Does anybody know of any "factory" or tours of places like the Lindt chocolate factory, or a cheese maker... or something like that to do. I'd prefer something in the Montreux/Lausanne area, but also will be in Zurich.

Just looking for new things to see. I love to see how they make stuff.

Thanks in advance.
Susie

CHEESE, Gromit! Gruyères is a picture-postcard town with a world-class industry. It's a little off the beaten track (we stopped there on the way from Lausanne to Zurich and it required about five trains and buses), but well worth it.

Also, in the Old Town is the H.R. Giger museum for those with a taste for the truly bizarre. Giger did the creatures in the <i>Alien</i> movies. hrgiger.com

Gruyere is a very cute little town, has some pretty restaurants with traditional swiss cuisine and a relatively interesting castle.

The cheese-making - IMHO - was a whole lot of nothing (big vat of milky stuff being churned with big oars).

Have been on several other &quot;factory tours&quot; - edam cheese, Carsberg beer etc - due to a traveling companion who loves that stuff. Would not bother with any of them again.

The Ferrari factory/track was fun though.

Hi SusieChef,

Yes Gruyeres has it all -- the tour of cheese-making, then in nearby Broc you can tour the Cailler chocolate factory.

Other options are the working dairy outside of Chateau d'Oex (called Maison de l' Etivaz), and the Nestle factory in Vevey.

Gruyeres, Broc, &amp; Chateau d'Oex are very close to Gstaad.

s

This was copied from the SwissInfo.org site:

NOTE the dateframe when tours are available.

One of the foremost producers of Swiss chocolate is the Swiss multinational, Nestl&eacute;, which owns the Cailler brand produced at a factory in Broc in the region of Gruy&egrave;re.

The factory is open to the public from May until October The tour is free and covers all aspects of chocolate making from cocoa bean to chocolate bar.