We have just ridden it for the first time, and we immediately put it back on the calendar: the Zermatt e-bike weekend joins the Exoride programme. Two days, a hotel facing the Matterhorn, natural trails starting at 3,400 metres, and all the logistics handled from Martigny.
Here is what it is, why we created it, and who it is for.
Why a weekend, and not a day
Most riders know Zermatt as a finish line: the end of a Haute Route, a photo in front of the Matterhorn, and home. We think that is a mistake.
Zermatt offers several mountainsides that have nothing in common, more than a hundred kilometres of trails, and a range of altitude that few places in the Alps can match. You need at least two days to switch sides of the valley, watch the light turn around the Matterhorn, and ride both the bare rock up high and the forest down below.
And there is a more recent reason. Since 2025, the Gornergrat railway no longer carries bikes. Many concluded that Zermatt was finished for mountain biking. That is wrong: the trails are still there, and the other lifts still take bikes. What has changed is that you now need to combine the remaining lifts cleverly with the range of an e-bike to reach the best starting points. That is exactly what this weekend does, and that is why it only exists in e-bike form.
The programme
Saturday. Meeting point in Martigny at seven. Transfer by Exo'bus to Täsch, then the last few kilometres by train: Zermatt is a car-free village, you reach it by train, and that is the first thing that gives the weekend its flavour.
We warm up on the new Blauherd flow trail, an easy and playful line, just long enough to settle into the bike and the altitude. Then we go after the natural trails, chaining lifts and electric assistance up to the highest starts. Lunar landscapes, mountain lakes, balcony traverses, larch hamlets. Night in Zermatt, at the hotel.
Sunday. We switch to the other side, facing the glaciers and the 4,000-metre peaks. This is the day of the high point: a start at 3,400 metres, where there is nothing left but rock, snow and silence. Then the last run, a traverse of more than 2,000 metres of descent in a single push, starting in bare rock and ending in the forest, all the way to Täsch. No train back: we ride to the bus. Return to Martigny around eight in the evening.
The weekend in numbers: 105 kilometres, 9,100 metres of descent, 1,400 metres of climbing. The ratio says it all.
What you will ride
Natural trail, almost exclusively. The Saturday morning flow trail is the only built line of the two days; everything else is mountain singletrack, dry schist, slabs, high-altitude scree, balcony traverses and larch woodland.
The terrain changes with every rotation, and that is what makes these two days so dense. Between 3,400 and 1,400 metres, you cross several seasons in a single descent.
And all the while, the Matterhorn. It appears round a shoulder, sits at the end of a lake, vanishes behind a ridge, comes back. You end up riding while keeping one eye on it.
The setting, in three facts
A car-free village. It always has been. Electric taxis, horse-drawn carriages, and a silence that surprises you in a resort of this fame.
A mountain that changed mountaineering. The Matterhorn rises to 4,478 metres. Its first ascent, on 14 July 1865, ended in tragedy: four of the seven climbers in Edward Whymper's party died on the way down. The story went round Europe and turned a farming village into the capital of alpinism.
Granaries older than modern Switzerland. In old Zermatt, larch storehouses stand on stone discs that kept mice away from the grain. Some are more than four centuries old. Larch does not rot, it darkens: that is the colour of the hamlets you ride through.
Logistics are our job
You get to Martigny. We handle the rest: the Exo'bus transfer, the train, the hotel with breakfast, the local guide, the spare bike on board, the photos of the day.
And your luggage: it is waiting for you at the hotel on Saturday evening, then travels on its own to Täsch on Sunday morning. You ride both days with only the essentials on your back, and you find your bag when you get on the bus. That is what makes Sunday's big descent to the valley floor possible.
Is the seven o'clock meeting time too early for you? The Exo'base, our guesthouse in Orsières, is twenty minutes from Martigny. You arrive on Friday evening, you sleep, you leave fresh.
Who it is for
Riders who are at ease on narrow, rocky mountain trails, exposed in places. The trip is rated technical 3 out of 4. It is not a weekend for discovering mountain biking; if you are unsure, look at our levels page, or write to us describing what you usually ride, and we will answer honestly.
And e-bike or light e-bike only. The programme chains rotations and goes after starts at 3,400 metres: it is the assistance that makes this volume possible in two days. On a non-assisted bike, you would spend the day being waited for.
No e-bike? Borrow ours
Not owning an e-bike is no reason to stay at home. Our full-suspension e-bikes are available to rent for the weekend, sizes S to XL, set up to your size at the start. You tick the option when you book, CHF 170 for the two days, and you arrive in Martigny with your helmet and your kit. The bike is waiting on the trailer.
Want to try an e-bike for a day before committing to a weekend? Day rental is also available on our shuttles. It is actually the best way to find out whether this format is for you.
Dates, price, and your group
The weekend costs CHF 540 per person, all inclusive from Martigny: transfers, train up, hotel with breakfast, guide, luggage, photos. Not included: the lift pass, around CHF 70 with a half-fare card for the two days, and lunches and dinners.
The next dates are online. And if you would rather come with your own group, on your own date, the weekend can be privatised: same programme, same trails, and the Matterhorn all to yourselves.
Zermatt by e-bike is not a stopover. It is a destination.
Chris
