Once you arrive and step out of the station, you get the feeling of having landed in the Land of Bells, thanks to the continuous and joyful hustle and bustle of carriages, buggies, and horse-drawn sleighs, whose bells fill the large square and the main promenade. Zermatt is a small town with about 3,600 residents, nestled at the foot of the Matterhorn, which here is called Matterhorn, literally, ‘the horn overlooking the pastures’.
Besides being the main tourist and hiking attraction, its peak towers over the settlement like a diligent guardian and draws the gaze of those strolling along the Hauptstrasse, the main street that cuts through the center from north to south.
Originally a settlement of Walser colonists (and thus German-speaking; what remains are the rows of highly photographed granaries resting on characteristic stone and wood “mushrooms”), Zermatt began to experience prosperity and fame as early as the early 1800s, with the first groups of tourists and hikers challenging the Matterhorn. Leading the way were the English, followed closely by Germans, Austrians, and Italians.
