Switzerland’s Hottest Music Festival

Each April, when the sun teases the slopes and spring light cuts across the Alpine snow like a stage spotlight, Zermatt drops the bass and pulls the plug. Switzerland’s most iconic acoustic music festival, Zermatt Unplugged, is no ordinary gig in the mountains. This is pure sensory cinema – snow meets soul, peaks meet beats, guitars echo across pistes – and the Matterhorn hums to a new kind of altitude for five days.

From 8–12 April 2025, the 17th edition of this legendary event takes hold of this Alpine village and dials it into a multistage soundscape. We’re talking 125 performances, 66 acts, 17 stages – a panorama of music and style that spools out from the valley to the slopes above. Whether you're listening to a stripped-back ballad at 2,000 metres or catching a DJ drop deep house beneath chalet beams, this is Switzerland unfiltered – all acoustics, no autopilot.        

Zermatt Unplugged is a festival for audiophiles, snow chasers, and design lovers alike – a curated collision of Alpine aesthetics and bold sound. Unlike the amp-blasted mega-fests of summer, here it’s intimate, layered, refined – where the wattage is turned down but the vibe is turned all the way up.

This year’s headliners fuse nostalgic legends and fresh dynamism: UB40, Amy Macdonald, MIKA, Stephan Eicher, and Clueso lead the charge. But it’s the depth of the line-up – the slow-burn discovery acts, genre-crossing DJs, and backcountry beatmakers – that shape the soul of the festival. Think Australian dance grooves, English folk, Algerian-Arabic chanson mashups, and Swiss pop with a hook – all within a few ski turns of each other.

From the Foyer Marquee at the centre of the village to the alt-jazz of Ronnie Scott’s Club, Zermatt Unplugged reshapes the Alpine narrative. There’s a groove in the snow, a rhythm in the rafters, and a piano note drifting somewhere above the chalets.

The whole village becomes an amphitheatre. Stages are carved into mountain terraces, built into chic hotels, or set in velvet-lit lounges where the lines blur between concert and salon. By day, après-ski is soundtracked by unplugged performances on hotel balconies and sun-drenched terraces – Cervo and Beausite host exclusive Sunday sets at noon and 2 p.m., perfect for those refusing to end the week quietly.

The festival’s Discovery Stages are a parallel pulse – an acoustic playground for emerging talent and rising stars. It’s part sound-lab, part showcase – where singer-songwriters debut new material, exchange lyrics with fellow artists, or jam live under the glacier light. It’s rough, raw, and wildly brilliant.

“This is about intimacy and experimentation,” says Rolf Furrer, Zermatt Unplugged’s Managing Director. “It’s a place where artists and audiences meet without barriers – a creative retreat that’s also a cultural celebration.”

And for the festival heads who ride till the last lift and then roll into nightfall, the after-dark scene is electric. Forget just singer-songwriter sets – when the sun drops behind the mountains, Zermatt switches tempo. The Vernissage Club, Manud, Cervo, and the Unique Hotel Post all flip to DJ mode, with house, electronic, and global beats rolling into the early hours. This year, expect sets by Cassy, Radio Slave, Animal Trainer, Paula Tape, and live-electronica trio Klangphonics – pure sonic seduction until the slopes reawaken.

What makes Zermatt Unplugged so distinct is its under-the-radar cool. It’s not a hyped-up, mainstream circus – it’s curated, chic, and a little hush-hush. A magnet for style purists and insiders, it’s as much about the scene as the setlist. There’s a kind of organic luxury here – Alpine air's crispness, Swiss detail's precision, and the art of doing it all at just the right tempo.

Come for the music, stay for the mood: ski in the morning, sip something sharp at golden hour, then sink into a velvet booth for an acoustic session you’ll never forget. It’s one part retreat, one part rave, stitched together by design-forward spaces, firelight, and some of the most extraordinary backdrops in Europe.

Zermatt Unplugged becomes the ultimate Alpine encore as the season shifts and the sun casts longer shadows across the snow. It’s spring’s first cultural hit – a five-day escape that fuses music, mountain life, and modernist cool. Whether you're a ski-season veteran, a style-hunter, or a sonic explorer, Zermatt Unplugged is your call to the mountains. You won’t find another festival like it – because Zermatt isn’t about noise; it’s about tuning in.