Zermatt Events 2026/27: Dates, Tickets and Where to Stay

Zermatt's 2026/27 calendar runs from Magic Mountain, an electronic music and art festival from Thursday 10 to Sunday 13 December 2026, through the 35th Horu Trophy curling tournament in January and Zermatt Unplugged from Tuesday 6 to Saturday 10 April 2027, to a summer of mountain races, a free folklore festival on 7 and 8 August and golf on the Gornergrat. Unplugged is the week that fills the village first, and the one to plan around before anything else. I am Pau Gallardo Campos, I run Alpina Travels from Zurich, and I arrange train journeys and hotel stays in Zermatt for couples who would rather not do the logistics themselves. Every date and price below comes from the organiser or from Zermatt Tourism, checked on 31 October 2026, and where something is not published yet I say so.

If you already know which weekend you want, ask me to find you a room for your dates in Zermatt. For Unplugged in particular, the earlier the better.

Zermatt events 2026/27 at a glance

Around these events sits the ski season. Zermatt Bergbahnen publishes the 2026/27 winter as Sunday 1 November 2026 to Monday 3 May 2027, with the Sunnegga/Rothorn and Gornergrat areas open from Saturday 28 November 2026 until Sunday 11 April and Sunday 18 April 2027 respectively. A one-day adult Zermatt ski pass is from CHF 89, or from CHF 104 for the international pass that includes Breuil-Cervinia and Valtournenche in Italy.

Magic Mountain Zermatt, 10 to 13 December 2026

Four days of electronic music and art at the start of the winter season, running from midday until 5 in the morning on each of the four days, Thursday 10 to Sunday 13 December 2026. Zermatt Tourism lists CERVO, Vernissage and Streetside among the venues, and tickets start at CHF 49 through Ticketcorner.

My view: this is a young, late-night event, and most of my guests would not choose their dates for it. It is useful to know about for the opposite reason. The weekend of 11 to 13 December is livelier than a quiet early-season weekend usually is, so if you want December calm, the week before or the week after suits better.

Horu Trophy, 14 to 17 January 2027

The Horu Trophy is an open-air curling tournament run by Curling Club Zermatt, and 2027 is the 35th edition, billed by the club as a jubilee trophy, from Thursday 14 to Sunday 17 January 2027. The club publishes a team registration form and nothing about spectator tickets. It is a reason to wander down and watch, not a reason to travel, and mid-January after the New Year rush is one of the quieter, colder and clearer stretches of the Zermatt winter.

Zermatt Unplugged, 6 to 10 April 2027

The one that matters for planning. Zermatt Unplugged runs from Tuesday 6 to Saturday 10 April 2027, just over a week after Easter, which falls on 28 March in 2027. The evening concerts start at 20:30 in the Marquee Stage tent on Bodmenstrasse. The festival splits its venues into two kinds: ticket stages, which are the Marquee Stage, Vernissage, Sunnegga, Loft and the Winkelmatten chapel, and stages you enter with the Unplugged Pass, which include the Taste Village, hotel bars and lounges in the village and Riffelberg on the Gornergrat line.

What is published so far, as of 31 October 2026:

• The line-up for 2027 is announced in December 2026.
• Ticket and pass prices for 2027 are not published yet.
• There is a 48-hour presale before general sale. Access comes with the festival's Club membership or with its Hotel and Ticket Package.
• The Premium Hotel and Ticket Package, with the festival's official hotels, carries a ticket guarantee for the Marquee Stage.

The honest picture is that the headline concerts in the tent are what sells out, and the hotels that sit closest to the action go with them. If the Marquee Stage is the point of the trip, the festival's own hotel package with the guarantee is the safer route, and it is worth deciding that before the line-up is out rather than after. If you want the atmosphere, the pass stages and a good room, the order reverses: secure the room first, then the pass. Either way, the ski season is still running that week, with the Gornergrat area open until 18 April 2027, so days on the slopes and evenings at concerts fit together well.

Summer 2027: marathon, folklore, Ultraks and golf

Gornergrat Zermatt Marathon, 2 and 3 July 2027. Zermatt Tourism lists the marathon from St. Niklaus at 1,116 metres, 42.195 km up to Riffelberg at 2,585 metres, an ultra of 45.595 km that carries on to Gornergrat at 3,089 metres, and a half marathon from Zermatt. Registration for 2027 is not open yet. For spectators, the useful fact is that the finish is on the mountain, so watching means a train ride up.

Swiss National Day, 31 July and 1 August 2027. Listed by Zermatt Tourism among the year's top events. In 2027 the 1st of August is a Sunday.

Folklore Festival, 7 and 8 August 2027. The 57th edition, on Saturday 7 and Sunday 8 August 2027, with costume groups, music, alphorn players and folk dancers and a grand parade through the village. Entry is free. Zermatt Tourism has not published which day the parade falls on yet.

