The Pays D'Enhaut Region: Swiss Prealps Within Easy Reach

Forbes

01-07-2025

Built by 11th-century Cluny monks, Saint-Nicolas church is the heart of Rougemont village in the Pays-d'Enhaut region. Credit: Pays-d'Enhaut Region
Switzerland's French-speaking Vaud is one of the nation's largest cantons, occupying an enviable stretch of northern and eastern Lake Geneva. But just head on a short jaunt up the mountains and suddenly you are in quintessential pre-alpine villages in the Pays d'Enhaut district that lies in the Vaud Alps at the edge of the formidable Bernese Alps. With the area's very name of Enhaut aptly referring to its heights, it goes without saying that you are in world-class skiing territory; but the Pays d'Enhaut is inviting in any season.
Getting here is half the fun on the excellent Swiss railway system's GoldenPass Belle Époque heritage train, especially when you reserve a first class seat in a chalet carriage (you might also book their special chocolate and cheese themed trains). Around half-way as the train twists its way up forested and meadowed terrain, the impressive Dent de Jaman peak jutting up suddenly from a clearing is your first taste of more visual drama to come.
Some fifteen rooms at the Pays-d'Enhaut Museum in Château-d'Œx village depict rural life from centuries past, as here in a bedroom whose furniture is decorated in painted scenes. Credit: Musée du Pays-d'Enhaut
No worries if you override your stop while busy soaking in the views along the Sarine river and you land up in Saanen village; you've crossed over into the canton of Bern and the German-speaking world. Just jump on a return train for a few minutes back to Rougemont and a world devoid of the larger international crowds that descend upon swanky Gstaad just a few miles up the road.
To be sure, the tiny town of Rougemont proper and the larger Pays d'Enhaut area long ago has seen its fair share of enthralled visitors, frequented as it was during the heyday of the famed 18th-19th century British Grand Tour. In recent times, Diana, the future Princess of Wales, spent time here in finishing school.
Pride of place in Rougemont belongs to the 11th-century Romanesque Saint-Nicolas church built by monks of the Cluny order, which by mid-16th century had become Protestant under Bernese rule. You might be lucky and come upon a small music group rehearsing for the many concerts held in the tiny columned church.
As here in Rougemont, the Pays-d'Enhaut region is known for its large and decoratively detailed chalets. Credit: Pays-d'Enhaut Region
A five-minute walk past the church and cemetery yard, and upslope a bit from town, the Hôtel de Rougemont & Spa is the classic ski lodge, with (faux?) fur rugs and rooms covered in warm wood from reclaimed farmhouse timber. Even the elevator is lined with cowhide. The property has rotating art shows in its public spaces.
Through the bar/restaurant picture window or sitting on your terrace, jagged and steep Le Rubli limestone peak looms 4,000 feet over the valley, with its Videmanette Piste ski lifts rising straight up the jagged heights. To your back, the Parc de Gruyère ridges stretch into the Fribourg canton. Just sit back and drink your coffee to the tune of tinkling cowbells across the valley.
You are at only about 3,000 feet in Rougemont, making for easy hiking up the road for a look at lovely chalet homes and farmhouses (don't check the prices in the local real estate offices). Down below by the Sarine river, sawmills still operate from the area's lumber heyday.
If you're super ambitious, there are enough hiking trails all around to take years to complete. The Hôtel de Rougemont will supply you with a booklet outlining some two dozens hikes along ridges, around lakes, and through meadows and woods, including via ferrata climbing routes on Le Rubli. If you're lucky you'll spot lynx, ibex, chamois and golden eagles.
For the ultimate in Alpine sightseeing when weather conditions permit, hot air ballooning is a big Pays d'Enhaut draw, particularly around the town of Château-d'Œx. In late January, the Festival International de Ballons is held, while the Espace Ballon is a museum with simulators for those who prefer to remain earth-bound.
In the village of Château-d'Œx, Le Chalet fondue restaurant whips up cheese batches before your eyes. Credit: Pays-d'Enhaut Tourisme
In the town of Château-d'Œx, the Pays-d'Enhaut Museum occupies four floors of an old house that recreates centuries'-worth of daily local life, with a kitchen and dining room, as well as a drawing room and bedrooms filled with decorative furnishings and traditional costumes. There are working rooms with tools for cheese-making, weaving, black- and lock-smithing, along with hunting rifles and plenty of cowbells in all sizes and with elaborate leather collars. The museum's revolving exhibits include themes like a recent one on Swiss paintings from the mid-19th to the later-20th century.
The institution's full name of Musée du Pays-d'Enhaut—Centre Suisse du Papier Découpé reflects its mission of highlighting the highly-developed local historic art of découpage , or paper cut outs. You'll admire the intricate paper cut silhouette work of lumberjacks, shepherds and chalets all over the region, even reproduced on the hot air balloons. You can sign up for lessons as well, though don't expect your work on first try to reach the level of the museum's fine collection, of which several dozen of 600 pieces are on full display. Look especially for the fine work of the local découpage meisters Hans Jakob Hauswirth (1809-1871) and Louis Saugy (1871-1953).
The Hôtel de Rougemont is a blend of a traditional warm wood chalet and modern vibes. Credit: Pays d'Enhaut Région
As you work up a mountain appetite, there's nothing more filling than fondue. A minute's walk downhill from the train station in Château-d'Œx takes you to the rustic Le Chalet restaurant. You too can try your hand at the milk stirring process over a big wood-fired vat that looks like one out of a Disney fairy tale, in which up to 200 liters of organic milk will produce a 20-kilo piece of hard cheese to mature for some six months.
Maybe you hadn't known before lunch that your fondue pot choices can come with pimento, black garlic, mushroom and even beer flavors. If you are the one who takes on the great responsibility of scraping melting cheese out from under the hot raclette lamp to serve to your dining partners, stay on your game. Upstairs, the chalet's gift shop carries all varieties of cheeses and quality goods, such as coffee cups with traditional découpage silhouette scenes. Don't miss the back room's huge Alpine model train that the staff will turn on by request.
To the west as you descend back toward Lake Geneva, the village of Rossinière is known for an enormous chalet house that the Modernist painter Balthus (born Balthasar Klossowski de Rola in Paris) inhabited for decades until his 2001 death. At five floors and with a window-rich façade, the aptly named mid-18th-century Grand Chalet was originally a cheese depot and at one time a hotel. The painter's career is highlighted in the nearby Balthus Chapel whose garden holds his tomb.
When the GoldenPass Belle Époque heritage train deposits you back in Montreux and you stroll the city's long Lake Geneva promenade, it's hard to believe a mere two hours earlier you were surrounded by the most classic of Alpine scenes.