Reach the Matterhorn Glacier Paradise at 3,883m

The highest cable car station in Europe, on year-round snow, with the Matterhorn close enough to fill the view and fourteen glaciers visible from the platform.

The ascent from Zermatt runs in stages to 3,883 metres, and the last section crosses the Theodul Glacier. At the top there is a viewing platform reached by lift through the rock, from which you can count something like thirty-eight peaks over four thousand metres across Switzerland, Italy and France.

Inside the mountain is the Glacier Palace, a set of chambers and a slide cut twenty-odd metres into the ice, with sculptures carved directly from the glacier. The ice moves, so it is re-cut continually.

This is also the highest year-round ski area in Europe, and the crossing into Cervinia on the Italian side is open from here — it is entirely possible to ski to Italy for lunch and be back for dinner.