Five Glorious Days in Switzerland... a Trip Report
May 7th, 2008 | 10:44 AM
#1
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Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 332
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Five Glorious Days in Switzerland... a Trip Report
This forum has been such an amazing resource for planning this trip so I thought I would make my first attempt at a trip report! My husband (DH) and I just spent 5 wonderful nights in Switzerland. We’re in our late 20’s and have been fortunate enough to spend the last 2 years living in Edinburgh and taking advantage of the discount airlines to travel as much as possible!
We are trying to take as many trips as possible; therefore we are always on a strict budget when we travel. Honestly, we had quite a bit of sticker shock when we started researching hotels and B&B’s in the areas we were interested in initially – we usually stay in private rooms in hostels in cities. However, once I took a wider approach to the plans, it was much easier. I used the website http://www.bnb.ch/ which was difficult for me as there aren’t any reviews on this site. It worked out extremely well however. We stayed in Glion – right above Montreux. The nice thing about this little village is that there are actually two ways to get up there – there’s a funicular from the Territet station outside Montreux as well as a direct train from Montreux. The funicular runs about every 15 minutes while the train runs each hour. There was rarely any difficulty in getting down the hill when we wanted it. We had a total budget of this trip of $1,800 and we just squeaked in on budget.
The B&B we used was Anthony and Monique Huys (Route des Avants 18) It’s about 1.5 miles from the Glion station – a beautiful walk around a valley. There is just 1 room with a private entrance and its own refrigerator (helpful for trying the Swiss wines!), TV and internet connection. It’s definitely for pet lovers as the family has 6 dogs, 3 cats, a goose and doves. The dogs were really friendly but didn’t come into the room – they were quite well trained. My only annoyance with the stay was that if you left the window open, the cats would come in the room – and I’m very allergic to cats. Additionally, they had one older dog with a very sweet disposition, but he would get scared or something at night and bark sometimes. Breakfast was 8 CHF per person per day and well worth it – with a few supplements, we had enough for breakfast and a picnic lunch. The accommodation cost was 52 CHF per person per night – it worked out to 618 CHF total for accommodation and breakfast.
We used the SBB website to print out timetables for all the trips we wanted to take – it’s a fabulous resource. After you search for the connections, there’s a button to press in order for them to create a PDF file with all the information you need, even connections, etc. The trains are unbelievably easy to use and are very punctual (only 1 was late during our whole trip and the reaction from everyone at the station showed this was certainly the exception!). We were really glad we listened to everyone and didn’t rent a car – minus the walk back to the B&B at night (which was a challenge after a long day) there would have been no use for the car. As an aside, my husband is incredibly fit, but I have a bad knee so I was always watching how much I could walk, etc.
We tried to actually relax on this holiday – we tend to run around so much when we travel that we need a break when we come back! We planned on doing one thing each day and if we got bored we had backup plans. We spent plenty of time relaxing in the glorious sunshine and are actually quite relaxed right now!
All the prices I give below are per person unless otherwise specified and are in CHF)
We are trying to take as many trips as possible; therefore we are always on a strict budget when we travel. Honestly, we had quite a bit of sticker shock when we started researching hotels and B&B’s in the areas we were interested in initially – we usually stay in private rooms in hostels in cities. However, once I took a wider approach to the plans, it was much easier. I used the website http://www.bnb.ch/ which was difficult for me as there aren’t any reviews on this site. It worked out extremely well however. We stayed in Glion – right above Montreux. The nice thing about this little village is that there are actually two ways to get up there – there’s a funicular from the Territet station outside Montreux as well as a direct train from Montreux. The funicular runs about every 15 minutes while the train runs each hour. There was rarely any difficulty in getting down the hill when we wanted it. We had a total budget of this trip of $1,800 and we just squeaked in on budget.
