jacolis

Hi all,

We will be taking the train from Geneva to Gstaad. We plan to spend the day on the way in either Montreux or Lausanne.

We will be going at the beginning of March so I'm not sure if it's the best weather to walk around Montreux. But, we are interested in seeing the Chateau de Chillon. Howver, I have also heard good things about the Olympic museum in Lausanne.

What would be more suitable for an afternoon of sightseeing at that time of year?

Thanks.

Intrepid1

Personally I like Lausanne itself but I also like Montreux and Chillon. Chillon would be of interest IF you are interested in seeing that sort of fortress/castle..and I think a LOT more interesting than the stadium.

Catbert

They are less than half an hour apart by train. If your train is going that way, you could really manage to stop at both places in an afternoon.

SusanEva

I vote for Montreux, the lakeside promenade is very pretty and you should definately see the Chateau de Chillon. It has great mountain vistas.

Montreux is surprisingly "tropical", with palm trees and other warm type vegetation. Maybe because it is on the east end of the lake and gets the warm afternoon sun? If there isn't an on-shore breeze off the lake, maybe it won't be too cold.

I love Lausanne, but I think it is better for a longer visit to see it's sites.

Cicerone

In March there will not be a lot blooming in the Lake Geneva area. The palms are green all year, but the flowers and flowering plants are not, the hillside vineyards will be quite brown and could even be under frost or snow, rain is very likely, take a look at weatehrbase.com for temps and rainfall. Given that, I don't know that I would make any great effort to see the waterfront at Montreux, at least not for the flowers. The great lake and Alp vistas can be appreciated from many areas, including Lausanne and Chillon Castle. The old town of Montreux is not nearly as interesting IMO as the old town and cathedral of Lausanne, so all in all Montreux would not be at the top of my list for a half day in March. Chillon Castle, however, is very interesting and well worth 2-3 hours. However, the Castle is NOT in Montreux, it is in Veytaux-Chillon, which is a good 45 minute to an hour walk or a 5 minute train ride down the lake from the city centre, a pleasant walk in good weather, not so sure about March. From Gstaad you can take a train to Veytaux-Chillon (1.5 to 2 hours) and walk to the castle in about 5 minutes. (You will have to change in Montreux.) You can also take a ferry from Montreux, Lausanne or other points on the lake to Villeneuve and walk to the Castle, about 15 minutes, not sure about the ferry schedule in March, I don't think the ferries are running at all.

You might let the weather be your guide. If it is cold and rainy/snowy, you might want to change trains in Montreux and continue on to Lausanne (20-30 minutes) and see the Olympic museum which is indoor, and then maybe see the old town and the cathedral as you can get indoors for some of this and also for lunch/tea. Chillon Castle is quite isolated (no restaurants in the area at all) and while indoors will not be heated and it is a stone fortress so is cool even in the heat of summer. Conversely, if it is good weather then after you have seen the Castle, you could take a train from Veytaux-Chillon to Lausanne (30-minutes to an hour)

kappa

I think Jacolis wants to make a stop on the way FROM Geneva to TO Gstaad.

Cicerone said : You can also take a ferry from Montreux, Lausanne or other points on the lake to Villeneuve

Using a boat is a great idea. You don't need to go to Villeneuve. There is Pier "Chillon" and most boats stop there. But of course it will be winter timetable so that is the problem. There are 3 or 4 boats running only Sat/Sun or Sun. It seems there is no boat at all on weekdays. If you are doing this trip Geneva-Gstaad on Sunday and if you have nearly a full day (I know you said that's for an afternoon), you could do both the Olympic Museum in Lausanne and Chillon. Visit the museum in the morning and walk to Lausanne-Ouchy Pier (7 minute walk) and take the boat dep.12:25/ arr. Chillon at 14:20. Arriving Chillon Castle by water is not bad at all ! For the boat timetable, take a look at www.cgn.ch.

Otherwise walking on the lake shore from Montreux to Chillon is pleasant especially on Sunny day. I'd say it's 30 minutes or if you really take your time, would be 45 minutes.

Intrepid1

As a follow-on..the more frequent lake steamer service usually starts around the first part of April; approaching Chillon by boat which can be done from Ouchy (the lakeside "port" for Lausanne) can be exciting.

I suppose the fact that there are palm trees in that area and the general microclimate is the reason the Montreux area is known as the "Swiss Riviera."

Ordinarily I would recommend the very spectacular trip up from Montreux to Rochers de Naye which affords absolutely unforgettable views across the lake. Unfortunately, at that time of year there is the very real possibility that the top will be shrouded in dense clouds (which is what happened when we last did this trip in early April 2004..we ended up at the totally deserted (except for us)restaurant at the top eating fondue).

All in all it can be memorable and I hope you enjoy wherever you end up visiting.

jmw44

Hi, I'll weigh in here to urge you to find time during the day to visit the beautiful old city of Lausanne (walk uphill from the train station) and also try to fit in a visit to Chillon by combining train and boat or a chilly walk (or train and train, Cicerone?) It's all lovely in June; I'm just not certain about how cold you'll be in early March. J.

suec1

We found the castle at Chillon quite interesting - had some interior furnishings and displays (not as sparse as the Papal palace at Avingnon). There is actually a restaurant right across the street that we enjoyed several times during our stay near Montreux but not sure if it will be open in March.

jacolis

Thank you so much for all of this information!

