bandit wrote:ellistine wrote:
We were thinking about visiting Hintertux this summer but perhaps Zermatt may be a better option. One of our party is a non skier which makes the short summer skiing a nice option. How far away are the summer pistes from the hotels generally?
For Zermatt, the cable car, runs up from the village in several stages and takes around 40 minutes. Add on to that time, the distance from your hotel or apt. I will be staying in one around 3-5 minutes walk away. As Zermatt is car free, many of the hotels transport guests using electric taxis.
There is access for non skiers to the highest point, as the journey is by cable car. Naturally the resort has many activities on offer during the summer.
http://bergbahnen.zermatt.ch/e/peaks/
My impression is that right now we've better snow in Switzerland than the Austrian glaciers but that could change overnight :D
It's quite a big town really so getting around is something to think about although the bus is pretty good, either a couple of francs or on the lift pass. I certainly try not to use the taxis which are fairly pricey. I think the hotels often charge for the taxi as well.
There's a great pizza place opposite the KL lift as well if you stay near there.
Tourists can go up, in fact climbers and tourists outnumber skiers in the summer. It's worth remembering it's a glacier at the top for tourists, it's very, very dangerous and they absolutely should not wander off the tracks as a guy did last time I was there :
http://snowslider.net/2007/07/29/breithorn-4164m-zermatt/
That's a good excursion, some kit required though which can be rented locally although you need boots rigid enough to take a crampon.
Best way to Zermatt is on the train though from the airport, renting a car isn't a good idea to pay to park it for week.