The B&B we used was Anthony and Monique Huys (Route des Avants 18) It’s about 1.5 miles from the Glion station – a beautiful walk around a valley. There is just 1 room with a private entrance and its own refrigerator (helpful for trying the Swiss wines!), TV and internet connection. It’s definitely for pet lovers as the family has 6 dogs, 3 cats, a goose and doves. The dogs were really friendly but didn’t come into the room – they were quite well trained. My only annoyance with the stay was that if you left the window open, the cats would come in the room – and I’m very allergic to cats. Additionally, they had one older dog with a very sweet disposition, but he would get scared or something at night and bark sometimes. Breakfast was 8 CHF per person per day and well worth it – with a few supplements, we had enough for breakfast and a picnic lunch. The accommodation cost was 52 CHF per person per night – it worked out to 618 CHF total for accommodation and breakfast.
We used the SBB website to print out timetables for all the trips we wanted to take – it’s a fabulous resource. After you search for the connections, there’s a button to press in order for them to create a PDF file with all the information you need, even connections, etc. The trains are unbelievably easy to use and are very punctual (only 1 was late during our whole trip and the reaction from everyone at the station showed this was certainly the exception!). We were really glad we listened to everyone and didn’t rent a car – minus the walk back to the B&B at night (which was a challenge after a long day) there would have been no use for the car. As an aside, my husband is incredibly fit, but I have a bad knee so I was always watching how much I could walk, etc.
We tried to actually relax on this holiday – we tend to run around so much when we travel that we need a break when we come back! We planned on doing one thing each day and if we got bored we had backup plans. We spent plenty of time relaxing in the glorious sunshine and are actually quite relaxed right now!
All the prices I give below are per person unless otherwise specified and are in CHF)
May 7th, 2008 | 10:44 AM
#2
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Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 332
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DAY 1 (THURSDAY)
We arrived at Geneva Airport around 14:00 and went directly to the SBB main desk to purchase the half-price passes (99). We picked up lunch at the train station (27 total) and bought tickets to Glion (18). It was really easy to figure out the station and where to go. Anthony picked us up at Montreux station which was really lovely of him. The weather was gorgeous and sunny the entire time we were in Switzerland and we both came back with sunburns! After being in Scotland for 2 years we took advantage of every moment of sunshine possible. The B&B is surrounded by forests and farmland – we could hear the cowbells jingling as we unpacked. They had a little area set up for us outside with a table and two chairs overlooking the valley with Lake Geneva in the background – spectacular. Each day when we left, Monique would come in to tidy up and restock the refrigerator with water, orange juice, cheese and condiments. It really felt like such a retreat – the décor was very calming and it just felt like such an escape. (Just a quick word of caution about this B&B – for whatever reason, they did not put a door on the bathroom. Fine for a single, but with the 2 of us it got a bit odd at times!)
We then learned that we were in Switzerland for a holiday weekend which was lovely but also made some things more difficult – a lot of stores, etc. were shut, but there were parades and celebrations practically everywhere we went!
We walked to Glion station and bought tickets to Territet (4.40 return) and walked the Flower Promenade to Montreux. Since we stopped constantly to take pictures, this took about 45 minutes. It was lovely – people rollerblading and biking by, families playing tag, tourists gaping around just like us. When we reached the Montreux ferry stop, we stopped to watch the parade –there was a marching band competition going on and it was interesting as my brother was in a marching band. We went to the Nouveau Metropole Montreux, across from the ferry station. (43.20 for 2 pizzas, a glass of wine and a beer). It wasn’t great, but it was cheap! Pretty much our mantra for much of the trip! We wandered around Montreux and found a grocery store to pick up a couple bottles of wine and some snacks (40) and went back to the promenade to watch the sunset and enjoy a Nutella crepe and some lemon ice (10).
The train station at Montreux is a street up from the promenade. Running parallel to the station there is an escalator up from the main street as it’s about three stories up – that came in handy at the end of a day with my knee aching! We caught the train from Montreux to Territet and the funicular to Glion and enjoyed a glass of wine in the garden with the dogs before heading to bed.
