Montreux stopover between Zermatt and Geneva
 

I was planning to go from Zermatt to Geneva, where I will board my return flight after a week in Switzerland.

I will be on the 4th day of a 4-day Swiss Pass so I was thinking of visiting the castle (Chateau de Chillon) in Montreux.

When I search the time tables on sbb.ch, I see that Zermatt-Geneva Airport and Zermatt-Montreux both go through Visp.

Is it safe to assume that if I just board the train for Geneva, it will go through Visp and stop in Montreux before heading towards Geneva and Geneva Airport?

Or should I make sure and plot out time tables for first going to Montreux and then after my visit, a Montreux-Geneva Airport route?

Also, are there facilities for leaving the luggage at the Montreux train station? If not, this is probably moot (or I may just go to Geneva and check into my hotel first and then go back to Montreux).

Frommers said the best approach is to do a 2-mile walk along the lake to get to the Chateau, rather than take a trolley. So carting luggage doesn't seem viable.

I can answer the train part of the question. Visp is the town on the floor of the valley where one turns south to Zermatt and Saas Fee. The two valleys come together at a place called Stalden.

The only rail line around that goes from Brig to Geneva goes along the Rhone to the lake. Trains from Visp and/or Brig headed for Geneva go through Montreux.

If you will go to www.sbb.ch and look up the details of the schedule, you see every stop on the route.

The stops are frequent at places like Leuk, Sion, Sierre, Martigny, Montreux, Lausanne, Geneve and the Geneve Airport.

Chateau de Chillon is one I cannot help you with in terms of walking from your hotel. The setting is beautiful, however.

Not sure when you're going, but there's a boat that goes along Lake Geneva with stops at Montreux and Chateau de Chillon. (Boat may only be seasonal: Spring - early Fall.) Just make sure of the time schedules (listed at the place on the lake where you would buy your tickets.) The Swiss Pass, I believe, gives you a discount for this ride. It's a great way of going between these two and many other stops along the shoreline of lake Geneva. The view from the lake to the land is wonderful (as is the Chateau).

Hi scrb---I was going to suggest you visit Chateau du Chillon if you encountered bad weather in Zermatt, but this is better. It's well worth a stop. As bob_brown pointed out, any train that stops in Visp will also stop in Montreux.

Your plan to walk to the Chateau is a good one; there is a nice promenade and it is a pleasant walk along all the waterfront hotels and mansions. The Montreux Bahnhof is large and I can't imagine that it would not have either lockers or a "left luggage" storage area. Somewhere on the SBB website is a guide to the various stations and facilities, but I can't find it. Maybe someone else?

>Is it safe to assume that if I just board the train for Geneva, it will go through Visp and stop in Montreux before heading towards Geneva and Geneva Airport?

Yes. There are excepions though - don't take the Cisalpino trains as they stop in far less places. I am not sure they stop in Visp anyway.
All regular IC and IR trains will do so.

>Or should I make sure and plot out time tables for first going to Montreux and then after my visit, a Montreux-Geneva Airport route?

You can do so if you wish - but I don't see any point in this. The whole idea behind the Swiss schedule system is that you don't need to study schedules. They simply repeat themselves exactly every 30 or 60 minutes.

>Also, are there facilities for leaving the luggage at the Montreux train station?

Almost any small to middle sized station has lockers - just have enough coins for them.

>Frommers said the best approach is to do a 2-mile walk along the lake to get to the Chateau, rather than take a trolley. So carting luggage doesn't seem viable.

No, it is just a suggestion to get an optimal impression. There is a trolleybus which stops right above the castle, and there is a station where the local trains from Montreux to Lausanne stop - right beside the castle.
The best approach is IMO by boat.

And whatever you do, I suggest you NOT have lunch at the restaurant across from the entrance to the Chateau. It was the only bad meal we've had in six weeks' of travel in Switzerland.

Well this would be for a week from this Friday, so I gather there would not be boats running.

If I understood everyone, there are boats from Geneva to Montreux and maybe somewhere between the Montreux rail station and Chillon?

OK, it sounds worthwhile to shoot for it. It's almost a 3-hour trip from Zermatt to Montreux and then about another 75-80 minutes on to Geneva Airport so definitely the best way it to stop on the way over, take a chance there's somewhere to stow the luggage.

