It's a pleasure unique to Vaud to wake up, part the floor-length drapes, and look out over Lake Geneva to Mont Blanc; a series of 19th-century grand hotels with banks of balconied lake-view rooms were created to offer this luxury to such grand-tourists as Strauss, Twain, Stravinsky, and Henry James. Yet there's no shortage of charming inns offering similar views on an intimate scale. Up another 1,200 m (3,936 ft) you'll find cozy, honey-gold Alpine chalets, with down quilts, potted geraniums on the balconies, and panoramic views. More »