5 Lakes Walk, Zermatt

Zermatt is an iconic winter and summer resort based in the Wallis/Valais canton in southern Switzerland. Although it is very close to the Italian border, the main language spoken here is German. You can ski into Italy from Zermatt during the winter, something I have yet to do but is absolutely on my bucket-list!

Zermatt is perhaps best known for being situated at the base of the Matterhorn mountain; a magnet for climbers, walkers, adventurers, an inspiration for the shape of the Toblerone chocolate bar and the most photographed mountain in the world.

Due to current pandemic, my family and I decided to escape from London for a week to our wonderful home in the Swiss Alps. Our chalet is based in the French speaking area of Switzerland, roughly 2 hours from Zermatt. Zermatt is a car free town apart from electric taxis and vehicles owned by local businesses. To get there you have to travel to Täsch (roughly 1 1/2 hours by car from our chalet) and then get the train into Zermatt.

Contents (click what you want to see!)

How to get there
Lift Passes
The Walk
What to Pack

How to get there:

The 12 minute shuttle train from Täsch costs 16.40 CHF return. You can park at Täsch which costs 16 CHF for one day, however if you stay for 2-8 days then it drops to 15 CHF a day. I love Switzerland, however I don’t think my bank account (or anyone else’s for that matter) does!

Lift Passes to get to the walk

You need to take 2 lifts to get to the starting point of the walk. First take Sunnegga (an underground funicular) and then take a the chairlift to the top of Blauherd.

The walk ends at the Sunnegga funicular and you need to take that back down to Zermatt. (You can walk back into town but it’s a very long and all downhill!)

You can buy a combo ticket: Zermatt to Blauherd, Sunnegga to Zermatt. This costs 39 CHF.

The Walk

The walk itself is predominantly downhill with small elements of uphill. As the name suggests you will walk past 5 lakes, two which you can swim in and three which (on a good and clear day) will reflect the Matterhorn. These are more commonly known as mirror lakes. You will also see some beautiful and vibrant flowers when walking so keep an eye out for those!

The lowest altitude you will get to on the route is 2124m and the highest is 2578m.

In order to find your way, just keep following the 5-Seenweg sign posts.

Duration: according to many websites the walk takes around 3 hours. However, when you take in to account lunch breaks, photos and swimming, it can be longer.

Distance: 9.8km

Difficulty: Suitable for most ages, a medium difficulty walk. 🏃🏼‍♀️🏃🏼‍♀️🏃🏼‍♀️ We did this as a family and both of my parents who have injured knees at the moment were able to do it!

Other things to note: the lakes you can swim in are the third and final lakes. At the final lake there is a small play area for young children. The walk can be done in reverse, but that would be a lot of up hill!