Round Monte Rosa from Zermatt and back through Italy: the nine official stages, a hut or village every night with its season and booking, the Theodul glacier on the first day, and what was closed in 2026.
Best season: Mid-June to mid-September, while the huts and lifts run. The official site gives June to September, weather permitting. In 2026 the Italian huts were open from mid-June to mid-September: Rifugio del Teodulo 13 June to 14 September, Rifugio Pastore 13 June to 13 September. Most lifts stopped on 13 September, and Rifugio Gabiet stayed closed all summer. For 2027, only Rifugio Guide Frachey has published its reopening, after 4 June; the other huts have no 2027 summer dates yet. Before you go
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Plan your days
Your dates
Checking the seasons, closures and current conditions for today…
Nine stages, anticlockwise from Zermatt, each ending at a hut or a village. The first day crosses a glacier: rope up or go with a guide. Rifugio Gabiet did not open in 2026, and part of the Europaweg on the last day is closed, with a signed detour. Choose a plan, or pick your own start, finish and nights below.
Hut seasons as published. 2026: 3 of 7 huts have published dates, all open 13 June to 13 September.
Each day in its own colour, numbered where it starts; the rest of the Tour Monte Rosa in grey. Select a day for its elevation and 3D flyover.
Make your own plan
Changing where you stay suggests a new number of days: the fewest that keep each day under 8 h of walking and in daylight, where a place to stay allows.
Choose your nights (8 nights)
Days end where the route has a stay, a camp or a village.
Stage 1: The official stage is graded T5. From Trockener Steg it crosses the Theodul glacier to the pass at 3,300 m. The official site says to rope up or go with a mountain guide, with crampons, an ice axe, a harness, a helmet and a rope; OpenStreetMap maps the crossing as snow with no path. The Klein Matterhorn cable car shortens the day, but from Testa Grigia the hut is still about 30 minutes on foot over the glacier. The crossing lifts close for maintenance at times: check their dates before you rely on them.
Overnight
Rifugio del Teodulo
Staffed mountain hut · 3,317 m · CAI Torino
Pick a date to check the season.
Season
2026 13 June 2026 to 14 September 2026 Open 13 June to 14 September 2026.lovevda.it, read 26 September 20262027 Approximate onlyCAI Torino gives one opening period, 1 December 2026 to 20 September 2027, without separate summer dates. In 2026 the summer season ran 13 June to 14 September.caitorino.it, read 26 September 2026
Places
60 places in total · Half board offered CAI Torino gives 60 places; the regional listing says 46 in 10 rooms. Half board.
Booking
Book by emailBy email only, says CAI Torino. The regional listing gave half board at €70 in 2026.
Stage 2: Down over the moraines to the Colle Superiore delle Cime Bianche, 2,980 m, and Rifugio Fiéry. The official stage ends 400 m lower at Saint-Jacques, with hotels and the bus down the Val d'Ayas.
24 places in total · Half board offered 24 places in the listing's fact box, 25 in 7 rooms in its text; half board.
Booking
Book by emailBy phone or email. In 2026 half board was €67 to €72 and a bed €30 to €35. The .com website that other listings still give now shows unrelated advertising: use the .it email above.
2026 until 30 September 2026 (partly published) Open through the summer of 2026, closed from 1 October.lovevda.it, read 26 September 20262027 from 5 June 2027 (partly published) The listing gives it closed from 1 October 2026 to 4 June 2027; the 2027 closing date is not published.lovevda.it, read 26 September 2026
Places
36 places in total · Half board offered 36 places in 7 rooms; half board or full board.
Booking
Book by emailBy phone or email. In 2026 half board was €62 to €67 and a bed €35 to €45.
Stage 3: Over the Colle di Rothorn, the classic line; the official site gives the Bettaforca pass, served by lifts, as the alternative. Rifugio Gabiet did not open in 2026: ask before you book. Staffal, 3.6 km before the stage end, has hotels; from there, walk up trail 7A in the morning. The Staffal to Gabiet cable car ran only until 23 August in 2026.
2026 Approximate onlyThe hotel publishes no summer dates. It says it is reached only by the Staffal to Gabiet cable car, which ran from 30 May to 23 August in 2026: ask before you plan a night here.albergodelponte.com, read 26 September 2026
The stage ends by the Gabiet lake; the refuge is about 400 m further. It did not open in 2026: ask before you book. Albergo del Ponte by the lake publishes no dates; Staffal, 3.6 km earlier, has hotels.
Stage 4: Over the Passo dei Salati and the Col d'Olen, graded T4, with a warning of rockfall on the passes. Then down to Alagna, the official stage end, and up the valley to Rifugio Pastore. The Pianalunga gondola down to Alagna ran until 13 September in 2026.