We arrived at Geneva Airport around 14:00 and went directly to the SBB main desk to purchase the half-price passes (99). We picked up lunch at the train station (27 total) and bought tickets to Glion (18). It was really easy to figure out the station and where to go. Anthony picked us up at Montreux station which was really lovely of him. The weather was gorgeous and sunny the entire time we were in Switzerland and we both came back with sunburns! After being in Scotland for 2 years we took advantage of every moment of sunshine possible. The B&B is surrounded by forests and farmland – we could hear the cowbells jingling as we unpacked. They had a little area set up for us outside with a table and two chairs overlooking the valley with Lake Geneva in the background – spectacular. Each day when we left, Monique would come in to tidy up and restock the refrigerator with water, orange juice, cheese and condiments. It really felt like such a retreat – the décor was very calming and it just felt like such an escape. (Just a quick word of caution about this B&B – for whatever reason, they did not put a door on the bathroom. Fine for a single, but with the 2 of us it got a bit odd at times!)
We then learned that we were in Switzerland for a holiday weekend which was lovely but also made some things more difficult – a lot of stores, etc. were shut, but there were parades and celebrations practically everywhere we went!
We walked to Glion station and bought tickets to Territet (4.40 return) and walked the Flower Promenade to Montreux. Since we stopped constantly to take pictures, this took about 45 minutes. It was lovely – people rollerblading and biking by, families playing tag, tourists gaping around just like us. When we reached the Montreux ferry stop, we stopped to watch the parade –there was a marching band competition going on and it was interesting as my brother was in a marching band. We went to the Nouveau Metropole Montreux, across from the ferry station. (43.20 for 2 pizzas, a glass of wine and a beer). It wasn’t great, but it was cheap! Pretty much our mantra for much of the trip! We wandered around Montreux and found a grocery store to pick up a couple bottles of wine and some snacks (40) and went back to the promenade to watch the sunset and enjoy a Nutella crepe and some lemon ice (10).
The train station at Montreux is a street up from the promenade. Running parallel to the station there is an escalator up from the main street as it’s about three stories up – that came in handy at the end of a day with my knee aching! We caught the train from Montreux to Territet and the funicular to Glion and enjoyed a glass of wine in the garden with the dogs before heading to bed.
May 7th, 2008 | 10:45 AM
#3
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Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 332
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DAY 2 (Friday)
Our hosts delivered breakfast at any time we wished – for the most part, we had it at 9. The breakfast included homemade croissants, rolls, water, juice, cheese, jam, cereal and milk. We headed out around 10 and bought tickets to Sion (27 return). The train ride was about 1.5 hours and had lovely views of the mountains topped with snow and little waterfalls running down. The canola fields were in bloom so the landscape was dotted with these lovely bright yellow fields to break up the shades of green. We had our snack on the train (leftover bread with cheese and lunchmeat we bought at the grocery store) and sat back to enjoy the ride. We found the train rides to be very relaxing and it was a good way to ensure we didn’t rush around too much.
We got to Sion around 12:30 and walked through the village to the Chateau de Valere. The walk takes you through the old part of Sion and we got some lovely shots of the traditional village – it’s not a hard walk at all, but the sun was really beating down! The museum in the Chateau was closed through September, but the architecture was really interesting – very different from the castles I’ve seen in Scotland and elsewhere. The view across the city and the snow capped mountains was worth the walk.
We then walked back down a bit to a car park and then up to Chateau de Tourbillon. I found this walk much harder – it was uphill the whole way with stairs, but the stairs were quite steep. I had to take a break halfway up to let my knee have a moment. The view of the Chateau de Valere was worth the walk through – you really got a sense of the scale of the buildings. The Chateau de Tourbillion was a ruin, but my husband and I are both partial to ruined castles, something about the angles and the haunting atmosphere – we love it.
