What a super view from this hotel. The swiss train ride up makes it already special..and then overlooking the valley and the Matterhorn from your balcony is the best view possible in the Alps!

We even had dinner outside..lovely Swiss menu and staff, spectacular evening mountain views, blankets to keep warm..what an experience!

Staff is - without exception - wonderful: the care about every little detail and personal attention. So are the rooms (also in the old building) and the spa area.

Altough it was the hottest month ever in many locations, we were even able to ski on 18 kms! If you like to do so the easiest and most special way is to take your ski's/boots from the valley directly to Trockener Steg. Then in the morning, walk from Riffelalp through the flowered fields to Furi (50 min) and take the lift there. This is the quickest, you get the 'early-morning mountain' feeling and a nice warm up. Unforgettable experience!

Perfect place, very friendly staff in that unique Swiss way.. The location is quite remarkable, from the quaint way that you get there (train, and then tram - summer) to the stunning views. The rooms in the newer part are much nicer than the older part. Not many alpine hotels that are 5* and in a very beautifuk and quiet location. Very nice Swiss speciality resturant in the basement. Reasonably priced for the location and service.

We have stayed at the Riffelalp each of the past two Christmas holidays. Both of our visits were fantastic, this is one of our favourite hotels in the world, period.

On both of our visits, we stayed in two connecting rooms with our two kids for about 9-10 nights. The rooms are beautiful; ours had great views of the Matterhorn, nice bathrooms, great bedding, and comfortable chairs for lounging around and reading when not skiing. We felt entirely comfortable letting our two kids (5 and 7 the first visit, 6 and 8 the second) wander around the hotel, and they quickly met and made friends with other kids from all over Europe. There is a supervised creche (or nursery) where kids could hang out, play table tennis and video games, draw, etc.

The service is terrific. They put on a nice buffet for breakfast, and dinners were fine. The Waliserkeller is especially great, with nice fondues and grilled meats. The kids have the option of eating at the kids dinner, often followed by a movie. For lunches, we occasionally ate out on the terrace restaurant (The Terrace?) with great views of the Matterhorn and wonderful gluwein, raclette, chili, pizza.

One of our favourite aspects of the Riffelalp is the pool and spa. After skiing, we would usually make our way to the pool as a family. There are two; an indoor, relatively cold pool, and an outdoor, heated "spa" pool with an unbelievable view of the Matterhorn. My wife and I would usually follow our visit to the pool with a visit to the spa, which has multiple steam rooms and saunas. That was heaven after skiing, but it's not for everyone as it's very definitely no clothing permitted.

The location is unbelievable. The hotel sits 2000 feet above the town of Zermatt, and is reached by the Gornergrat railway. It has a dead on view of the Matterhorn, which is exploits from most rooms and the pool and the restaurants. The location also provides the only, slight downside -- it's not convenient if you're in a hurry to get to other parts of Zermatt (Klein Matterhorn, or Sunigga).

We have loved our trips, and we hope to come back for many, many years to come.

We've spent three vacations at Riffelalp and will be returning again this Christmas. We can't wait and had to miss our visit last Christmas as our son broke his arm a couple of weeks before we were due to fly out. The hotel is absolutely fantastic - one of the best we've stayed in. The staff are very helpful and friendly, the food is excellent and the location is amazing. The Chalet rooms are beautiful and ours (we have the same suite each visit) faces the Matterhorn - the bathrooms have jacuzzi bath and separate shower etc. and you can see the mountain slopes when lying in the bath. The resort is at 2222m and surrounded by mountains and the Matterhorn - no other hotels are close by. There are plenty of things to do at the hotel and you can ski in/out. Due to it's height, the snow has always been very reliable. This hotel is definitely at the top end of the scale and we can't imagine taking our annual ski vacation anywhere else!