125 years of Gornergrat

 Experience. Wonder. Marvel.

What could be more obvious than to build a railway on the famous and popular viewing mountain?

Completed in 1898, the Gornergrat was the first electric rack railway in Switzerland, and third in the world. Having said that, the Chemin de fer de Salève (France 1892) and the Barmer Bergbahn (Germany 1894) were both dismantled in 1937 & 1959, making the Gornergrat the oldest existing electric rack railway in the world


Gornergrat Railway – 125 years of fascination

The walk from Zermatt to Hotel Riffelhaus (built in 1854) took around 1½ hours - although it took Mark Twain much longer in his amusing book of his ascent! Palanquin bearers estimated about 4 hours and other options were by horse or mule.


The opening of the Gornergrat Railway meant that people could travel by train to over 3000m² in altitude for the first time in Europe, replacing the Brienzer Rothorn Railway which previously held the record in Switzerland at 2252m².


From 20th August 1898 to today, you can enjoy the magnificent views, and this year, 2023, the Gornergrat will be celebrating its 125th anniversary.

You can ski there in winter with OTP, and in winter & summer you can enjoy the amazing mystical mountain and glacier world above Zermatt as a pedestrian too - return tickets are available at www.SwissPasses.com


We hope to see you soon in Zermatt. Skiing, Hiking & MTB holidays are all available here, or just be here and relax, enjoying the fresh mountain air & mountain lakes. Have a look at www.otp.co.uk for all your options.







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