Hotel Bellerive

My wife, 14-year-old son and I just returned from a wonderful week in Zermatt. My wife and I visited Zermatt in the winter of 2001, so we were no strangers to the town. On our previous journey we stayed at the wonderful Hotel Julen (directly across from the Bellerive). The Julen, however, has become one of the more expensive hotels in Zermatt and the need for two rooms made the Julen prohibitively expensive. Our search for a more economical alternative brought us to the Hotel Bellerive.

The Bellerive is a clean, comfortable and conveniently located hotel. The rooms are standard Swiss ski-lodge rooms with modern furniture and fixtures. The bathrooms are quite spacious and the tile and fixtures were fairly new. The rooms, while nothing fancy, appear to have been updated recently. A nice touch in the rooms were new, wall-mounted 32” LCD TVs. A separate DVD player allowed for use of the hotel’s 250+ free DVD collection – again a nice touch. The room had a minibar with the standard overpriced minibar fare (visit the very nice, small supermarket across the street for reasonably priced beer and wine to take back to the room).

Some of the south facing rooms at the Bellerive have an absolutely magnificent view of the Matterhorn. We booked very early allowing us to request and receive rooms on the highest floor. Our double room, 508, had tremendous views (see photo) as did our son’s single room, 507. I was not able to check out other rooms, but my guess is that south-facing rooms on the fourth floor would also have an unobstructed view of the Matterhorn. Rooms on the third floor will probably have their view blocked by the Hotel Julen.

The Bellerive has a small, but new spa. There is a standard sized Jacuzzi, a steam room and a sauna. The Jacuzzi was packed with people the one day I wanted to use it, so I passed on it. My wife checked out the steam room one day and said that it was nice, but that the steam was near the ceiling forcing her to stand up to be in it. If you are looking for a really nice spa, I would suggest the Hotel Julen or one of the other properties in town.

Breakfast at the Bellerive was average with only a limited selection and became somewhat boring after the third day. Everything was fresh and the service was excellent, but the only hot choice was hard-boiled eggs. As another reviewer mentioned, there is no lunch or dinner served at the Bellerive, but since we rarely eat at the hotel where we are staying, it was not a drawback. And while there is a small bar in the lobby area, it was never open and there was no beer tap. I’m someone who likes coming back to the hotel at the end of the evening, have a beer and socialize with the other guests. This is not possible at the Bellerive. There is a computer in a small room off the main lobby that provides free Internet access for checking email, checking in for flights, etc.

The Bellerive is in a great location. It’s only a two-minute walk to the nearest ski bus stop (under the bridge) from where you can get a free ride to any of the three lift stations. The Sunnegga station was not worth taking the bus to, as it was only a pleasant five-minute walk. The Klein Matterhorn lift station is just a bit too far of a walk in ski boots so the bus is the best option. Unfortunately, we found that that by the time the ski buses arrived at the stop nearest to the Bellerive, they were packed full with no room for additional people. We ended up taking the taxis that followed the packed ski buses for 3 CHF per person.

The Bellerive is a pleasant place to stay. It isn’t fancy, but the owners are friendly, helpful people who take pride in their hotel. The location is convenient and the price makes it a good value for Zermatt. You can certainly spend more and get more, but if you are looking for a clean, quiet, comfortable place to stay, then the Bellerive is a great choice.