Geissengädi at Zen Stecken
With their twisted horns and long, black-and-white coats, the Valais Blackneck goats are the stars of Zermatt’s summer. A herd of about 50 animals walks in procession through the village every day for six weeks in summer. And of course, the goats have their hotel, too.
Description
The Geissengädi (“goat barn”) of Zermatt’s Blackneck goats is located at Zen Stecken. They spend the night there before setting off at 9am to cross the village. All along the Bahnhofstrasse and at the Bahnhofplatz by the station, visitors stop to take photos. Accompanying the 50 goats are boys and girls who gently use their wooden sticks to ensure that the animals do not tuck into the geraniums and begonias along the route.
The bleating of the goats and tinkling of their bells fills the Bahnhofstrasse once again in the late afternoon, when the goats return from their pasture by the heliport to their goat barn at Zen Stecken.
- Procession of goats, during 6 weeks in summer
- Daily at 9am and 5pm
- Goats graze during the day on the pasture by the heliport
- Goat barn at Zen Stecken, at the end of the village
- Popular photo subject: herd of Valais Blackneck goats in the centre of Zermatt
- Information on Valais Blackneck goats and Valais Blacknose sheep at Zermatlantis, the Matterhorn Museum
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