Hi again -

Found this information on the myswitzerland site. (I put "Lake Geneva transportation" in the search engine on that site) and got information. Go to : http://www.myswitzerland.com/en/offe...oat-21654.html

I found out that the boats on Lake Geneva (or as they call it - Lac Leman) do run during the winter also, just less frequently.

Let me know how you make out.

I have some suggestions/comments:

1. EVERY train going from Zermatt/Visp to Geneva makes a stop in Montreux. Montreux is a major rail stop for west Switzerland. Go to rail.ch for schedules. From Zermatt, it looks like you only haev a choice of a train every hour on the half hour.

2. If you can organize yourself, I would send your luggage ahead as unaccompanied baggage from Zermatt to Geneva. You will not have to then deal with it in Montreux. If you give it to the station luggage office in Zermatt before 9 am, it will arrive in Geneva by 6 pm. You can then collect it at the Geneva train station and take it to your hotel. The service is called “Fast Luggage”, it costs about US$15 a piece, and guarantees delivery in 8 hours, take a look at http://mct.sbb.ch/mct/en/reisemarkt/...isegepaeck.htm, or go to rai.ch and click on “Services” and then “More at the Counter” and then “Luggage” and then “Fast Luggage” . (If you miss the deadline for Fast Luggage you can of course also send your luggage ahead by 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; and I don’t think you want to risk this with a flight out the next day.)

3. If you can’t or don’t want to use Fast Luggage to send your luggage ahead, there are luggage lockers AND a manned luggage room in Montreux station, so you have your choice of where you can leave your luggage. There are lockers at the track level. The manned luggage room is on the ground level street entrance of the station. For the manned luggage room, look for a blue sign with a white suitcase painted on. For the lockers, look for a blue sign with a white suitcase and a key painted on it.

4. To go to the castle, you can take a train right to the castle, it’s about a 5 minute walk from there. The train station for the Castle is Veytaux-Chillon. However, to get to that station, you have to change in Montreux anyway. So, if the weather is bad and you don’t want to walk the 2 miles, get off the train in Montreux, deal with you luggage in Montreux if necessary and then either train or walk to the castle. Ferries are not running in Jan to the best of my knowledge.

5. Have you considered staying overnight in Montreux or one of the other lovely towns along the lake? It’s a short train ride to the airport from most of those towns.

6. FYI, if you aren’t flying a US airline, many airlines allow you to check-in the night before your flight, so you could go from Montreux right to Geneva airport and check-in for your flight on Friday night. This would include checking-in your skis and luggage. This would save you a lot of time in the morning, when lines can be long. Check with your airline if this is possible. Even if you don’t do this, I would suggest that at a minimum you store your skis and big bags at Geneva train station or Geneva airport train station overnight rather than lugging them to your Geneva hotel for just one night. Both have manned luggage rooms and lockers.

Thanks Kenav. Searched around and found the following:

http://www.cgn.ch/pdf/Prix_2007_1.pd...50943f7c11140c

http://www.cgn.ch/Horaires/pdf/hivers.pdf

Looks like Geneva to Montreux would be close to 60 CHF (assuming the Swiss Pass doesn't get any discount).

But I can't figure out the timetables. The search doesn't return any hits and the PDF of the horaires doesn't show a time table all the way from Geneva to Montreux or Chillon.

Can't really tell you how to find the right information on the the timetables.
But - it might help you if you called the Swiss tourism agency. (There's one in NYC. Don't know the phone number.)

Also - maybe take the train to Montreux and then boat from there to Chateau and then boat back to Montreux.

Good luck. Switzerland is beautiful. Sorry I can't help you further.

Actually, since last year, there is no longer no-change service all the way between Montreux and Geneva, there is only shorter localized service limited to the east and west ends of the lake, which means one or more changes are required to get from Montreux to Geneva, which makes a long trip even longer. In winter it does not appear you could make a trip between Montreux and Geneva at all, as the Montreux service only goes to Morges (a lovely town, however with a great old town and a wonderful restaurant; you could take a train from here to Geneva, assuming you sent your luggage ahead or wanted to bring it on board with you). However, in winter the local service looks pretty limited (I was surprised to see it at all, as I thought they only did wine and fondue cruises.) In the other months, it would take one or more changes to get to Geneva.