After the two castles, we walked back into town to find a snack – stopped at a little café and had sandwiches with a beer for DH and a Coke Light for me (18). We had a couple errands to run – we hadn’t realised that Switzerland had a different plug than Europe (we assumed they would be the same – definitely our fault!) and my watch battery had died the day before which was driving me crazy. There happened to be a bike race taking place through the centre of the town so after dropping off my watch, we grabbed a table in the shade at one of the many cafes lining the main street and watched the action. It was amusing – every few minutes, a motorcycle would come by in order to warn everyone to get off the streets (there were places you could cross over) followed by the biker streaking by and then followed by 1 or 2 cars with extra bikes, filming equipment, etc – we found it amusing that such an environmentally friendly sport requires such an entourage! I discovered that the café had sorbet with vodka and enjoyed that while DH had a beer (12.60). We walked around some more and found a playground made of little pieces of broken glass – not sure where it came from, but they were little tiny pieces of perfectly smooth broken glass being played with by a troop of children. We grabbed another drink (9), picked up a few postcards and headed back to Montreux.
Another aside – whenever we were on a small road walking around, if another person approached, they would always nod their head and say Bonjour. It was such a lovely experience after living in places where people stick to themselves more.
By the time we reached Montreux, we went to the Montreux Paradise for dinner – the only time on the whole trip we ate inside! It was a cafeteria basically – you went up with a tray and ordered what you wanted. DH got chicken and rice which was quite good and I got the salad bar which was surprisingly good as well. You paid by weight and they had such a variety of food – all kinds of veggies, pasta, hummus, etc. (40 for that plus a beer and an OJ). About halfway through dinner, I realised that I was getting a horrible heat headache – after so long in Scotland, I forgot how to handle the heat! We couldn’t find a pharmacy that was open, so we ended up taking the first train back to Glion so I could take some Advil and lie down for a minute. After about a half hour, I felt fine but really stupid – somehow it hadn’t come to me that since we were further south, the sun would be stronger. It sounds even sillier when I type it, but it really did take me by surprise! After this annoyance, I was really careful to drink tons of water constantly as we walked around).
Our hosts delivered breakfast at any time we wished – for the most part, we had it at 9. The breakfast included homemade croissants, rolls, water, juice, cheese, jam, cereal and milk. We headed out around 10 and bought tickets to Sion (27 return). The train ride was about 1.5 hours and had lovely views of the mountains topped with snow and little waterfalls running down. The canola fields were in bloom so the landscape was dotted with these lovely bright yellow fields to break up the shades of green. We had our snack on the train (leftover bread with cheese and lunchmeat we bought at the grocery store) and sat back to enjoy the ride. We found the train rides to be very relaxing and it was a good way to ensure we didn’t rush around too much.
We got to Sion around 12:30 and walked through the village to the Chateau de Valere. The walk takes you through the old part of Sion and we got some lovely shots of the traditional village – it’s not a hard walk at all, but the sun was really beating down! The museum in the Chateau was closed through September, but the architecture was really interesting – very different from the castles I’ve seen in Scotland and elsewhere. The view across the city and the snow capped mountains was worth the walk.
We then walked back down a bit to a car park and then up to Chateau de Tourbillon. I found this walk much harder – it was uphill the whole way with stairs, but the stairs were quite steep. I had to take a break halfway up to let my knee have a moment. The view of the Chateau de Valere was worth the walk through – you really got a sense of the scale of the buildings. The Chateau de Tourbillion was a ruin, but my husband and I are both partial to ruined castles, something about the angles and the haunting atmosphere – we love it.
After the two castles, we walked back into town to find a snack – stopped at a little café and had sandwiches with a beer for DH and a Coke Light for me (18). We had a couple errands to run – we hadn’t realised that Switzerland had a different plug than Europe (we assumed they would be the same – definitely our fault!) and my watch battery had died the day before which was driving me crazy. There happened to be a bike race taking place through the centre of the town so after dropping off my watch, we grabbed a table in the shade at one of the many cafes lining the main street and watched the action. It was amusing – every few minutes, a motorcycle would come by in order to warn everyone to get off the streets (there were places you could cross over) followed by the biker streaking by and then followed by 1 or 2 cars with extra bikes, filming equipment, etc – we found it amusing that such an environmentally friendly sport requires such an entourage! I discovered that the café had sorbet with vodka and enjoyed that while DH had a beer (12.60). We walked around some more and found a playground made of little pieces of broken glass – not sure where it came from, but they were little tiny pieces of perfectly smooth broken glass being played with by a troop of children. We grabbed another drink (9), picked up a few postcards and headed back to Montreux.
