter, easier hike to the gorge, ride the cable car up to Furi and walk down to the gorge and continue to Zermatt. 

Planning your day

Opening time

The gorge is open from the end of May through mid October. You can visit the gorge daily from 9:15 – 17:45.

The gorge may close temporarily due to poor weather. Check open status on their website. 

Tickets

There is an entrance fee to the gorge: CHF 5.50/adult and CHF 3/child, under 6 free. Last time I went you had to pay in cash.

You can enter the gorge at either side. If there is no attendant at your side of the gorge, you can pay at the other side.

Photo story

1. Trail through Zermatt to the gorge

Walk to the river that flow through the center of Zermatt and follow it upstream to the south side of the village. Or take a shuttle to the Matterhorn Glacier Paradise stop. Cross the river on this bridge and follow signs to Gornerschlucht.

Walk along the river for a few minutes. You’ll pass the ropes fun park on your left.

The path will eventually go uphill a bit to the entrance of the gorge, shown below. We were there just before closing and there wasn’t anyone taking tickets. So we just went in and met the staff member at the other end of the gorge, who we paid in cash then. 

2. Walk through the Gorner gorge

The gorge has an elevated wooden walkway as shown below. It’s narrow and has stairs, gaining about 40m of elevation over about 200m of walking. No strollers.

The gorge ends with a bunch of stairs, giving you a nice overhead view when you look back at the gorge.

3. Hike through forest to Blatten

When you reach the end of the gorge, you can either go back the way you came or exit the gorge and walk back to Zermatt. I suggest you walk back, turning right when you exit the gorge. It’s a lovely walk and not too long or difficult. Follow signs to Blatten, about a 15 min walk from the end of the gorge.

You have a nice view of the Zermatt village from up here. 

The path winds through the forest. Sometimes you get a view of the Matterhorn.

We were there in early October and the fall colors were particularly beautiful.

Before you reach Blatten, you’ll cross a bridge along another part of the gorge.

After the bridge, you soon arrive at Blatten, where you’ll find Bergrestaurant Blatten. We were hoping to eat dinner there, but it it was closing right as we got there about 17:00. Check their website for the menu and opening times. 

The buildings around Blatten are very interesting and worth a wander.

4. Hike down to Zermatt

Trail signs show Zermatt in every direction. Follow the trail that goes basically straight down the mountain, parallel to the river & gondola line. On this sign, we followed the Zermatt 20 mins option.

Easy walk back to Zermatt. 

Don’t forget to look back and catch another glimpse of the Matterhorn. Then follow the river back into town.

Hope you like this one! If you go, leave a comment and let us know what you think.