A trip to Europe just got more exciting. Adding a new adventure to your travel expeditions, there is a new cable car that links Switzerland and Italy named Matterhorn Glacier Ride II which soars over the Swiss Alps. This new development lets you cross the border between the two while offering breathtaking views of the Alps. Now open to the public, the Matterhorn Glacier Ride II is being hailed as the first of its kind. It begins at Switzerland’s Klein Matterhorn and ends at Testa Grigia in Italy.
Photo Courtesy: Zermatt Bergbahnen
The Matterhorn Glacier Ride II ushers in an era of year-round connectivity between the storied Swiss resort of Zermatt and its Italian counterpart, Breuil-Cervinia. It is Europe’s highest-altitude border crossing cable car and the Klein Matterhorn station in Switzerland is at an altitude of 3,800m, while the Testa Grigia in Italy is at 3,460m. Passing over the Theodul Glacier, views on the eco-friendly (and accessible journey) are breathtaking and picturesque. Extending over 1.6km as part of the final link in a much longer route, the entire journey from one city to the other takes just four minutes.
Designed by Italian firm Pininfarina, this state-of-the-art cableway is an engineering marvel. With a capacity to transport up to 1,300 awestruck passengers per hour, the Matterhorn Glacier Ride II promises to redefine the alpine travel experience. The fast-paced journey uses advanced 3S cableway technology for a comfortable, wind-resistant ride. But what truly takes our breath away is the cableway’s 10 Crystal Ride cabins with 28 seats each. These mobile observatories, suspended in the Alpine heavens, feature a transparent floor offering an immersive, bird’s-eye view of the glaciated landscapes below. And every point of this journey is a postcard brought to life.
Photo Courtesy: Zermatt Bergbahnen
The journey begins at Zermatt and passes through the meadows of Furi mountain station. From there, passengers head towards Schwarzsee via the Matterhorn Express, at Matterhorn Glacier Paradise, passengers get a view of the stunning spectacle of 38 peaks reaching past 4,000 meters and 14 glistening glaciers. As passengers cross the border at Testa Grigia, Italy beckons, revealing panoramic views of the glacier.
As the journey continues, passengers descend to the Cime Bianche Leghi station, a landscape of lakes, and finally, the Matterhorn Glacier Ride II reaches the Italian resort of Breuil-Cervinia. A return ticket on the Matterhorn Glacier Ride II costs up to $267.