Another aside – whenever we were on a small road walking around, if another person approached, they would always nod their head and say Bonjour. It was such a lovely experience after living in places where people stick to themselves more.
By the time we reached Montreux, we went to the Montreux Paradise for dinner – the only time on the whole trip we ate inside! It was a cafeteria basically – you went up with a tray and ordered what you wanted. DH got chicken and rice which was quite good and I got the salad bar which was surprisingly good as well. You paid by weight and they had such a variety of food – all kinds of veggies, pasta, hummus, etc. (40 for that plus a beer and an OJ). About halfway through dinner, I realised that I was getting a horrible heat headache – after so long in Scotland, I forgot how to handle the heat! We couldn’t find a pharmacy that was open, so we ended up taking the first train back to Glion so I could take some Advil and lie down for a minute. After about a half hour, I felt fine but really stupid – somehow it hadn’t come to me that since we were further south, the sun would be stronger. It sounds even sillier when I type it, but it really did take me by surprise! After this annoyance, I was really careful to drink tons of water constantly as we walked around).
May 7th, 2008 | 10:45 AM
#4
Original Poster
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 332
Likes: 0
DAY 3 (SATURDAY)
We had breakfast at 9 as usual, but were just moving really slowly. We decided not to rush around or push through anything as we typically would on holiday and took advantage of our newly found relaxed attitude to have a leisurely breakfast and play with the dogs a bit. We had meant to visit the Vevey market this morning, but it just didn’t happen. We’ll just have to go back one day!
After a lovely morning, we headed out to the Glion station at 11 or so. We decided at the last minute to walk down to Montreux and followed the road down past the Glion School which had amazing views from the parking lot. Right after we passed this, we noticed there was a lovely wooded path leading up to Glion which is what we should have taken down but we were able to jump onto the path from there. We followed the path down towards the Chateau de Chillon – it was great to watch it getting closer and closer. We ended up cutting through a little neighbourhood and seeing some beautiful gardens. The Chateau (12 each) was a definite highlight of this trip – the exhibits were so well presented and the information was put together in such a great way that it made the whole experience really interesting. We were there for almost 3 hours including about a half hour to have our picnic at the benches they had inside. On our way out, we purchased 2 bottles of their exclusive wine (36). We opened it that night at home – I loved it but DH didn’t love it as much. I’m not a connoisseur by any means – I just like something easy to drink so I don’t know if the wine was good or not!
The weather was continuing to be just incredible so we decided to take advantage and have a leisurely day in the sun. We grabbed ice cream and a drink and enjoyed the benches overlooking Lake Geneva. It was so hot we ended up walking down to the little beach and wading in the lake (which was freezing!) We then took the ferry at 16:45 to Vevey, changing in Montreux (5.60). The ferry was lovely (thanks for the suggestions to take a ferry Fodors forum!) and I’m just sorry we weren’t on it longer. We actually loved Vevey – there was a lovely mix of people roaming about, and the centre square was set up with a carousel and mini go-carts for small children which were adorable. We walked around the village for a bit and up the promenade and ended up eating at Hotel Brasserie. The meal was really good – we had a bottle of wine from the Vevey winery, salmon tartare, salad, salmon ravioli (I was in a salmon mood!), a delicious duck dish, lemon tart, espresso and a chocolate flambé desert (115). It was our first of 2 splurge meals – I know it’s not a splurge to most, but it was a huge deal for us! We realised as we finished that if we could hustle, we could make an earlier train. Such is the organisation of Switzerland that we were able to find the train station without knowing anything about the area – it was right up from the ferry station as in Montreux. We stopped for some more groceries in Montreux (17) and took the funicular back home. As we walked up the drive, we saw our B&B host who asked if we’d like to join his family the next morning to see the parade in Montreux – apparently Glion won the competition we had seen the other day with the marching bands and would be honoured at the parade, His 5-yr old grandson would be riding in one of the carts. Without the need for discussion, we definitely knew we wanted to go so he said he’d bring us an early breakfast.
