Blauherd & Stellisee Guide

The other reflection lake

Everyone knows Riffelsee, the famous pool below the Gornergrat ridge where the Matterhorn doubles in still water. Fewer first-time visitors know that the valley has a second, quieter mirror on the opposite flank — Stellisee, cupped in the slopes above Sunnegga, reached not by the cog railway but by the funicular and gondola that climb the eastern side. For many who have seen both, Stellisee is the more romantic of the two: a little lower, a little softer, ringed by alpine grass rather than bare rock, and almost always less crowded at dawn.

Stellisee and Blauherd come as a pair. Blauherd is the gondola station, perched on the ridge at roughly 2,571 m, where you step out of the lift and the whole eastern panorama opens up. Stellisee is the lake a short walk below it, at around 2,537 m, sitting in just the right place for the Matterhorn to fall into the water. You ride to one and walk to the other, and the whole excursion — lift, walk, reflection — can be done in a single unhurried morning.

Getting up: funicular, then gondola to Blauherd

The eastern side of Zermatt is reached differently from the Gornergrat side. From near the village you take the Sunnegga Express — an underground funicular that climbs through the mountain to Sunnegga at roughly 2,288 m in just a few minutes — and then change onto the gondola that continues up the Rothorn line. Blauherd is the middle station on that line; ride on past it and you reach Rothorn itself at around 3,103 m, the high viewpoint at the top of the eastern sector.

For Stellisee you get out at Blauherd. From the station the lake is a gentle walk down a clear, well-trodden path — manageable for most people in walking shoes on a dry day, though it is still high, exposed alpine ground and snow can linger into early summer. Many visitors ride straight to Rothorn for the summit panorama and never realise the reflection lake sits a short walk below the station they passed through on the way up.

At a glance

The essentials for a Blauherd and Stellisee morning. Heights and walking times are evergreen; confirm the day's funicular and gondola timetable and mountain conditions before you set out, as the Rothorn line and its opening dates change with the season.

• Stellisee altitude: roughly 2,537 m, below the Blauherd station.
• Blauherd altitude: roughly 2,571 m, the middle station on the Rothorn line.
• Access: Sunnegga Express funicular from the village, then gondola up to Blauherd.
• Walk Blauherd to Stellisee: a short, gentle downhill on a clear path.
• Best time: early morning, before the valley breeze ruffles the water.
• Season: roughly late spring to autumn for the open lake; snow can linger early.
• Footwear: walking shoes; it is high, exposed ground even when the path is easy.
• Onward: continue down on the Five Lakes Walk towards Grindjisee and Sunnegga.

When to go — and why dawn wins

As with every reflection in the valley, the picture lives and dies on still air, and the air is stillest early. Through the night the mountain air settles; soon after sunrise the valley begins to breathe and a breeze starts to ruffle the surface. So the prize morning is a cold, clear, calm one, and the prize hour is as soon after sunrise as you can manage — which means an early funicular and, ideally, a forecast you have watched for a day or two. The reward is a glassy lake and a pink-tipped summit doubled in it, with almost no one else about.

Season matters too. Stellisee is a high-mountain pool, so it is at its most photogenic from roughly late spring, once the surface has thawed and the surrounding ground has cleared of snow, through autumn. In late September and October the slopes around it turn the gold and rust of larch and alpine grass, and the low light is at its warmest — many regulars think autumn is Stellisee's finest hour, the crowds thinned and the colour at its peak. Note that the Rothorn line and its stations run to a seasonal calendar, so always check that Blauherd is open before you plan a morning around it.

Photographing the reflection

Stellisee is larger and shallower than Riffelsee, with a softer, grassier shore, and the difference between a snapshot and a keeper is mostly patience and position. Walk around the lake to find the angle where the summit sits cleanly in the water — there is more than one vantage, and a step or two changes the composition entirely. Crouch low: the lower your camera, the more of the mountain the surface can hold, and the more the reflection fills the frame.

Wait for a lull. Even on a breezy morning the wind comes in pulses, and a patient photographer will catch a few seconds of calm between gusts when the surface glasses over. Include a little foreground — a rock, a tuft of grass, the lake's edge — to give the reflection a frame and a sense of place. Because Stellisee sits in open meadow rather than a rock bowl, it also offers gentler, wider compositions than the tight Riffelsee frame, which makes it a favourite for couples wanting the mountain and a sense of the soft alpine landscape together.

• Circle the lake to find the cleanest alignment of summit and water.
• Get low — the lower the lens, the more of the peak the reflection holds.
• Wait out the gusts; calm comes in pulses even on a breezy morning.
• Use a foreground rock or grass edge to frame the reflection.
• In autumn, include the gold larch slopes for warmth and colour.

Making a morning of it: the Five Lakes

Stellisee is best enjoyed not as a tick but as the opening of the Five Lakes Walk, Zermatt's most-loved easy hike. Ride up early to Blauherd, walk down to Stellisee, give it time — sit a while, let the wind drop, watch the light shift on the summit — and then continue down the marked loop that links Stellisee with Grindjisee, Grünsee, Moosjisee and Leisee, finishing above Sunnegga where families swim in summer. Walking anticlockwise from Blauherd means you start high, with the reflection lake first, and spend most of the route gently descending with the Matterhorn ahead of you.

For couples it is quietly romantic: a still lake with the most beautiful mountain in the Alps folded into it, reached by a funicular and a short walk, with no station crowds if you come early. Pack a flask and something to eat, take the lift up before the day warms, and let the morning be the destination rather than a stop on the way to the summit.