Montreux

There seems to be more to do in and around Montreux than I can list here. I will write chapters on my favorite activities and spots: The Promenade Fleuri along the lakeside; the old town; Vevey's lakeside and its Place Marche; the Corniche Lavaux and the villages of St-Saphorin and Rivaz; the picturesque village of Cully; the ancient village of Lutry; the Roman ruins and museum in Nyon; cheese and cream in Gruyeres; and finally the mountain retreat of Gstaad.

Quick Tips:

Best Way To Get Around:

I usually use the train to tour this area though I have twice used a rental car. I thought the problems of driving -- narrow village streets, finding parking spots, driving after my dinner wine -- made it a less attractive choice.

The Hotel Victoria in Glion above Montreux, is probably my favorite hotel in Montreux for ambiance, service, charm, and dining. It is a member of the Relais and Chateaux group, a four-star. I only tear myself away if I want to get a room/balcony right on the lake. You get to Glion by rack-rail from the Montreux train station (up a short flight of stairs from the train platforms) or by funicular from Territet-Veytaux (upstairs and across the road from the Port de Territet). Both rack-railway and funicular arrive at the same station in Glion, and the Hotel Victoria is about two blocks on the right. The funicular runs every 15 minutes, so it’s much more convenient than the train if you are on the Territet side of the lake. If you decide to stay here and don’t have a car, the Le Pavillon café near the Port de Territet is a good place to stop for a coffee and to make change for the funicular before going up to Glion.

The Royal Plaza Intercontinental, right on the lake next to the Auditorium Stravinski, is a favorite because of its location despite its modern rooms and flat ambiance; its balconies are ideal for picnics or late nights with brandy. It is a five-star. The restaurants and cafés are very good, too, and on Thursday evenings in the summer months they have an all-you-can-eat raclette event. The hotel also runs frequent special offers that make the hotel nearly reasonable. The service at the hotel is also first-class. I think this hotel would be ideal for those attending the Classical Music Festival in late August-early September.

The Hotel Eden au Lac, right on the lake in the busiest section, is a favorite because of its location and its charming Victorian rooms. However, you have to “rent” a personal safe for a few extra francs, and I also didn’t like that the personal safes were located publicly in the lobby next to the reception desk. The hotel is a member of SRS, and it''s a four-star. I''m also not crazy about its restaurants with the huge exception of its lakeside cafe.

L’Ermitage, right on the lake in Clarens, is a few steps from the Auditorium Stravinski in Montruex. It is a seven-room inn (with emphasis on its well-respected restaurant), and is listed as a three-star-equivalent. I stayed in the suite with a balcony right over the restaurant and was kept awake most nights by the noise and titters of the diners. Because there was no air conditioning and I was visiting in August, I had to keep the windows open to the diners below.

When I arrive in Montreux, I get to the Promenade Fleuri as soon as possible. The Promenade stretches from Vevey to Villenueve (it really doesn’t -- there is a one-mile stretch between Clarens and La Tour-de-Peilz that runs next to some large villas that line the lake, but that’s the only caveat, and the villas are beautiful and interesting, so try it anyway!), uniting the resorts of Vevey and Montreux with the Chateau de Chillon and providing a nice but long walk. Along the quais, there are many benches to sit and read or simply stare at the majesty of the lake and the mountains in the distance. These benches are a great spot for people-watching, and I have seen the unwashed fringes of artistic European society stroll side by side -- literally -- with Chanel-suited matrons exercising their little terriers along the quais.

Of course, there are plenty of cafes to enjoy a cup of coffee or a glass or wine along the way to replenish your strength. I favor the café of the Hotel Eden au Lac because it’s in a populated area and the people-watching is prime here. I also favor the La Pavillon café at the Port de Territet for the opposite reason: less traffic here, less activity, calmer. There is a small playground just beside the cafe, and I usually find one or two young families to watch when the spectacular scenery of the snow-covered alps in the distance across the lake bores me. If you have managed to walk all the way to Villeneuve, reward yourself with a wonderful pizza & beer lunch at one of the lakeside cafés in Villenueve (these cafés offer specialties of fresh fish, but I haven’t yet developed a taste for fish . . . )

In addition to the flowers along the quais, the city gardeners construct witty and elaborate sculptures along the promenade, changing their statues every few months. The first one I saw used colorful flowers to represent paint spilling from large cans, with large straw brooms to represent paint brushes; another year there were six-foot spiders in the trees and four-foot ants along the way; one year there were large cows; last November I saw the gardeners working on six-foot godzillas and lizard monsters. Each time I return, I look forward to seeing their latest efforts!

