Zermatt: restaurants

Zermatt boasts outstanding mountain restaurants as well as excellent variety of eating options in its buzzing, cosmopolitan town. However, it consistently ranks high on lists of the most expensive ski resorts and a strong Swiss franc doesn't help. However, there are eating options to suit most most budgets with kebab stands and pasta outlets as well as the swish restaurants.

On the mountain

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Bontadin

Just below the Theodulpass, Bontadin (+39 335 250 312) is one of the most popular places to eat on the Italian side of the ski area. Upstairs is a self service restaurant offering tasty pasta dishes and cheap drinks. There’s a smarter, more pricey part downstairs, with floor-to-ceiling windows, a great wine list, and a gamey menu of Aosta Valley specialities including tagliatelle or polenta with venison.

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Vis-a-Vis

Part of the imposing mountaintop Gornergrat hotel at 3,089m, Vis-a-vis's traditional dishes are beautifully done and presented. Options include garlic soup served in a bread bowl, or rösti with veal sausage. Service is speedy and there's a vast terrace with mountain views, and ibex wandering past yards away. The self service place in the next-door room is adequate.

Fluhalp

A handsome old mountain hut below the Rothorn, Fluhalp has a warren of cosy little wood-panelled rooms. Soups, pastas and salads – including a great tagliatelle – come in satisfying portions at reasonable prices, and the large terrace has a view of the most perfect aspect of the Matterhorn.

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Findlerhof

This is one of a collection of restaurants on the south-west facing slope just below the Sunnegga funicular top station. Findlerhof is a friendly, family-run place with superb food and great views of the Matterhorn. Specialities include fish soup and fillet of lamb with herbs. The nearby Adler Hitta also comes highly recommended.

In the resort

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Restaurant du Pont

On Oberdorfstrasse, Restaurant du Pont is an unpretentious, family-friendly place, offering great value rösti, viande séchée and fondue, along with quick service and a cosy, convivial atmosphere.

Schwyzer Stübli

On the main street, in the Schweizerhof Hotel. At the end of April 2018 the hotel closed for renovation and will re-open on December 21 2018, but if Schwyzer Stübli remains unaltered, its excellent set menu, which changes daily, is a steal. There's also a good à la carte menu (mid-range prices) of Swiss specialities, and the service, by cheerful, dirndl-clad waitresses, is great. But the real bonus is live Swiss music – folk music groups perform every day from 5pm in winter. It's a brilliant place to take children for an early family supper, or to have a waltz between courses.

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Hotel Alex Grill

A basement restaurant in the Hotel Alex on Bodmenstrasse. The garish stained glass mountain scenes on the walls and paisley upholstered chairs with gold frames may not be to everyone's taste, but you can't argue with the quality of the food at Hotel Alex Grill. It's rich, delicious and occasionally eccentric – there's white wine soup with dried meat; duck breast with pumpkin-mango chutney and sweet potatoes; icy Läckerli mousse, coffee ice cream and sauce of vanilla from Tahiti; plus a great range of Swiss steaks.

Chalet da Guiseppe

Located on Vispastrasse, Chalet da Giuseppe is an unpretentious, low-key place with high quality Italian food – risottos, pastas, meat – and a charismatic host. Opt for the early shift (from 6pm) for the best chance of getting a table. In high season, it's advisable to book around two months in advance.

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The Omnia

This starkly modern restaurant is inside the contemporary design hotel of the same name, which is perched on a hillside and accessed through a tunnel from the upper part of the main street. The Omnia offers a la carte and gourmet menus, with matching wines and imaginative dishes including lobster with apple and fennel followed by lamb shank with “clay pot” vegetables. It's popular with locals for special occasions.