TREK Matterhorn Ultraks, 20 to 22 August 2027. Zermatt Tourism lists the 2027 edition for Friday 20 to Sunday 22 August, although the organiser's own site still says the 2027 date will be announced soon, so treat it as very likely rather than final. On the organiser's site every 2026 race, from the 49 km Sky to the 19 km Active, is marked sold out.

Matterhorn Eagle Cup, date to follow. A nine-hole Stableford round on the Gornergrat at 2,582 metres, run by Golfclub Matterhorn, for players with a handicap of up to 30. The 2027 date is not published and registration shows as coming soon. The entry fees currently on the page are CHF 350 for guests, CHF 190 for members and CHF 290 for a caddy package for a companion; the page does not say which year they apply to. Places are limited and allocated first come, first served.

The mountains themselves

Two lifts shape most stays, event or not. The Gornergrat railway climbs from the village to 3,089 metres. Fares differ between winter and summer and are halved with the Half Fare Card, GA or Swiss Travel Pass; the current list is on the Gornergrat Railway's price page. Note that the line is closed for construction from 2 to 14 November 2026, then runs a reduced service until 27 November, and every 24 minutes from 28 November.

Matterhorn Glacier Paradise is the highest mountain station in Europe at 3,883 metres, with the Glacier Palace and a viewing platform, and winter tickets from CHF 120. It is also why Zermatt has summer skiing: the glacier slopes stay open in summer, depending on snow and weather. The 2026 summer ski pass ran from 4 May to 31 October 2026; the 2027 summer dates are not published yet.

Which weeks fill first, and how far ahead to book

Zermatt does not publish occupancy, so this is judgement from booking rooms there rather than a statistic. The weeks that fill first are, in order: Christmas to New Year; Zermatt Unplugged, 6 to 10 April 2027; the February school holidays; and Easter, 28 March 2027. In summer, the Folklore weekend, the 1st of August and the Ultraks weekend are busier than the weeks around them, but not in the same league as Unplugged.

• For Unplugged or the festive season, I would book the hotel now, in autumn 2026.
• For February and Easter, four to six months ahead keeps a real choice of rooms.
• For the summer events, three to six months is usually enough, unless you also want the Glacier Express in Excellence Class, which opens 365 days ahead and goes early.

Where to stay in Zermatt

The Omnia stands, in its own words, high on the rock in the centre of Zermatt. It is a modern mountain lodge with a spa reserved for hotel guests, an indoor and outdoor pool, two saunas and an outdoor whirlpool looking over the village to the Matterhorn, and it collects guests from Zermatt station. For an event week it has one practical advantage: you are in the middle of everything and above the noise of it. I have a two-night stay at The Omnia with first class rail from your station that can be set on any of the dates above.

Grand Hotel Zermatterhof is the village's historic five-star house on Bahnhofstrasse, welcoming guests since 1879 and run by the Burgergemeinde, the old citizens' community of Zermatt, since 1920. It is a ten-minute walk from the station, and between 13:00 and 17:00 the hotel can collect you with its horse-drawn carriage, which should be reserved. Restaurants include Alpine Gourmet Prato Borni and the Lusi Brasserie. I do not have a page for it in English yet, so if you would like it for your dates, ask me to find you a room at the Zermatterhof.

A quieter valley next door. If Zermatt is full, or you would rather watch the festival weeks from a distance, The Capra is in Saas-Fee, not in Zermatt. Saas-Fee is a separate car-free village at 1,800 metres in the neighbouring Saas valley, reached by PostBus from Visp, with its own glaciers and four-thousand-metre peaks. It suits a couple who want snow and a good spa more than a festival.

Getting there by train

Zermatt is car-free. Private cars may go only as far as Täsch, 5 km down the valley, where a shuttle train runs to Zermatt every 20 minutes in 12 minutes. By train it is simpler: from Zurich main station the journey takes about 3 hours 15 minutes with one change at Visp, through the Lötschberg base tunnel and then up the valley on the Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn. Zermatt Tourism gives about three and a half hours from Zurich Airport and four from Geneva. The last stop is the village itself, and trains run about every half hour.

Zermatt is also the western end of the Glacier Express, the eight-hour panoramic train to St. Moritz, so an event stay here can be the first or last chapter of a longer journey. My Glacier Express guide covers the route, and Is Glacier Express Excellence Class worth it? covers the premium carriage and its booking window. My ten-day Swiss Wellness Grand Tour stops in Zermatt on the way.

My advice

• Decide on Unplugged now. If you want 6 to 10 April 2027, the room and the presale route matter more than the line-up, which comes in December.
• Do not travel for the Horu Trophy or Magic Mountain alone unless curling or electronic music is your thing. Know their dates so you can choose them or avoid them.
• The Folklore Festival is the best free event of the year and the easiest summer weekend to combine with the Gornergrat and the glacier.
• Treat the Ultraks and Eagle Cup dates as provisional until their organisers confirm them, and do not pay for anything non-refundable before then.
• Arrive by train. With a car you still end up on the shuttle from Täsch.

If you would like me to arrange the hotel, the train and, where the organiser sells them, the tickets, ask me to find you a room for your Zermatt dates.