If you are not up to doing the entire length of the quais in one day, the walk is easily divided in two: from the Forum in the center of town (or the Casino), go east to Villeneuve, passing the Chateau de Chillon on one day, and from the Forum go west to Vevey on another day. You can return to Montreux by bus or train, or, if you visit during the summer months, take the ferry for the short trip back to Montreux. The ferry stops running in late September or early October.

After fully exploring Montreux and its walks, there are still many activities that can occupy your time. The Tourist office has identified six of the most beautiful walks in the Vaudois Riviera, most of them in the mountains above the city. You can get detailed information, including transportation directions and costs, at the Tourist Office -- but here is a brief sketch:
1. The Circuit Botanique, 1 hour 50 minutes, from Les Pleiades down to Lally
2. Haute Route de la Riviera, from Rochers-de-Naye across to Les Pleiades; 6 hours with options to cut into halves of 2 hours 30 minutes and 3 hours 30 minutes
3. The Chemin Panoramique, 2 hours, from Jaman station down to Caux
4. The Chemin Fleuri is the same as the Promenade Fleuri, as noted with its own chapter
5. The Chemin des Narcisses, 1 hour 30 minutes roundtrip from Les Avants
6. Les Gorges du Chauderon, 1 hour 30 minutes, roundtrip up from Les Planches just above Montreux.

For the truly hardy, there is a 32 km, 8 hour 30 minute walk from Ouchy (Lausanne) to the Chateau de Chillon. This walk is called the Vineyard Trail, and it passes through the village of Lutry and the vineyards of wineries Villette, Epresses et Calamin, Dezaley, St Saphorin, and Chardonne before reaching Vevey-Montreux.

Another way to get pleasantly oriented in Montreux is to walk up to the old town, away from the tourists and the lake and the new buildings. One day I was wandering around the narrow cobbled streets and enjoying the many-colored houses when an old man came up to me and began chatting in French. I’m hardly fluent, but I soon understood that he was joyfully welcoming me and advising me where to find the most picturesque viewpoints. To get to the old town, walk uphill from almost anywhere (!!) and follow the signs for “Vielle Ville” or “Vielle Montreux.” There are three interesting sights in the old town: the old church on rue du Temple, the Musee du Vieux-Montreux on rue de la Gare (open 1 April - 31 October daily from 1000 - 1200 & 1400 - 1700; 6 chf), and the panoramic views you catch as you wind your way uphill. Normally as you meander uphill you’ll find yourself on rue de la Gare behind the train station; follow it until you find the museum. The museum also offers a restaurant with fondue, raclette, and grilled specialties; unfortunately, the restaurant and the museum have been closed every time I try to visit! Continue along rue de la Gare and bear left onto rue du Pont and take a left onto rue du Temple to find the old church. Take a few moments and step into the gardens of the old church and enjoy the views of the city below. Be sure to look for the pretty flowered bridge in front of the Hotel du Pont on rue du Pont.

Other excursions to get out of Montreux include a day (or several!!) in Vevey. If you don’t walk, scoot, or bicycle along the lake to Vevey, the train trip is only 5-10 minutes on the local run. From the train station, follow the crowds or just head generally downhill until you see the older buildings and see the blue waters of the lake shimmering in the distance. As you close in on the lake, you'll notice that you're in the Vielle Ville of Vevey. Here, you can hunt down the antiques shops or stroll along the lakefront and admire the Grenette at the Place du Marche and find the statue of Charlie Chaplin who lived nearby. Then have lunch at the Hostellerie de Geneve on the Pl. Marche (reviewed -- sort of-- in NY Times Travel section. Go to www.nytimes.com, then to the archives of "What's Doing," then find "What's Doing in Vevey" from summer '99). There is also the Musee Historique du Vieux-Vevey on rue du Chateau, open from 10:30 to 12:00 and from 2:00 to 5:30 in the summers (4 chf).