Overnight
Rifugio Pastore
Staffed mountain hut · 1,575 m · CAI Varallo; run by Rifugi Monterosa
60 places in total · Half board offered · winter room 60 places in heated rooms of 4 to 6 and a 14-bed dormitory; tent platforms; an unstaffed winter room with 4 beds.
Booking
Book onlineBook online: a deposit is taken by card and the rest paid at the hut, with no refund once paid. In 2026 half board was €70 and bed and breakfast €40, for CAI members; others pay a surcharge. A sleeping-bag liner is required.
Not confirmed open: km 21.1–21.2 of stage 5. OpenStreetMap marks about 80 m of footway here, just before Macugnaga, as closed after a landslide. The official site gives no notice: follow the signs on the spot.
Stage 5: Over the Colle del Turlo, 2,738 m, to Macugnaga. Just before Macugnaga, OpenStreetMap marks about 80 m of footway as closed after a landslide; the official site gives no notice. Follow the signs there.
MacugnagaTown or village
The stage ends in Staffa, the upper village, by its hotels and the Monte Moro cable car. Buses run to Domodossola.
OpenStreetMap lists at least 6 places to stay within about 600 m; TrailSplits has not checked which are open.
Stage 6: The longest stage. It climbs steeply to the Monte Moro pass, 2,868 m, then follows steel cables along the Mattmark reservoir and descends the Saas valley. The upper section of the Monte Moro cable car was closed for repairs in July 2026: ask before relying on it. Saas-Almagell, near the end, has hotels and the PostBus.
Saas-FeeTown or village
A car-free resort with the PostBus 511 to Visp and Brig all year.
OpenStreetMap lists at least 37 places to stay within about 600 m; TrailSplits has not checked which are open.
Stage 7: A high path along the Saas valley by the Lammugrabu scree, with exposed passages. The Hannigalp cable car down to Grächen can shorten the day.
GrächenTown or village
Buses run to St. Niklaus, for the trains to Zermatt and Visp, and to Visp direct.
OpenStreetMap lists at least 15 places to stay within about 600 m; TrailSplits has not checked which are open.
Stage 8: The first half of the Europaweg, moved after rockfall to go by Herbriggen and Galenberg, 2,580 m, with fixed ropes. The official page shows it open.
Overnight
Europahütte
Staffed mountain hut · 2,220 m · Burgergemeinde Randa
Closed: km 4.9–8.45 of stage 9. The Europaweg is closed between Springelboden and Eggenstadel after rockfall. The signed detour goes down by Attermenzen to Täsch and up the marked path to the Täschalp: about 23.6 km and 8 h 45 for the stage, says the official page. Do not enter a closed section.
Stage 9: The Europaweg is closed between Springelboden and Eggenstadel after rockfall. The signed detour goes down to Täsch and back up to the Täschalp, 23.6 km in all; the day's distance and time here are the detour's, while the line and its GPX follow the closed section, with the closure marked.
Days end at a stage end with a refuge or a village, or in a village the route passes through. Walking times are the Verein Tour Monte Rosa's published times where it gives one, with our estimate beside it; a day that walks part of a stage gets a share of the stage's time by distance and climb. Running times use 7.5 km/h plus one hour per 700 m of climb: a steady reference, not a prediction. Daylight is sunrise to sunset where the day starts; the time left is for breaks, meals and delays.Refuge dates come from the operator's own pages; when they are not published, we say so. For villages we count the places to stay OpenStreetMap lists; we have not checked which are open. A plan is not a booking: reserve every night before you commit to these day lengths.
Huts and stays, stage by stage
Where each stage ends, the 2026 and 2027 seasons the operator publishes, and how to book. Read from the operators' pages on 26 September 2026; each stage page shows the sources and the grade profile.
Loading the forecast for low point (1,182 m) and high point (3,304 m)…
Weather by month
Typical weather on this trail: at the lowest point (1,182 m) and the highest point (3,304 m). Select a month to see why it is rated as it is.
