Family adventures on the Montreux Riviera

Every­thing was organ­ised for our long week­end: We had booked a two-night stay at the new­ly ren­o­vat­ed Mon­treux Youth Hos­tel and pin­point­ed many ideas to help make the three days inter­est­ing for the whole fam­i­ly in Google Maps: Some great des­ti­na­tions were now our radar, includ­ing the cool play­ground, the best cof­fee bar, one of the old­est funic­u­lar rail­ways and the edu­ca­tion­al muse­um. All we had to do was keep our fin­gers crossed for good weath­er.

Montreux – a journey into the past

We enjoyed a very relax­ing jour­ney from Bern to Mon­treux. From the moment we first caught sight of Lake Gene­va sur­round­ed by many beau­ti­ful vine­yards out of the train win­dow, we knew that this was the right deci­sion for our long week­end away. As soon as we left Mon­treux sta­tion, we felt like we were trans­port­ed back in time due to the beau­ti­ful build­ings dat­ing back to the Belle Époque era. Our back­drop com­pris­ing Lake Gene­va and the snow-capped Swiss Alps were pic­ture-per­fect – a blue sky would have been the icing on the cake. Before explor­ing the lake­side prom­e­nade, we took the short but steep climb up to the old town known as the “vieille ville”. The chil­dren still had plen­ty of ener­gy, which we want­ed to make the most of. The climb was def­i­nite­ly worth the effort. This pic­turesque part of the town affords breath­tak­ing views of the lake and the prom­e­nade. This was to be our next des­ti­na­tion.

The Fred­die Mer­cury stat­ue is cer­tain­ly the most famous tourist mag­net along the lake. How­ev­er, our son was more cap­ti­vat­ed by the pret­ty, colour­ful flowerbeds and the wide walls that lined the prom­e­nade which proved to be great for bal­anc­ing along. He also loved the play­grounds, which appeared at reg­u­lar inter­vals.

Youth hostel – feeling at home from the very first moment

We were warm­ly wel­comed to the new­ly ren­o­vat­ed hos­tel and were able to get set­tled quick­ly into our ultra-mod­ern fam­i­ly room. Guest tip: As a guest, you will receive the Mon­treux Riv­iera Card free of charge for the dura­tion of your stay. This allows you to use pub­lic trans­port free of charge as well as numer­ous dis­counts on admis­sion tick­ets.

After we had rest­ed our tired legs a lit­tle, we spent the time until din­ner play­ing games in the youth hos­tel. For­tu­nate­ly, we had pre-booked our din­ner at the hos­tel and were treat­ed to with a deli­cious 3‑course menu. This turned out to be a good deci­sion because the weath­er was awful that evening. Veg­e­tar­i­an and veg­an options are also served in the restau­rant every day.

Vevey – the town with lots of charm

The next day, feel­ing well rest­ed and replen­ished by the hostel’s exten­sive break­fast buf­fet, we took a short walk along the lake­side prom­e­nade to catch the boat from Mon­treux to Vevey.  The cross­ing on the CGN (Com­pag­nie Générale de Nav­i­ga­tion) pad­dle steam­er was an absolute high­light for the whole fam­i­ly and the short trip flew by.

Once in Vevey, the Jardin du Rivage play­ground had to be thor­ough­ly test­ed – and the first ice cream stands have already been spot­ted. After­wards, we explored the old town with its nar­row streets, colour­ful build­ings, many cafés and shops. This is when we came across the Ali­men­ta­r­i­um, which can be found in a prime loca­tion. The inter­ac­tive food muse­um, housed in a his­toric build­ing, is right on the prom­e­nade. The muse­um is high­ly rec­om­mend­ed for fam­i­lies. We were impressed by its var­ied inter­ac­tive dis­plays, which invite you to exper­i­ment, look, touch and learn. In order to process the many things we had seen and expe­ri­enced, we then took a stroll along the prom­e­nade to the Jardin Roussy, where the next play­ground await­ed us. After a small snack and a deli­cious cof­fee at Brew Soci­ety, we took the train back to the youth hos­tel.

Glion – fantastic views from way up high

After a short break, in the late after­noon we took the funic­u­lar rail­way from Ter­ritet to Glion. The sta­tion was only a stone’s throw away from our accom­mo­da­tion.  Once at the top – you can hard­ly believe it – anoth­er play­ground await­ed us! The dizzy­ing­ly steep trip is well worth it. The views are breath­tak­ing from Chillon Cas­tle across the Alps and Lake Gene­va. The views were great even though the weath­er was cloudy again. For din­ner, we took the cog­wheel rail­way back down to Mon­treux. On the prom­e­nade, we enjoyed piz­za, pas­ta and wine in the fresh air.

Chillon Castle – the royal pièce de résistance

The two nights at Mon­treux Youth Hos­tel passed by at a rapid pace. Soon we found our­selves check­ing out on the third day. But a final high­light was wait­ing for us! This was just a short walk along the lake­side prom­e­nade from the hos­tel. Walk­ing past sculp­tures, vine­yards, pret­ty hous­es our des­ti­na­tion is always in sight: Chillon Cas­tle, a majes­tic build­ing which was built on a rocky island over a mil­len­ni­um ago. The kids can enjoy their own spe­cial tour of the cas­tle – the Drako Tour – where drag­ons can be found through­out the cas­tle. The his­toric walls, secret pas­sages, old armour and the won­der­ful views from the cas­tle keep make this excur­sion a real high­light and a won­der­ful end to our long week­end on the Mon­treux Riv­iera.

More Montreux?

Our for­mer intern Kat­ri­na (now Mar­ket­ing Spe­cial­ist) also test­ed the region around Mon­treux Youth Hos­tel. Find out what she expe­ri­enced and what insid­er tips she has ready in her blog arti­cle.

To the blog arti­cle