We had breakfast at 9 as usual, but were just moving really slowly. We decided not to rush around or push through anything as we typically would on holiday and took advantage of our newly found relaxed attitude to have a leisurely breakfast and play with the dogs a bit. We had meant to visit the Vevey market this morning, but it just didn’t happen. We’ll just have to go back one day!
After a lovely morning, we headed out to the Glion station at 11 or so. We decided at the last minute to walk down to Montreux and followed the road down past the Glion School which had amazing views from the parking lot. Right after we passed this, we noticed there was a lovely wooded path leading up to Glion which is what we should have taken down but we were able to jump onto the path from there. We followed the path down towards the Chateau de Chillon – it was great to watch it getting closer and closer. We ended up cutting through a little neighbourhood and seeing some beautiful gardens. The Chateau (12 each) was a definite highlight of this trip – the exhibits were so well presented and the information was put together in such a great way that it made the whole experience really interesting. We were there for almost 3 hours including about a half hour to have our picnic at the benches they had inside. On our way out, we purchased 2 bottles of their exclusive wine (36). We opened it that night at home – I loved it but DH didn’t love it as much. I’m not a connoisseur by any means – I just like something easy to drink so I don’t know if the wine was good or not!
The weather was continuing to be just incredible so we decided to take advantage and have a leisurely day in the sun. We grabbed ice cream and a drink and enjoyed the benches overlooking Lake Geneva. It was so hot we ended up walking down to the little beach and wading in the lake (which was freezing!) We then took the ferry at 16:45 to Vevey, changing in Montreux (5.60). The ferry was lovely (thanks for the suggestions to take a ferry Fodors forum!) and I’m just sorry we weren’t on it longer. We actually loved Vevey – there was a lovely mix of people roaming about, and the centre square was set up with a carousel and mini go-carts for small children which were adorable. We walked around the village for a bit and up the promenade and ended up eating at Hotel Brasserie. The meal was really good – we had a bottle of wine from the Vevey winery, salmon tartare, salad, salmon ravioli (I was in a salmon mood!), a delicious duck dish, lemon tart, espresso and a chocolate flambé desert (115). It was our first of 2 splurge meals – I know it’s not a splurge to most, but it was a huge deal for us! We realised as we finished that if we could hustle, we could make an earlier train. Such is the organisation of Switzerland that we were able to find the train station without knowing anything about the area – it was right up from the ferry station as in Montreux. We stopped for some more groceries in Montreux (17) and took the funicular back home. As we walked up the drive, we saw our B&B host who asked if we’d like to join his family the next morning to see the parade in Montreux – apparently Glion won the competition we had seen the other day with the marching bands and would be honoured at the parade, His 5-yr old grandson would be riding in one of the carts. Without the need for discussion, we definitely knew we wanted to go so he said he’d bring us an early breakfast.
May 7th, 2008 | 11:42 AM
#5
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 8,508
Likes: 0
Hi pittpurple,
Loving your report!! It's bringing back some strong and wonderful memories -- the view of the lake from Glion, the sunset over the lake, the path from Glion to Territet. Oh my! Man oh man I'm jealous!
Thanks so much for taking the time to post!
s
Loving your report!! It's bringing back some strong and wonderful memories -- the view of the lake from Glion, the sunset over the lake, the path from Glion to Territet. Oh my! Man oh man I'm jealous!
Thanks so much for taking the time to post!
s