The good news is that it does seem you could go to Chillon from Montruex if you wanted, albeit it’s a very short cruise. There only seems to be one afternoon ferry that departs Chillon at 2:25 pm, it gets to Montreux 15 minutes later. (I personally don’t think you could take the boat out to Chillon as there appears to be only one ferry that departs Montreux at 12:25 and arrives in Chillon at 12:48. This would give you about 1.5 hours to see the castle, which IMO is not really enough time; but in winter when the castle will be pretty cold, maybe you could. The return schedule is on page 6 of the schedule.)

I will say that ferries in the winter are quite cold, and you really won’t be wanting to sit outdoors in February, so if you really want to do this I would just take the short trip from Montreux to Chillon. But DO go back in the summer, when sitting outdoors at the back of a ferry cold beer in hand is a sublime Swiss experience IMO.

The boats don't run directly between Chillon and Geneva in the winter. And that trip would take most of a day anyway. If you look at the first page of the CGN website there are lines that show where the boats stop and if you click on one of them you can print out a PDF file of the schedule.

Thanks Cicerone, kenav.

I'm flying out on AF so I will look into the early check-in. My flight out is at 7:30 AM Saturday. You think it will be crowded?

However, I already booked and paid for a room in Geneva so staying overnight in Montreux isn't an option.

Now, the train from Montreux to Veytaux-Chillon, that isn't the same as the trolley (Frommers refers to a short trolley.)?

Yeah looks like boat is out, which is fine. Some other time perhaps.

There is both a bus/trolley and a train and they both stop a Chillon although the train is very infrequent. Maybe once an hour and you could walk along the lake to the Chateau from your hotel by then!

Actually, from Montreux to Veytaux-Chillon, trains run on the hour and half hour (it is actually on the hour and then at 33 minutes past the hour). Trains leaving on hour require a change in Villeneuve, so I would opt for the train leaving on the half hour if you can. Trip takes about 30 minutes. You can also just get out in Villeneuve and walk from there, its about 5 minutes as well. (Villeneuve is actually past Chillon, so you are backtracking if you take the train which requires the change.) Round trip second class fare is CH5.60, first class is CH9.60.

Trains run very frequently from Montreux to Geneva, literally about every 10-15 minutes. Many require no changes. Fare is CH27 one-way for second class and CH45 for first.

I would check on the trolley, I am not sure that it runs in the winter. Ask at the Montreux train station.

>I would check on the trolley, I am not sure that it runs in the winter. Ask at the Montreux train station.

Why does everybody here thinks the "trolley" (actually a trolleybus, a modern electric bus with overhead wires) is some kind of tourist service??? It is the backbone of the local transport at the Vevey-Montreux axis. It is like saying "I don't know whether NY subway runs in winter".

So would I be able to find this trolley right outside the train station?

It takes 30 minutes to take the train from Montreux to near Chillon?

How long is the trolley ride? If it's instead of a 2-mile walk, it shouldn't be long right?

Hi scrb,

No, the bus is down by the lake. As you exit the train station, cross the street and then walk down the stairs to the lake. Stand at the lake side and wait for bus #1 to go to Chillon.

You can get the train schedules at www.rail.ch (not for city busses in Montreux though).

s

Hi scrb,

No, the bus is down by the lake. As you exit the train station, cross the street and then walk down the stairs to the lake. Stand at the lake side and wait for bus #1 to go to Chillon. It takes about 10 minutes.


s

Hi Swandav,

Where are you now? In Switzerland yet?

>It takes 30 minutes to take the train from Montreux to near Chillon?

Last time I looked on the SBB site it was 3 min by local train, not 30...
There are also strange connections where you take a train past Veytaux-Chillon to Villeneuve and backtrack almost all the way by the next train - these take 26 min, but they seem to defeat their own purpose.

It sounds like the trolley/bus along the lake would be more scenic than taking the train to Veytaux-Chillon then?

>It sounds like the trolley/bus along the lake would be more scenic than taking the train to Veytaux-Chillon then?

The train line is right on the water edge. The road where the bus goes is somewhat higher up the slope.

Does the Veytaux-Chillon station or stop have luggage lockers or places to stow bags (including a 26-inch roller)?

