Switzerland 2025 Zermatt and the Matterhorn

We left Ascona to drive to Zermatt and the very nice lady at our hotel reception said that we should take the road around the lake rather than driving the Centovalli road. It would take longer but was not as narrow or winding. Did we take her advice? We did not. We regretted that decision later because the Centovalli was perhaps the narrowest, curviest road we have ever been on - even worse than the Conor Pass in Ireland. The road was super narrow and at one point we met a car pulling a travel trailer coming from the other direction. We both slowed down to a crawl as we held our breath inching past each other. We did manage to get by without losing a mirror or scraping the side of the stone hill on our passenger side. After what seemed like hours of pretty intense driving we came out of the Centovalli only to realize we now had to drive the Simplon Pass! No worries though as the Simplon was nothing compared to the others we had done and soon we were parking in Täsch to catch the train up to Zermatt. 

We checked into our hotel and found out we had received an upgraded room - nice! We had a large terrace off the bedroom and also another terrace off the bathroom. We spent the late afternoon sitting on the terrace and enjoying the view of the Matterhorn and even ordered room service and ate it on the terrace. After all the driving of the last few days, we just wanted some time to chill and relax. I did some journaling while Mike had a nice massage. 

The next morning we woke up at 6:00 so we could get showered and dressed to catch the sunrise colors on the mountain. We had scouted around a little bit after dinner last night and decided the area right in front of our hotel was the perfect spot to get a photo without the construction cranes in the way. We were out front at 6:45 and got some blue hour photos and then waited for the magic to happen. Finally at 7:15 as the sun rose, it shed a lovely rosy alpenglow on the top of the Matterhorn. We congratulated ourselves on our good luck then it was back inside to a nice breakfast to celebrate.  We were so lucky to have good clear weather to see the mountain. The afternoon before had been a little hazy but it was crystal clear in the morning, hooray! We actually would have liked to stay another day in Zermatt,  but we had reservations elsewhere for the following day. 

Ticino photos

Bellinzona’s Castel Grande

Verzasca River

 

Ponti dei Salti bridge 

 

Waterfall at Foroglio

Stone houses of Foroglio

Switzerland 2025 Ticino region

The Ticino region of southern Switzerland is very close to the border with Italy and has a very Italian vibe. The weather was warm and there were lots of lakeside restaurants to enjoy dinner with a pretty view of Lake Maggiore. 

We visited two of the three castles in Bellinzona in the morning and the Castel Grande was large and imposing with some lovely outdoor areas as well. We then set off to drive the Verzasca Valley. It was a winding road (again!) and somewhat narrow in places but the scenery was amazing. We stopped at the popular bridge, the Ponti dei Salti on the Verzasca River and admired the ancient Roman stone bridge and the rocky channels of the river. There were quite a few people there enjoying the cool water on such a warm day. As we drove further up the valley, all the way to Sonogno, we could see several waterfalls and charming little villages. This was our favorite of the two valleys and we wish we had dedicated a full day to the drive. 

The next day we drove the Maggia Valley where we liked the waterfall and stone houses at Foroglio and drove up as far as San Carlos before heading back. The stone houses were so cool and rustic, some even built directly into the rock of the hillside. It was interesting to see that the roofs were made from stone stacked directly onto wood frames without using any kind of mortar, just the pressure of the stones holding each other in place. It was very quiet up there especially once you pass Foroglio. There is a lot of roadwork everywhere we’ve been in Switzerland so far, from the cities to the small rustic roads. They’re working hard to complete the road repairs and construction before winter comes. 

In the afternoon we drove to Morcote to the Scherer gardens. They were a pretty succession of gardens and pavilions with different themes. It was not as large as we anticipated and a hot afternoon so we weren’t sure it was the best way to have spent our afternoon given the one hour drive and we hit heavy traffic again in Locarno on the way back to our hotel. 

A nice cold gelato after dinner was just what we needed to finish the day off right and we turned in early because we were heading to Zermatt the next morning. 

