Where the sun goes in Zermatt in winter
The 6,066 residents of Zermatt (as of 2023) are spread across 180 inhabited hectares. 10% of them live in locations that get less than 2 hours of sun on 21 December, 87% in locations with less than 4 hours. On that day, the sunniest inhabited hectare gets 4.6 hours, the shadiest 0.0.
On the evening of 21 December, the sun disappears behind Hirli to the south-west (12° above the horizon, 5 km away). In the morning, the sun only appears from behind Riffelhorn to the south (20° above the horizon, 2 km away).
The paths show the position of the sun over the day; where a path disappears into the terrain, the residential location is in shadow. Chart at the population centre of Zermatt, 1,603 m above sea level.
Hours of sunshine on the reference dates
- 21 December: sun on average from 11:42 to 14:59, 3.1 of 8.5 possible hours (astronomical sunrise 8:16, sunset 16:44).
- 21 March: sun on average from 9:10 to 16:44, 7.6 of 12.1 possible hours (astronomical sunrise 6:36, sunset 18:40).
- 21 June: sun on average from 8:06 to 18:29, 10.4 of 15.6 possible hours (astronomical sunrise 5:44, sunset 21:20).
Over the whole year, an average residential location in Zermatt adds up to 2,634 possible hours of sunshine. With a clear horizon it would be 4,401; the terrain therefore costs around 1,767 hours, or 40%, per year. The difference between the sunniest and the shadiest residential location is 1,559 hours per year.
How the winter sun is distributed across the population
Hours of sunshine per neighbourhood
| Neighbourhood / locality | 21 Dec sun from–to | 21 Dec hours | 21 June | Year | Shadow from |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zermatt5,702 residents · 1,627 m | 11:41–15:00 | 3.1 h | 10.4 h | 2,637 h | Riffelhorn |
Averages of the inhabited hectares in the neighbourhood, weighted by number of residents. “Shadow from”: terrain behind which the sun disappears in the evening or appears in the morning on 21 December.
How it was calculated
- Terrain: swissALTIRegio (swisstopo, 10 m grid) within a 25 km radius; horizon in 72 directions, 3 m above ground. Required source attribution (editions from 2025): Bundesamt für Landestopografie swisstopo; Tarquini S., I. Isola, M. Favalli, A. Battistini, G. Dotta (2023). TINITALY, a digital elevation model of Italy with a 10 meters cell size (Version 1.1). Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV). https://doi.org/10.13127/tinitaly/1.1; DGM Österreich, geoland.at; DGM1, Bayerische Vermessungsverwaltung – www.geodaten.bayern.de; DGM 1 Baden-Württemberg: LGL, www.lgl-bw.de, dl-de/by-2-0”; RGEAlti, Institut National de l’information géographique et forestière, données originales tétéchargées sur https://geoservices.ign.fr/rgealti#telechargement5m, mise à jour du juillet 2023
- Residential locations: all hectares with residents (FSO STATPOP 2023), averages weighted by number of residents.
- Sun position to the minute for every day of the year 2026; times in CET/CEST.
- Not taken into account: neighbouring buildings, trees and cloud cover. Values are the astronomically possible hours of sunshine above the terrain horizon.
- Neighbourhood names and boundaries: swissNAMES3D (swisstopo). Municipal boundary: swissBOUNDARIES3D. Calculation as of: 2026-09-08.
Short answers
How many hours of sunshine does Zermatt get in winter?
On 21 December, the sun shines for 3.1 hours at an average residential location in Zermatt, on average from 11:42 to 14:59. Depending on the neighbourhood, the value lies between 0.0 and 4.6 hours. Cloud cover is not taken into account.
Which mountain blocks the sun in Zermatt?
At the population centre of Zermatt, the winter sun disappears in the evening behind Hirli to the south-west. In the morning, it appears from behind Riffelhorn to the south.
How much sun does my house in Zermatt get?
This page only takes the terrain into account. For an individual address, neighbouring buildings and trees come on top, and in winter they often cast more shadow than the mountain. The SunPlot report calculates this for every address in Zermatt using the official 3D building data, hour by hour over the whole year.