Opened with fourteen beds the year before the Seilers took it on, and now the oldest grand hotel under the Matterhorn.
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Overview
Eighteen Fifty-Two
A hundred and sixty-five rooms on the Bahnhofstrasse, in a village with no cars.
The Mont Cervin opened in 1852 with fourteen beds. The Seiler brothers leased it three years later and bought it in 1867, and by 1875 it had 180 — which is roughly the story of Zermatt itself compressed into twenty years. Alexander Seiler went on to build an empire of it, and the family name is still over the door. The 165 rooms split between the main building, where the Alpine-style rooms are brighter, with leather and wool, and the Petit Cervin, where the chalet rooms have rustic panelling and deep colours and read like small private chalets. The village outside has no combustion cars in it.
Zermatt is car-free. Vehicles stop at Täsch and the last five kilometres are by train. The hotel meets the station with an electric shuttle.
1852
Year It Opened
165
Rooms
5
Restaurants
2
Floors of Spa
Rooms
Alpine, or Chalet
Two buildings and two characters — bright Alpine rooms, or dark timbered chalet rooms.
Chalet Room — Petit Cervin
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Alpine StyleMain-building rooms are brighter, with leather furnishings and wool accents.
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Chalet StylePetit Cervin rooms carry rustic wood panelling and deep colours, like private chalets.
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Matterhorn RoomsSelected categories face the mountain directly; they are the ones to ask for by name.
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Two-Floor SpaIndoor pool, children’s pool, a full sauna sequence, and a tea lounge onto the courtyard.
Experiences
Under the Matterhorn
The most recognisable mountain in the world, and everything arranged around it.
Peak
Gornergrat
A cogwheel railway to 3,089 metres, and the classic Matterhorn view from the top.
Peak
Matterhorn Glacier Paradise
Europe’s highest cable car station at 3,883 metres, with year-round snow.
Walk
The Five Lakes
A summer trail past five tarns, and the mountain reflected in several of them.
Ski
Zermatt–Cervinia
Skiing across the border into Italy and back in a day.
History
Matterhorn Museum
The 1865 first ascent, and the broken rope that ended it.
Village
Hinterdorf
The old quarter of timber granaries on stone staddle stones, still standing.
Dining
Five Kitchens, and Nine to Dine
From a gourmet dining room to a teppanyaki counter, plus the Seiler dine-around.
01Le Restaurant, the gourmet dining room of the hotel
02Capri, Italian, and long held a Michelin star
03Myoko, a Japanese teppanyaki room, and the Bel’Etage grill
04The Seiler dine-around, opening nine restaurants across the group
Le Restaurant — Mont Cervin Palace
Location
On the Bahnhofstrasse
In the centre of Zermatt, a village that has never allowed cars.
On the Bahnhofstrasse, the main street through the centre of Zermatt.
A few minutes from the Gornergrat railway and the Matterhorn cable cars.
Zermatt is car-free: vehicles stop at Täsch and the last leg is by train.
Roughly three and a half hours from Geneva or Zurich by rail.
Fly
Arrive at Geneva or Zurich.
Rail
Three and a half hours by train, changing at Visp for Täsch and Zermatt.
Arrive
Electric shuttle from the station, then the mountain from the terrace.
Zermatt
The Seilers’ First Hotel
Fourteen beds in 1852, 165 rooms now, and the Matterhorn at the end of the street.