14 Sep 2026 8 min read

Day 3: Lake Constance (Germany) –> Zermatt (Switzerland)

Our exact route on Day 3

After yesterday's long drive, distances between stages will shorten for the next two weeks. Instead of focusing on distance, we'll be enjoying the journey, exploring our favourite roads mountain passes and lakes across this part of Europe.

Today we’re heading for Zermatt, one of Switzerland’s most famous alpine villages, nestled high in the mountains beneath the iconic Matterhorn.

We’ve been to Zermatt many times before, so this isn’t a first visit, but it’s a place we never tire of returning to. After the fast roads of Germany, we’re now heading into some very different scenery as we make our way deeper into the Swiss Alps.

Leaving Konstanz

We load up the car in what has already become a familiar process. Over our previous trips, we’ve found the “ideal” place for everything to go, and it is always a surprise how much luggage and gear the 911 can safely carry.

As we load in our Porsche frunk cases, we notice that one of the wheels has fallen off and is lying on the ground. Closer inspection reveals that the screw securing the wheel has worked itself loose and is nowhere to be found.

We re-traced our route, not too hopeful that a small black screw would be found, but surprisingly we did quickly find it about halfway between the hotel entrance and our parked car.

A few quick twists with our thumbs and the wheel was back secured on the case.

Heading towards the Swiss Alps

The plan today is to drive to Zermatt via Andermatt and the Furka pass. Firstly, this involves some motorways and tunnels to get around Zurich and put the city behind us.

Unlike yesterday, the day is warm, sunny and dry with a average temperature hovering around 25c, allowing us to lower the roof in our Targa for the entire day.

It is amazing how the car has such a different feeling when the roof is open. You can hear and smell the environment you are driving through.

The tunnels are noisy though, as the tyre and engine noise reverberate against the walls and amplify in the enclosed space.

Unlike yesterday, the day is warm, sunny and dry with a average temperature hovering around 25c, allowing us to lower the roof in our Targa for the entire day.

It isn’t long before we’re passing through quieter countryside of lakes and valleys.

Lunch in Andermatt

We have visited Andermatt frequently, and it ranks among our preferred destinations in Switzerland. We’ve stayed at the expensive supercar destination hotel of The Chedi and the equally popular with Porsche owners Radisson Blu on the outskirts of the town.

The area hosts several well-known mountain passes that draw many Porsche owners to its routes.

The last time we were here it was on the last weekend of the summer season and there were hundreds of Porsche 911s out on the mountains.

Today, we’re just stopping off at a pizza place where we frequently eat when staying here.

Driving the Furkapass

After lunch, we head out of town towards the Furkapass.

It isn’t long before we’re enjoying some of the twisty bits as captured by our Porsche Dashcam.

0:00

/0:29

Driving the Furkapass

We enjoy the view when we reach the top and the anticipation of the twisty road ahead.

This is a popular photography spot that the Swiss tourism agency has well capitalised on.

Our Irish number plate attracted some attention and conversations from the people milling around, including one Swiss biker who stopped to “check” if he was seeing things – telling us it is very rare to see an Irish car in the region.

Our Irish registered car in the Swiss Alps

We stop off at the always popular Hotel Belvédère for an ice cream in the warm September afternoon.

It is always busy around here, but this time we did find parking pretty easily. There were two other Targas in the area, including one with an almost identical spec to our own, minus the Bordeaux red interior.

Our 911 Targa parked up at the Belvédère Hotel

When the recent GT3 Bergsport was announced by Porsche it was this area that featured in its launch photoshoot. With the highlight image from, Stefan Bogner of the wonderful Curves magazine

The GT3 Bergsport at the Belvédère Hotel

Looking over the edge at the road ahead, we knew it was time to press on towards Zermatt.

At this stage we were dangerously low on fuel and were as close to “range anxiety” as ever had in our Taycan. We were enjoying the Shell V-Power Racing 100 octane fuel in the mountains and didn’t want to dilute it with the 95 octane only available in Andermatt. On reflection, probably not the wisest decision.

We used our PCM to find the nearest available station on our route, which was the smallest and hardest-to-find petrol pump we’ve ever used.

It was so subtle that despite the PCM insisting it was where we were – we failed to notice it initially even though we were stopped right in front of it!

It was a single card-operated pump that was positioned to the side of the building we were parked.

While all fuel sold in Europe is of a guaranteed high standard, this was the most un certain looking we’ve ever purchased. We decided to just splash in 15 litres – plenty to get us to Zermatt.

Driving away we noticed that despite the additional fuel our fuel gauge not registered it. Our range was still showing 63 km when we estimated it should now be closer to 200 km.

Either the pump charged us but failed to deliver any fuel or our Porsche wasn’t able to register a refill of only 15 litres. This is the first time since we owned the car that we didn’t fully fill it up.

We think its very unlikely the pump didn’t deliver fuel as that is highly regulated in Europe. After about 30 km of further driving our car suddenly acknowledged the refill and the range jumped to 211 km.

Parking at Täsch

Because Zermatt is completely car-free, we leave the 911 in Täsch, the small village about 5 km down the valley. There’s a large multi-storey car park right beside the railway station, making the change from car to train particularly easy.

We had pre-booked our parking space back in March, which seems like a little overkill at the time, but given how busy Zermatt can get, it’s reassuring to know we have a guaranteed space waiting for us.

A quick oil level check shows us that our pre-trip top up is doing its job.

After an entire day in the sun, its time to close the roof on our 911 Targa.

0:00

/0:24

Closing the roof on our 911 Targa

From here, the Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn takes us on the short journey up to Zermatt, with trains running regularly throughout the day. It’s a wonderfully simple system: park the car, walk straight into the station and, within about 12 minutes, we’re in the centre of Zermatt, ready to explore the village.

The Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn is no ordinary railway either, climbing steeply from Täsch to Zermatt on a line designed specifically to tackle the dramatic gradients of the mountain valley, including sections where rack-and-pinion technology is used to help the trains conquer the incline.

Walking from the car park to our shuttle train

Despite the automotive focus of this trip, it’s actually rather nice to leave the car behind for a while.

Zermatt’s car-free streets make a refreshing change, giving us the chance to slow down and enjoy the village on foot, surrounded by its spectacular alpine setting.

Our hotel

We’re staying at The Omnia again, a hotel we’ve returned to many times over the years and one of our favourite places to stay in Zermatt.

Getting there is always part of the experience. After arriving at Täsch, we use the special phone at the station to call the hotel, and their electric vehicle is waiting for us when we arrive in Zermatt.

From there, we’re driven up towards the hotel entrance, which is built into the mountainside. We enter through a tunnel into a natural rock cave, where a glass elevator takes us vertically up through the mountain and into the hotel itself. It’s a wonderfully unusual arrival, and one that never seems to lose its magic.

Our room has a view across the town.