Or would I have to change trains in Montreux anyways, from the Zermatt train to another train headed to Veytaux-Chillon?

Sorry, the DIRECT TRAINS (i.e. no-change) to Veytaux-Chillon takes 3 minutes. It’s the trains which require a change in Villenueve which take 30. As I mentioned originally, it does not make a lot of sense to take the Villenueve train, as you are back tracking.

Scb, when coming from Zermatt you have to make a change in Montreux for every train to Chillon, so IMO you are better off storing your bags in Montreux rather than lugging them onto another train. There should be lockers in Chillon, but at that small a station I can’t say how many nor how large they would be.

alatmiro, in Zurich were I used to live, those buses which run on lines were not called “trolley’s” which is why the word was confusing me.

Hi scrb,

Yes, thanks for asking! I've been in Wengen since Saturday and am having a great time! I've been skiing on ice, but we just got a dump of snow last night; can't wait to get out and ski!

s

If you are using a SwissPass it will cover the ride on the trolley bus from Montreux to Chillon or you can, as someone suggested, walk along the lake front pathway.

The train station at Chillon is not right AT the castle but a short distance away..along that same lakefront pathway.

Cicerone and others:

I am coming in late to this discussion but it seems like this is the right place. Next week I am headed to go ski in Val d'Isere but fly into Geneva. We are staying at the airport and have a day and a 1/2 in Geneva on the front end and an evening on the back end.

We wanted a day trip out of Geneva.
Montreux seemed like a good day trip unless you more experienced swis travelers have a better idea.

If we did a day trip out of Geneva what would be your suggested itinerary?

for gfeible,

What would you like to do or see while there? Do you want to stroll lakeside promenades or explore museums, cathedrals, & castles?

If it were me, I'd take a train to Villeneuve and walk back to Montreux, passing Chillong along the way. Alternately, I'd take the train to Vevey and spend the day exploring the old town next to the lake.

btw, big apologies to schuler, who sent me greetings on this thread on 23 Jan. I mis-identified you!! Big sorry! I hope to make amends in person maybe this summer, eh?

s

We are 4 guys looking to kill a day before heading off to ski. So probably castle, cathedral etc. better than a lovely stroll. would you mind telling more of the towns you mentioned? Thanks

Not sure ho wold you are, but. . . my 30-something sons love the Chateau du Chillon, the castle spoken of. Lots of history; you are free to explore all on your own. You can walk, or take a bus, from Montreux. I guess there's a train stop closer if you are clever, but we just walked from Montreux.

Hi gfeibleman,

Yes, Chillon is a good bet for you (not "Chillong" as my mis-typing fingers wrote); check it out at www.chillon.ch. The ferries won't be running, but you can get there by walking from Villeneuve or from Montreux; or you can take bus #1 from either town; or you can take the local train from either one to Territet (not sure if the train still stops at Chillon).

There is a cathedral in Geneva that might interest you, but I'm not sure of its name -- St. Peters? I've heard the view is great from its heights.

There is a military (artillery) museum in Morges, set in a castle. So you could see both a castle and the museum at one time!

I personally love Villeneuve, on the other side of Chillon. It's a tiny town with a neat old section and some better restaurants than are in Montreux (Cafe de Paris).

Information at www.montreux.ch, www.montreux-vevey.com, www.morges.ch.

Good luck!

s

thanks. just what I needed. Think it would cheaper to rent a car and drive as there would be 4 of us?
NOt familiar with rail prices as we usually just take the Train to Zermatt via Visp so don't know the one day R/T fares

Hi again,

You can get your schedules and fares at www.rail.ch. The fare from the Geneva airport to Montreux is 62 chf round trip. Don't know how much a car will be for a day --

s

swandav2000
I am now in Val d'Isere France but followed your suggestions re MOntreux

We took the trainto Vevey, then hopped back on to chillon castle which was great. then we walked along the lake to Villeneuve and enjoyed the little old street and shops. Followed your suggestion and had dinner at Cafe de Paris. It looks like nothing but the food was great and they just kept adding free courses b/c they liked us. Late train back to Geneva. A full day and we never even saw MOntreux. Perfect day trip and no rain until we got back

Of course I broke my collarbone siing in france but that is another story. thanks again.