Thinking of heading to Zermatt mid august with some friends – mainly mountaineering (there’s some mighty fine pointy peaks over there!), but was also wandering what the biking is like. Any good for road riding (day loops)? What about mtb’ing – any marked trails?

Probably don’t want to take my bike (will be lugging mountaineering and camping kit already), so would hiring bikes be an option? Usually very difficult for me as I’m a small (5′) woman. Any links to bike hire places?

Any other suggestions for things to do / see in the area will be much appreciated!

Forget the road bike! Zermatt is awesome.

There is a good bike shop in the town centre which hires bikes. They could probably point you in the right direction.

the mtb bike trails in zermatt are amazing.

i went years ago so things will have moved on with regards trail marking no doubt.

This will be useful for you:

http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/riding-dh-in-zermatt-switzerland

I was there a couple of years ago. The trails aren’t marked for biking, but a lot of the footpaths are basically what we’d call xc/trail level tracks, just a lot higher. Some of the tracks aren’t rideable at all. The walkers are very friendly and let you through.

OTP are based in Zermatt and may be able to sort some guiding for you.

The bike shop in Zermatt, who were very helpful when my wheel broke, had Specialized Stumpjumpers and Kona dh bikes. It’d be worth contacting them to see what they’ve got at the moment(there’s only one).