5 Bucket List Items: The Best of Montreux, Switzerland

*Thank you to Montreux-Vevey Tourism and to Rail Europe for hosting me! I am truly grateful for the experiences and as always, all opinions expressed in my posts are my own!

We had such a great time in Montreux. Switzerland is just beyond beautiful and Montreux truly helped define that experience! We only had three days, but there is so much to do here that you could stay a lot longer! These are my Five Bucket List Items…the best of Montreux, Switzerland!

 

1. Chillon Castle

We started our first morning with Château de Chillon or Chillon Castle.

Located on a rock island in Montreux, the castle dates back to the 12th century. I tried my hardest to find the significance of 1585 and surprisingly could not!

I loved all the doorways, unique window seats and the outdoor courtyard with the cute fountain…

as well as the arches in the rooms, the outdoor hallways, and the colorful crests. I always love a good cannon barrel pic too. 😉

The exterior of the castle and what I called the “checkered” room (for lack of the correct word) were interesting. The chapel was pretty too. However, my favorite had to be the “windows to the world”…

and most definitely the views from the top of the castle. They were absolutely stunning!

Chillon Castle is the historic site most visited in Switzerland. It was even visited by such famous people as Dickens, Hemingway and Victor Hugo! Definitely put it on your bucket list!

2. Walk The Lake Trail

The views are gorgeous.

I even saw my favorite tropical flower-the hibiscus! This was a nice surprise because this isn’t the first place that comes to mind when I think of hibiscus. However, Switzerland can do flowers. Exceptionally well. As in better than anywhere else I’ve seen!

You can also walk along the boardwalk in Vevey.

The flower and tree-lined trail goes for miles…

or just sit down on one of the many benches and take in the calming view of the lake and alps.

You never know what you might find. A fork in the water…

or an anchor by the shore. This made me think of all the marines and the coast guard. Thank you all for your service, especially my cousin who is a member of the US Coast Guard!

Stay for a Vevey sunset. Each one is unique!

3. Tour Vevey

After walking the boardwalk, you can see the marina on the way into town…

and pass by beautiful houses. I wonder if it’s just easy to maintain flowers here…because they are making it look effortless and I know from personal experience that it is, in fact, NOT effortless!

When you get into town, there are quaint streets with buildings of endless personality and color.

I truly want to meet the people behind this flower maintenance thing. I feel like they should teach classes. Maybe they do? 😉

4. Rochers de Naye

Take a day trip to Rochers de Naye. At an altitude of 6,700 ft (2,042 m) above sea level, it sits 984 feet (300 m) above Montreux and takes about an hour to arrive there via cogwheel train .

You can see Chillon Castle on the left. The white, triangular-shaped building to the right of the castle? That’s our hotel, the Eurotel Montreux. If you are looking for a fabulous place to stay, I highly recommend it!

If, however, you want to spend a night up in the alps, an interesting feature of Rochers de Naye is its original Mongolian Yurts. I don’t think I could pull this off, but I’m highly impressed with anyone who can!

There is even a Love Yurt for that special occasion.

The cute marmots might even pop up to say hi! They live in Marmot’s Paradise, an animal park where kids can learn about all different kinds of marmots.

5. Be A Chocolatier

We got to make our own chocolate cows during our class with Läderach. I thoroughly enjoyed this experience!

Before we began, we got to hone our chocolate-tasting skills. We learned how to recognize flavors originating from all over the world!

Then, we got down to business…my own workstation complete with the Läderach apron I got to keep. 🙂

I have a newfound respect for what goes into this process. It wasn’t easy…

but I thought they turned out pretty cute! Stop in to try Läderach chocolate and take the class. It’s my favorite in Switzerland!

A Few Other Suggestions

These are activities that either weren’t happening at the time we were in Montreux/Vevey or for which we ran out of time, but I would love to go back and do them!

The famous Montreux Jazz Festival occurs every summer.

Vevey is home to the Nestlé international headquarters. Their building is the huge, gray with green glass building to the right. They had just recently opened their new museum, The Nest.

Vevey had also recently opened Chaplin’s World. If you are a Charlie Chaplin fan, this might be of interest! Aren’t these chocolates by Läderach the cutest?

 

As you can see, there is plenty to do in this gorgeous lakeside town! Make sure you put it on your Switzerland itinerary! If any of you have been, I would love to hear about your experiences. If you haven’t been, tell me which activity you would most like to do! Drop me a comment-as always, I’d love to hear from you!

‘Til next time…

Trimm Travels,

Heather

*Thank you to Montreux-Vevey Tourism and to Rail Europe for hosting me! I am truly grateful for the experiences and as always, all opinions expressed in my posts are my own!