Mountain photos

 

Susten Pass 

View of the mountains above the Lauterbrunnen Valley 

Switzerland 2025 The drive from Wengen to Ascona

We were booked for three nights in southern Switzerland called the Ticino region, specifically staying in Ascona on Lake Maggiore. When we left Wengen we had to drive through Interlaken so we stopped at a laundromat to do some wash.  It’s not fun to do laundry on vacation but hey, it’s got to be done somehow when you’re traveling for three weeks. Once the wash was done we headed east over the Susten Pass. This was a curvy road, but it was wild and amazing landscape up there. We saw lots of motorcycle riders, some expensive sports cars, and even a few bicyclists! The top of the pass is 7400 feet! I think I would be scared to death to ride a bicycle on such a very curvy mountain road like that one with lots of hairpin turns. It took us quite a while to drive over the pass because we kept stopping to admire the views and take photos. We then headed south with plans to drive the Gotthard Pass including the winding section near Tremola but we were sort of over the curvy road thing and it was getting late in the afternoon. We decided to just go straight to Ascona via Locarno and hit rush hour Friday traffic in Locarno so it was in total a long, tiring travel day. Our hotel and room were lovely though so we went to find dinner and just walked a little along the lakeside promenade before going back to our room and taking it easy. 

Wengen and Jungfrau area

 We stayed three nights in the village of Wengen which is a short train ride from Lauterbrunnen. Wengen is a nice-sized village, not too big but with plenty of places to stay and eat and even a nice COOP grocery store. Our first afternoon was rather cloudy so not much of a view of the mountaintops and we woke up the next day to some cloud cover,  but with hopes of it breaking up we took the cable car from Wengen to Mannlichen to hike the Panorama trail to Kleine Scheidegg. When we reached Mannlichen, the cloud cover had lifted from the mountains so we had clear views of multiple peaks including the big three in this area - the Eiger, the Mönch and the Jungfrau. They are massive mountains! It was a nice hike without much elevation change and great views. There were several other people we met on the trail but it was not busy at all.  We then took the train from Kleine Scheidegg back to Wengen. 

We took the train to Lauterbrunnen in the afternoon, and it seemed rather crowded to us. We walked over the river and viewed the Stabbach Falls and the church from that side but it hadn’t rained so the falls were pretty small. We decided to head back up the mountain to Wengen where things were less hectic. Wengen has a series of marble runs that I had told our youngest grandson about so we went to the tourism office to buy the large “marble” and then took some video of the various runs to send our little guy, which he loved. We had a terrace outside our hotel room so we picked up pre-made salad and some fruit and pretzels and enjoyed dinner on the terrace looking at the mountains.  

We had seen helicopters flying around the valley and up to the mountains so we decided to splurge on a helicopter ride. We booked a time and then took the bus toward the heliport. We’re not very familiar with public transit as it’s not really available where we live, so we missed pushing the button to request the bus to stop at the heliport and ended up walking back a mile or two so we would be on time for our appointment. Releases were signed and we were harnessed into the helicopter and off we went! It was a beautiful view of the Lauterbrunnen valley as we took off, then a close look at the cliffs along the side of the valley. It wasn’t long before we flying toward the mountains, big and imposing from the helicopter’s windows. We flew near the Jungfraujoch Top of Europe, saw the Aletsch glacier, and also flew by the Pilz Gloria restaurant at the Schilthorn. It wasn’t a long flight but the scenery was amazing. 

After our helicopter ride, we caught the bus and stopped at Trummelbach Falls, which are a series of ten waterfalls inside a mountain. You first take an elevator up to see #6-10 of the waterfalls. The volume and pressure of the water was amazing, especially considering that the waterfall in town had very little water running over it.  There are a good number of stairs to reach the various waterfalls and then you come back down the same way to a landing where you see #1-5 as you walk down to the exit. We went to the small restaurant by the bus stop and had a snack and something to drink and then it was time to catch the bus back to town.  Here is where we ran into another bus problem. The buses going back to town originate in Stechelberg which is where a lot of people get off the transport coming down from Mürren so the buses were absolutely jammed full of people. After letting one go by because no one could possibly squeeze in, we had to jam into the next bus which was also very crowded because it was the next to the last bus going back to town. We made it though and were very grateful to be back in peaceful Wengen. 

The following day was bright and clear so we took the mountain transport to Brig to do the Thrill Walk. The Thrill Walk unfortunately was partially closed due to some construction but I did do the cable walk. After that, we went to Mürren and walked down to Gimmelwald which is a small village further down the mountain.  This walk was 100% downhill all the way at a pretty decent grade and my knee was screaming at me, but the scenery was absolutely worth it! It was a beautiful walk and we had lunch in Gimmelwald before taking the cable car back to Mürren and then another cable car back to Wengen. 

We really enjoyed our days in the Jungfrau area and we were lucky to have really nice weather too! 

Grandhotel Giessbach