This is my second-favorite activity here, just after the Promenade Fleuri. Take the train from Vevey, then take the "wine train" to Chexbres. Chexbres is a typical Swiss village of cozy stone, red-roofed houses and narrow, winding streets. After passing small buildings with blooming flower boxes and one small village square, I headed down toward the lake. I was prepared to see the magnificent blue of Lac Leman and the snow-capped mountains beyond, but I was unprepared for the vineyards immediately in front of me. Soon the village was behind me, and I was standing next to a low stone wall with a signpost pointing toward the vast fields of vineyards. The parallel rows of vines ran down the hillside leading to the lake, and the rows were interrupted by a low stone wall border next to a narrow paved road wide enough for one car. These views stretched out as far as I could see to my left and right, from Montreux in the east to Lausanne in the west. The green field seemed to be a gracious, verdant carpet bordering the icy blue of the lake. As I meandered down between the vineyards and the stone walls with the lake in front of me, I could see a small sea of red-tiled roofs ahead and below butting next to the blue Leman, the village as Rivaz. If you visit during the winter, the mountains beyond the village steeples and the lake are covered with snow, and the lake itself has a mist of haze on its surface. The mix of white snow, blue water, red roofs, and green/yellow vineyards -- all covered in mist -- is inescapably magical. Because the wine festival was going on at the time, several of the houses displayed long red banners with pictures of historic vintners, but most of the old white and stone walled houses had flower boxes overflowing with red geraniums. Down at the lake, I walked to the left, east, toward St. Saphorin. There is a footpath linking Rivaz and St Saphorin above the lake, but I wanted to walk right at the lakeside, which may have been a mistake. In addition to a sidewalk, there is a major road and train tracks that line the lake. But I found the Auberge du Rivaz at the edge of the village just where it meets the lake, and had a great meal of white asparagus and crisp white wine sitting on the outdoor, canopied terrace overlooking the lake. Then I continued east to St. Saphorin. This village is a bit larger than Rivaz, and there is a Café du Raisin on the outskirts. Walking next to the lake, I ignored the fast cars whizzing by on my left and the slow trains whizzing by on my right as I gazed over the lake toward Vevey and Montreux. It’s a very long walk to Vevey, so the next time I visited the Lavaux, I took the ferry from St. Saphorin to Montreux.

Close to Lausanne, the lakeside village of Cully is a pleasant excursion, especially if you want to sample one of their two well-known restaurants, the Auberge du Raisin (a member of the Relais & Chateaux group) and the au Major Davel (recommended by the Karen Brown series of guide books). Both restaurants also offer a few rooms for overnight guests.

Lutry, another small lakeside village, has a unique offering: a walking tour with 11 information panels about the village’s medieval history. The walk over ancient cobblestone streets includes information on the origins of the village as well as a tower and many preserved buildings. You can preview the tour on Lutry’s web page, but it appears only in French. It would be ideal to combine a visit to Lutry with Cully, as they are both on the outskirts of Lausanne.

On the other side of Lausanne, toward Geneva, is the city of Nyon, which was founded by Julius Caesar around 56 B.C. It takes about an hour to get there by train. Once you depart the train station, follow the signs for the Chateau du Nyon or the Musee Romain. The Chateau has roots in the 12th Century, and on its terrace there are remains of Roman columns as well as stunning views of the harbor and the lake. Just around the corner from the Chateau you can find the Roman museum.

As a great alternative to the lakeside activities, I like to spend a day in the mountains, taking the train for just over an hour to the resort of Gstaad. Gstaad is a small but very picturesque village with a few shops, a few upscale hotels, and many restaurants. While looking for a cozy place for lunch, I saw what looked like a private barbecue party in someone’s backyard . . . But there was a chalked menu on display. I walked in and had a great sausage and beer lunch and pretended for a few minutes that I was a guest at a friend’s house who just happens to live . . . in Gstaad. During lunch, I was roused from my reveries by the sound of moving cowbells. Sure enough, some Swiss “ranchers” were moving their small herds between pens and making an impromptu parade for the residents and tourists alike. The few hours I spent there make the seemingly unapproachable Gstaad much more down-to-earth and enjoyable.

Another inland activity is to spend an afternoon in the medieval village of Gruyeres. The train trip takes about an hour with a few minutes’ wait to connect at Montbovon. Gruyeres offers stunning views of rolling hills and an ancient castle, but personally I make the trip only to get their famous crème-double. Of course, they’re famous for their cheese as well, and it’s worth having fondue here or raclette; but be sure to get some berries in crème-double for dessert. I found the most interesting parts of the small village to be the backside, away from the tourists.