Next stop Zermatt, Switzerland: a Bermuda, of sorts, in the Alps. This little town, which boasts amazing views of Europe's most famous mountain, the Matterhorn, draws a crowd that regularly enjoys shopping at the Fendi store when they're not skiing the Alps.

Zermatt is situated in southern Switzerland and with an extra ski pass, you can actually ski into Italy (if the weather cooperates.) From Florence (my previous stop) the trip to Zermatt was a little out of the way, but as I sat watching television news of a blizzard in England and huge amounts of snow creating amazing conditions for skiing in Switzerland my travel buddy and I decided to listen to the snow gods and make our way to Zermatt.

Getting there wasn't easy. A two hour train to Milan where we had enough time to grab some grub before the next train to Visp, Switzerland. Once in Visp we had yet another train to Zermatt.

So after leaving Florence around 3.30 p.m. we arrived at our mountain entrenched town at 10.30 p.m.

Trying to cut the costs where possible, in probably one of the most expensive places to ski in Europe, we rented a studio apartment in a nice family-run chalet. We figured we could save money by avoiding paying for lunch and dinner if we made it in our apartment every day.

After travelling so much the day before it was rough getting up early the next day, but after renting skis across the road from our apartment we hit the slopes by 11 a.m. We could have used a compass!

With three mountains and three lifts right in Zermatt to get you up the mountains, it was any guess where you would actually end up. And that was just the Swiss side. There was an Italian side as well that just complicated matters.

The views from basically anywhere on any of the runs are amazing as the mountains are so sheer and tall that even the base chair lifts (or train as in the case of one of the peaks) take you up a couple of thousand metres. The first day, though, the wind kept us from going to the very top of any of the mountains and the second day the wind was so bad most of the runs on all of the mountains were closed before 3 p.m.

I was off the mountain well before that after deciding to go to the top of one of the peaks and getting stuck in a snow storm. I couldn't even see my hands, but for the white-out that was threatening to blow me off the mountain.

I had to sit down to try and wait for it to blow over. With the first chair lift I could reach I was back down into Zermatt to the safety and warmth of our apartment! In Zermatt a day out skiing, never ends at the bottom of a ski run. With no cars and only electric taxis and buses permitted in town, a thrifty skier either has to wait for the packed buses to convey them home or walk. Some, with rental skis, even tried their hand at skiing right through town.

Having to use my poles to push my way across town did give my arms quite a work out, so by the end of the day I was exhausted.

Zermatt, which now draws thousands of visitors and repeat customers every year, had its first guest house in the area opened by a surgeon, Josef Lauber with three beds in 1838 and called it Hotel Mont Cervie.

The area now can house 14,000 people in 19 hotels and 800 holiday apartments. The area started truly drawing outdoor enthusiasts about 136 years ago when it became a pilgrimage for mountaineers.

There are two other villages nearby that are on the same train line from Visp, Switzerland, and these are Tasch and Randa.

We never made it to them because the real skiing centre is in Zermatt. Regardless of all the fur-coat-clad visitors, it was clear that the financial crisis had hit Zermatt too.

That was plain when more than 3,000 ft up on one of the mountains we watched as a business man argued over some negotiations for close to an hour while his wife cooled her heels waiting to get back on the slopes.

Still the town managed to draw crowds, what with amazing skiing that included hundreds of off-piece runs through mounds of fresh powder.

But skiing is not the only draw to Zermatt, the nightlife that seems to start from what is called 'Apres Ski', perhaps a European concoction, it entails stopping with skis and all to have a few drinks after hitting the slopes all day.

The first day we were on the slopes we skied right by one that had revellers packed onto the balcony. Perhaps we never noticed because it was right in the middle of a ski run!

Anyway, the third day on the slopes we decided we had to stop and see what this was all about. Lucky we did! After trying to sit on the outdoor balcony we quickly retreated inside where a British cover band was keeping everyone happy.

We were enjoying our special caramel vodka shots when the band gave a shout-out to the Bermudians in the area above the dance floor.

I couldn't believe it! This never happens to me.

As quick as my ski boots would let me run up to the second floor I found Lindsay Kelly from the Mid Ocean, her husband and a bunch of their friends.

They were there for a week of skiing and luckily it overlapped with our week. We were able to meet up with them for drinks in one of the many hopping bars in town, one other night, which was great and it was really nice to catch-up on what has been going on back in Bermuda.

On top of skiing and nightlife, Zermatt has some amazing hikes one of which took us up to a reservoir on a side of the mountain! The second, however, was a bit trickier. I guess we didn't have the right map for the winter hikes because we found ourselves on the side of a ski slope. Well with no other way to go but up we had to skirt the side hoping skiers and snow boarders wouldn't take us out.

After about a week in Zermatt it was time to try and warm up and we found a decent flight from Geneva to Rome, Italy. A train conveniently takes you right to the Geneva airport and an hour and a half flying brought us back to the country of wine, pasta, and ancient ruins!

n Have you got similar travel stories to tell? We'd like to hear them. E-mail us at news@royalgazette.bm and share your experiences and the stranges places you have visited.