Went this past season. Everything above checks out.
Here's a bunch of things to add that haven't been said yet:
There's a electric bus service to the various lift stations in town. It makes sense if the price is identical to stay at a place where you are at a bus station. We stayed at Hotel Parnass because it included a good buffet breakfast, was at a bus station, was within walking distance (not that the town is huge) to everything we wanted nightlife wise, and we could walk to Gornergrat and Sunnega and just had to use the bus for the Gondola.
https://www.zermatt.ch/en/arrival/Getting-around-the-village/Bushaltestellen/Bus-stops
If you have an IKON pass you go to a ticket office to show them your pass and you get one of theirs. There's a small deposit for the ticket. You get it back if you return their ticket. This is also where you tell them if you want to go to Italy. If I recall right they kind of want you to make all the days consecutive or come back each time which is a pain.
We did ski as far as we could out to Valtournenche in Italy because of the experience. It's not some amazing set of trails but man we did I think 3 runs that day and had 28mi or something absurd under our skis. Speaking of which, to get back from Italy everyone waits for the tram. You don't have to, there's a set of chairlifts way far leftish of Cervinia. Take them all the way to the top. You'll then panic when you go around the corner and it's CLOSED to Zermatt. It's not, there's a massive cliff where it's closed, look downhill, there's a left about 20 yards away. This is definitely panic inducing 5 minutes before they close the lifts, but it's all about what you see first. The lifts are way better than that tram coming back. Tram holds x, if x+1 show up at closing, guess what happens to the +1?
Another place on piste to eat in Cervinia is Ristorante Bar Bricole which came recommended to us from a chef at Mammoth. It delivered.
Harry's Ski Bar although it's got an English name is really great early on and then fills up quick. We also enjoyed Hexen bar, as well as the places mentioned earlier. The "old town" with the historic building also has 1 or 2 personal homes where the owners have public bars. This can be a bit intimidating and language may be a bit of an issue but an experience for a drink or two.
You'll want to get a sense for the ski map. There's multiple ways up the mountain. There's the Gornergrat train, the funicular at Sunnega, and then the main Gondola: 3920 Zermatt, Switzerland. All of these options take you totally different places.
https://www.matterhornparadise.ch/en/Experience/Zermatt-ski-area/Ski-map
Welcome to Switzerland, those "illegal" runs that causes an avalanche that takes out the train and hut are NOT marked in any way shape or form. I felt one day we couldn't do anything that was legal. One is called the Gallery, another is off the top of the Gornergrat train, hike to top and off from there, and there's another right above the Gornergrat train with towers that look like old ski lifts -- they aren't, those are avey towers. It probably would have been more obvious if there was more snow where not to go. So that gets back to the advice about guides...
The general scene (most skiers) is front side groomed trail skiing. The freeride terrain (if there's snow) is really fun but like I said, not a lot of signs (any). If it was epic snow we would have hired a guide. There's an ice cave that's very close to the Matterhorn (Furggsattel lift then go hard skiers left yes past the ropes [this one isn't illegal]). There's definitely crevasses but those were without much snow this year easy to see and avoid. It was a little hike out and down through a flash flood bridge. You are as close there to the Matterhorn as you'll get without climbing it. We did that about 3x and brought different people in the group to it. There were guides doing the same with their clients.
Generally, you want to beat the crowds in the AM. Meaning you want to be at the lift before it opens, especially the Gornergrat train and the Gondola. The lines suck. Lines in general can be a pain, remember, it's Europe, push and cut until you can't push and cut anymore, then try to get the person next to you off balance and push them down or eject their bindings. That's how it works, really. It's a rugby scrum after every run.
As others have mentioned it can be pricey so IMO that's why a hotel with breakfast makes a lot of sense. If you haven't skied in Europe "huts" on the mountain are everywhere and they vary in price and quality. The runs going down past Hennu Stall have a whole bunch of huts that are good. If you are eating in town generally reservations are in order. I hate that and rather graze going down the final runs of the day at the various huts. Some of the more famous huts were tourist prices that under delivered.
There's a patio area in front of the Zermatterhof with cocktails and apps. That's a nice place for people that like seeing the scenery. Speaking of, on trail champagne bar way on the left side on the last trail coming back has some great views. There's another hut before that one which is on a steep pitch and then way off the trail. That had great food and also awesome views.
No need to have a room with a Matterhorn view, trust me, it's visible everywhere (assuming weather is good).
The train from Zurich airport sbb.ch or something is expensive. You want to get the app, make a profile, and then look for day saver tickets, not point to point tickets. You can only get the tickets so far in advance, I think 60-90 days, can't recall. It is a pain but you are best off having it on your phone vs. trying to buy at a ticket machine or on the train. Try to find a time with fewest connections, especially if you have gear... assume you'll need to "run" to make your connection and be the first off the train. It seems like swiss air flight incidentally seem to have the best coordination with the train. The train station is at the Zurich airport for lack of a better explanation. Get your bags and follow the signs into the other building. There's no like ticket gate or anything, you just go straight to the platform. They check your tickets on the train. If I recall they had two different types of ticket 1st or not. Kinda irrelevant. The train may be cramped for gear, it didn't matter which class we were on, the experience was the same. Make the best of it.
Generally speaking, you are there for the experience not the quality of the skiing which is quite middling coming from the US West Coast.
If it gets dumped on it's definitely epic but I can see how it can get absurdly dangerous really quickly too as the entire mountain will seem like a freerider paradise and there's just too much terrain to learn in a short period of time like a week.