In theory we do have the whole day b/c we could get up early in the morning to leave Geneva (there is a train at 6:30 to Montreux I believe). We want to check in to Gstaad at @ 4pm.

Given that we will have our ski equipment, does anyone know if we can store our stuff in lockers at the Montreux/Vevey/Lausanne stations? B/c of our equipment I wasn't sure if we could stop both in Montreux and Lausanne (i.e. do all stations in Switzerland have baggage checks for a few hours)?

Thanks all!

suze

OOps those skis are the hitch, until I read that I was going to say you could even stop in all 3 towns... Lausanne, Vevey, and Montreux along the way. My personal favorite is Vevey. But I do love Chateau de Chillon and have gone there several times. It is quite unique.

Hopefully someone else can help you with the skis/left luggage question.

Catbert

I do remember there being a baggage check in Vevey. Not sure about the hours it's open though.

suze

What about looking into that service on Swiss trains that sends your baggage on to the next place for you?

Cicerone

First, I can't quite tell from your post if you are staying in Geneva or just overnighting there from a flight. If you are staying in Geneva for a few days , if I can make a comment, I would suggest you stay down in the lake in Vevey, Lausanne or Montreux instead. These are much more charming and interesting towns, IMO and with a much nicer aspect on the lake with Alp views. There really isn't a reason to stay in Geneva unless you have business to do there. You could do a day trip into Geneva quite easily from one of the lake towns to see Geneva if you wanted, much of the old town can be seen in a day.

To answer you other questions, there are luggage lockers and a manned luggage room at the Montreux train station (there are lockers at virtually every train station and manned luggage rooms at larger train stations). As you have skis, you will need to store them at the manned luggage room. For the manned luggage room. Look for a blue sign with a white suitcase. The charge is something like CH5 per piece per day (about US$3). I believe they are open 7 am – 6:45 pm every day, but do confirm this when you arrive at the station.

Now you also could send all your luggage (i.e not just your skis but all your bags) ahead to Gstaad. There is one big caveat to this: and that is that they may not arrive until later in the evening or even the next day or later, so if there is something in your luggage that you cannot be without for 12-36 hours then either pack it in your hand luggage that you bring with you to Montreux (and can check at the station) or don't send your luggage ahead. You have three options for sending your luggage:

1. If you are arriving on a flight that morning into Geneva airport, you may be able to check your bags in at your US airport all the way through to Gstaad. This is the Fly/Rail Service. I know Swiss Air and Lufthansa participates in this and some other non-US airlines, take a look at http://mct.sbb.ch/mct/en/reisemarkt/...il-baggage.htm. All you do is get some special green luggage tags from Swiss Rail or your airline, put them on your bags in the US and that is it. You don't pick up your bags at the airport or even take them through customs, you won't see them again until you get to Gstaad. This costs about US$15 per bag, you can also pay a bit more for insurance. The one drawback I see to this is that they only guarantee delivery to Gstaad within 24 hours, so you may have to wait for your luggage. It may be delivered faster of course, but it may not. (For faster deliver, see the "Fast Baggage" option below.) Note that your hotel can go and collect your luggage at the Gstaad train station for you.

It was my understanding that US airlines don't participate in this service, but I have recently heard on this board that RailEurope also offers this service even if you fly a US airline. but I believe you have to purchase rail tickets through them to get it, I don't know, you might look at the Raileruope site at http://www.raileurope.com/us/index.htm. Raileurope charges a surcharge for rail tickets so it will cost you more to buy a train ticket from them that it would to buy it directly from Swiss Rail (you can buy tickets and Fly/Rail tickets from Swiss Rail through their website at rail.ch.)

You may also be able to use this service to send your bags ahead to the airport for your flight home, take a look at http://mct.sbb.ch/mct/en/reisemarkt/...er/flyrail.htm, see the text in red at the bottom on the page, as this is what applies to you flying to the US. This requires some organization as you have to get the bags to the train station a few hours before the flight.

2. If you are already in Switzerland and are just going on to Gstaad OR if your flight arrives before about 8 am, you can send your bags ahead by the train using "Fast Baggage" which guarantees delivery in 8 hours, take a look at http://mct.sbb.ch/mct/en/reisemarkt/...isegepaeck.htm. To use this service, you must hand your bags over by 9 am, which means if you are arriving by air, you have to clear immigrations and customs and get your bags to the drop off point at the airport train station by then. That is why I would estimate you would have to land by 8 am at the latest to be able to do this. If you are in Geneva or another town already you should be able to get your stuff to the train station by 9 am.

3. If you can't use Fly/Rail and if you miss the deadline for Fast Baggage you can of course also send your luggage ahead to Gstaad using the regular baggage service, the only problem is that they don't guarantee delivery by a certain time other than to say it won't take longer than 36 hours. Take a look at http://mct.sbb.ch/mct/en/reisemarkt/...ck-schweiz.htm

swandav2000

Hi jacolis,

I wonder why you're hauling your ski gear at all? You can rent top-quality cutting-edge equipment at every resort in Switzerland -- really a good compromise between hauling the stuff yourself or paying a lot to send it on the train.

BTW, Cicerone, you don't need to buy a train ticket when you purchase Raileurope's version of the Fly/Rail luggage. Here's the link:

http://www.raileurope.com/us/rail/pa...il_baggage.htm

It's $15 per bag.

s