CHYY

I will be spending 4 nights in Geneva. Rought Guide of Switzerland suggests the boat ride down Lake Geneva from Vevey to Castle of Chateau de Chillon to Montreux and back to Vevey, to enjoy the scenery of lake and the distant alps.

Has anyone been on these boat rides, free for Swiss passes? Can I have your comments?

kappa

I think doing between Château de Chillon/or Villeneuve & Lausanne is even better. Montreux & Vevey are both within this route. That will be about 1.5hrs ride.

You can take a train to Vevey or Montreux in the morning, visit one or both towns. Then take a nice lake side walk from Montreux to Chillon (15 minutes) (you might like to visit the castle) or till Villeneuve (10 minutes more). Then take a boat to Lausanne. This way, you can see Chillon Castle both from the promenade and from the boat. And why till Lausanne? because Lavaux vineyards on the steep lake side are situated roughly between Vevey and Lausanne and this is some view. Actually I did this exact itinerary once and another time I added Vevey up to Chexbres Vineyard Train + vineyard down to St.Saphorin in the morning. Consider this. The walk down with a view over the lake and French/Swiss moutains are magnificent.

Also if you really like boat rides/have a whole day/want to relax, you could continue the boat till Geneva. This is a long 5hr ride so usually it's not recommended on this forum but provided the wheather is fine, you can even lie on one of the free deck chairs set on the first class deck. The boat calls at few French towns after Lausanne (Evian, Thonon, Yvoire, etc.) that is interesitng. When you are arriving in Geneva around 8pm the Cologny hill (expensive residensial area of Geneva) is nicely colored just before sunset. Actually I did this both times so you can tell I like this relaxed boat ride.

GeoffHamer

The company's web site is www.cgn.ch. On most of the ships, the upper deck is for first-class passengers, but there are saloons and open decks for both classes. The ships are amongst the largest on any of the Swiss lakes. Some of the ships are paddle steamers with elegant dining saloons, open to passengers of both classes. You can land at ports on the French side of the lake. St-Gingolph is curious - the border runs through the village, with customs controls on the main street and two post offices, one in each country. The Chateau de Chillon is beautifully situated by the lake.

Intrepid1

The approach to Chillon by boat is rather dramatic (we did it from Luchy [the port for Lausanne] and since we were traveling on 1st Class Swiss Passes we were able to sit on the upper deck inside (weather was a bit cool in April last year when we were there).

These rides are very relaxing and give you a nice, different perspective of the various lake towns along the way.

You can, as was mentioned above, easily walk along the lakeside to/from Chillon/Montreux where you can take a train back or to/from Geneva is you wish. There is actually a train station not too far from Chillon itself but the services stopping there are very infrequent.

As was also suggested above you could train to Lausanne and explore there or take the underground funicular from across the street from the train station down to Luchy for the boat; your Swiss Pass will allow you to use this, and many other city transport services including those in Geneva.

Enjoy your trip.

CHYY

Thank you very much for your comments, they are most valuable.

kappa

Luchy > Ouchy, just in case CHYY needs to search. There is a port village called Lutry, howevever, next to Lausanne-Ouchy.