Monthly climate averages and daylight
Month
Weather
Poor
Poor
Poor
Poor
Poor
Poor
Mixed
Good
Mixed
Mixed
Poor
Poor
Stages rated good on typical weather
0/9
0/9
0/9
0/9
0/9
3/9
7/9
7/9
3/9
0/9
0/9
0/9
High point, day / night
-8°/-14°
-9°/-14°
-8°/-13°
-6°/-10°
-1°/-6°
4°/-2°
6°/1°
7°/2°
3°/-1°
0°/-4°
-4°/-8°
-7°/-12°
Low point, day / night
5°/-4°
5°/-4°
8°/-1°
11°/2°
16°/6°
20°/10°
21°/11°
21°/12°
17°/8°
13°/5°
8°/1°
5°/-3°
Rain, mm
48
46
54
81
92
86
68
76
73
92
110
58
Snow at high point
Likely
Likely
Likely
Likely
Likely
Likely
Likely
Frost
Possible
Possible
Likely
Likely
Daylight
9 h 02
10 h 20
11 h 49
13 h 29
14 h 54
15 h 43
15 h 25
14 h 12
12 h 37
11 h 01
9 h 31
8 h 41
Source: TerraClimate 1991–2020 monthly averages. Averages for the area at each point’s elevation (4 km grid, corrected for height). Not a forecast or a report of current trail conditions. Snow at the high point is estimated with a simple snowpack model from these temperatures and precipitation, not observed; steep islands and high summits can hold more snow than it shows. Daylight is for the 15th of each month. Hut, transport and park seasons are separate: check them for your dates.
Before you go
Prepare for the Tour Monte Rosa
Arrange your stays, food and travel first, then check conditions again near departure.
Book each night directly
The Tour Monte Rosa has no central booking: each hut and hotel is booked on its own. The Italian huts close in mid-September. Each night below shows its season and how to book, read from the hut's own page or the regional listing.
The Theodul glacier on the first day
Stage 1 crosses the Theodul glacier to the pass at 3,300 m and is graded T5. The official site says to rope up or go with a mountain guide, and lists crampons, an ice axe, a harness, a helmet and a rope; Zermatt Tourism says not to go onto a glacier without a guide. The Klein Matterhorn cable car shortens the day, but from Testa Grigia the hut is still about 30 minutes over the glacier. If you do not cross it, start from Macugnaga or Saas-Fee instead.
Rifugio Gabiet, at the end of stage 3, did not open all summer. The Europaweg is closed between Springelboden and Eggenstadel, with a signed detour by Täsch. The upper Monte Moro cable car was closed for repairs in July. Ask the huts, the Europaweg and the lift operators before you rely on them in 2027.
Five passes are above 2,700 m: the Theodul, the Colle Superiore delle Cime Bianche, the Passo dei Salati, the Colle del Turlo and the Monte Moro. The official stage pages say snow, ice or a sudden change of weather make them dangerous. Check the forecast, turn back in time, and tell someone your plan. For help, call 144 or Rega on 1414 in Switzerland, and 112 in Italy.
Book each hut directly, by email or phone or on its own site. Rifugio Pastore takes a card deposit online, refunded less €25 if you cancel at least 72 hours ahead. The Europahütte takes bookings by phone and email only. Rifugio del Teodulo takes them by email only.
Google Maps journey searches, not confirmed services. A mountain endpoint may need a booked transfer or an additional walk.
Zermatt by train
Zermatt is car-free. Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn trains run from Visp and Brig all year; drivers park in Täsch and take the shuttle train, every 20 minutes, about 12 minutes. Randa, below the Europahütte, and St. Niklaus are on the same line.
V.I.T.A. buses run up the Val d'Ayas to Saint-Jacques and up the Gressoney valley to Gressoney-La-Trinité; their summer timetable ran 11 June to 9 September 2026. ATAP line 50 runs from Vercelli and Varallo to Alagna. Comazzi buses run from Domodossola to Macugnaga, on the winter timetable from 14 September 2026.
PostBus 511 runs from Saas-Fee to Visp and Brig all year. Lines 551 and 552 link Grächen with St. Niklaus and Visp, and 554 runs from St. Niklaus to Herbriggen.
Prepare each stage while you still have a connection, and test it offline before you set out: the glacier and the high passes have little or no signal.
Keep your route and maps on your phone for places without a signal. For multi-day trips, prepare them in the installed TrailSplits app.
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.
Choose your route or stages. Choose Prepare offline above. Wait for the route and maps to finish downloading.
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 & sources
About this map
The Verein Tour Monte Rosa walks the tour anticlockwise from Zermatt in nine stages: 173 km and 10,600 m of climbing on its home page, 174 km on its stage pages. The line here is the route as mapped on OpenStreetMap on 21 September 2026, from its nine mapped stages: 164.6 km. Three of its stages end at huts instead of the official villages: stage 2 at Résy, not Saint-Jacques; stage 3 at the Gabiet lake, not Gressoney; and stage 4 at Rifugio Pastore, beyond Alagna. So the official times are shown only for stages 1, 6, 7 and 8, which start and end in the same places. On stage 9 the day takes the official detour round the closed Europaweg: 23.6 km and 8 h 45; its GPX still follows the mapped line, with the closure marked.
Official guidance and mapped-source comparison checked 26 September 2026. Map data is a route reference, not confirmation of today's path, weather or accommodation availability.