Zermatt (VS) · One way

5-Seenweg Zermatt

Five Lakes Walk

Blauherd to Sunnegga, past five lakes under the Matterhorn

11.1 kmOur measured line
316 mClimb
608 mDescent
3 h 08Swiss signpost time

The Sunnegga–Blauherd lift is what bounds the day: it runs only to 4 October 2026, and after that you cannot start at the top. The funicular from Zermatt runs a week longer, to 11 October.

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Five mountain lakes in eleven kilometres, walked downhill from Blauherd to Sunnegga with the Matterhorn opposite the whole way. Three of the five — the Stellisee, the Grindjesee and the Leisee — hold the reflection people come for. The path drops 500 m overall, so it is a walk that gives more than it asks, and it finishes at a funicular rather than a bus.

The line we walk

Loading topographic map…
2,200m2,300m2,400m2,500m2,600m02 km4 km6 km8 km10 km11.1 km2,620m2,119m
Flat (<5%) Gentle (5–10%) Moderate (10–15%) Steep (15–25%)

Getting there and back

The lifts and stops this walk depends on

Zermatt to Sunnegga

Underground funicular · Zermatt Bergbahnen

Season
13 June – 11 October 2026 daily; weekends and holidays only in May and early June
First up
08:30 in the current period, 08:00 in high summer
Last down
17:20
Fare
CHF 19 single, CHF 30 return in the September–October band

A GA, a Half-Fare card and a Swiss Travel Pass all give 50% here — not free travel.

Zermatt Bergbahnen fares

Read 20 September 2026

Sunnegga to Blauherd

Gondola, to the start of the walk · Zermatt Bergbahnen

Season
13 June – 4 October 2026; closed from 5 October while the funicular keeps running
First up
08:40
Last down
16:30, last descent 16:40
Fare
CHF 18 single; the combined Blauherd-up, Sunnegga-down ticket for this walk is CHF 48

The combined ticket is sold as the 5-lakes ticket and is valid 13 June to 11 October 2026.

Zermatt Bergbahnen summer timetable

Read 20 September 2026

At the start

  • Blauherd station, 81 m away
  • station station, 225 m away

At the finish

  • Sunnegga station, 18 m away
  • bus stop bus stop, 30 m away
  • Sunnegga Paradise station, 66 m away

Stops and stations come from OpenStreetMap, measured from the ends of our line. Times and seasons come from each operator's own page, on the date shown. Check them for your date.

On the way

Where you can stop

Berghaus Fluhalp

Mountain inn, just off the route above the Stellisee · 2,620 m

Open
19 June – 4 October 2026
Food
À la carte; half board for those staying
Beds
Double, triple and dormitory rooms
Phone
+41 27 967 25 97
Their own page

Read 20 September 2026

Chez Vrony

Mountain restaurant at Findeln, on the way down · 2,100 m

Open
20 June – 11 October 2026
Food
Lunch 11:30–16:00
Phone
+41 27 967 25 52
Their own page

Read 20 September 2026

Findlerhof

Mountain restaurant at Findeln · 2,051 m

Open
13 June – 4 October 2026, daily 10:00–17:00
Phone
+41 27 967 25 88
Their own page

Read 20 September 2026

Buffet Bar Sunnegga

Self-service at the finish · 2,288 m

Open
13 June – 11 October 2026
Phone
+41 27 967 30 46
Their own page

Read 20 September 2026

How hard it is

Grade, and how long it takes

Mountain hiking trail (white-red-white); Zermatt files it as a thematic trailSwiss trail class
T2SAC mountain scale

“SchweizMobil calls the technique and the fitness both medium. Zermatt Tourism calls it moderate and grades it T2.” — Zermatt Tourism, 5-lake route

Three times for the same walk, so you can see where they differ
The operator's time3 h 30Zermatt Tourism
Swiss signpost time3 h 08The official hiking-time method, on our line
At a running pace1 h 43Our estimate; the grade does not change because you run

The two publishers disagree about the climb: SchweizMobil gives 380 m up and 660 m down, Zermatt Tourism 265 m and 542 m. Zermatt's own GPX measures 11.25 km between 2,127 m and 2,615 m, which fits its own figures rather than SchweizMobil's. Ours measures 11.08 km against the official 11.30 km.

Conditions

What it is like right now, and month by month

Weather this week

Loading the forecast for low point (2,119 m) and high point (2,620 m)…

Before you go

What could stop you

The status can say open when the lifts are not running

Zermatt Tourism prints this on the trail page itself: the walk may show as open while the mountain railways are only running as far as Sunnegga. Check the lift status, not just the trail status.

Zermatt Tourism, 5-lake route

Read 20 September 2026

Your pass is worth less here than you expect

A GA and a Swiss Travel Pass give 50% on the Zermatt lifts, not free travel — and only 25% on the Peak Pass. It is the opposite way round from the railways that brought you here.

Zermatt Bergbahnen, tickets

Read 20 September 2026

Season: June to September, as Zermatt Tourism gives it — and in practice while the Blauherd chairlift runs, 13 June to 4 October 2026.

Make it your day

Shorter, longer, or at a run

Start lower, walk up

From Sunnegga the walk can be done in reverse, which Zermatt times at 3 h 50 rather than 3 h 30 — 500 m of climb instead of descent, and the Matterhorn behind you rather than in front.

Findeln, which the official list leaves out

Zermatt's own waypoint list names six places and omits Findeln, though the official line passes straight through it. That is where the restaurants are, and where most people stop.

For runners

Downhill, runnable, and high. The Gornergrat Zermatt Marathon does not use the walk itself: its aid stations at Sunnegga and Grüensee sit at 2,262 m and 2,300 m, well below the Blauherd and Stellisee section, and no official race page names Blauherd, Stellisee, Grindjisee, Moosjisee, Leisee or Findeln.

Races on this ground: Gornergrat Zermatt Marathon.

Keep it on your phone

Offline maps

Keep your route and maps on your phone for places without a signal. For multi-day trips, prepare them in the installed TrailSplits app.

  1. Open this trail in the app. Install TrailSplits, then open this trail there. On iPhone, downloads in a browser may not be available in the installed app.
  2. Choose your route or stages. Choose Prepare offline above. Wait for the route and maps to finish downloading.
  3. Try it before leaving coverage. Switch offline, close and reopen the app, then use My Hikes to start navigation. Repeat for every part you will need.

Saving a bookmark is not a map download. Storage can be cleared by your device; keep a backup map for remote trips.

Route and sources

What we checked, and when

This walk is an official Swiss hiking route: 5-Seenweg Zermatt (Zermatt, Blauherd - Zermatt, Sunnegga) (SchweizMobil route 186). We publish our own line on OpenStreetMap, matched onto the official one and checked against it.

  • Official line 11.3 km · ours 11.08 km (-2%)
  • 95% of the official line is within 4.7 m of ours; the furthest point is 55.6 m
  • Between km 10.68 and 10.68 our line runs up to 56 m from the official one — OpenStreetMap has no path where the official line runs, so ours takes the nearest mapped way
  • Climb read from a 30 m terrain model along our line, smoothed; an operator's figure will differ
  • Built on 2026-09-20