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Forbes
30-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Montreux: Much More Than A Famous Jazz Festival
Beloved Montreux resident, Freddie Mercury is immortalized on Lake Geneva. Credit: Maude Rion The small Swiss city of Montreux on Lake Geneva is famously linked to its legendary July jazz festival. The grand event can serve, though, as a launching platform for plenty more themes and sites to explore here along what they call the Montreux Riviera, and venturing up to the stunning Prealps that loom right over the city. With lush Mediterranean landscaping along miles of its lakefront promenade, Montreux proper is as invitingly walkable a city as you'll find. As a central starting point, the handsome Marché Couvert de Montreux is a fine late-19th-century Beaux Arts covered market that was funded by Henri Nestlé and constructed in Eiffel-like iron. When big markets, concerts and other public events aren't scheduled under its wooden roof, you might just find, say, a local yoga group enjoying a session as you wander through the space. Right next to the market, you can't miss Montreux's selfie spot non-pareil in the form of the mega-popular Freddie Mercury statue. Cast in bronze, the inimitable rock star holds one of his iconic poses of one arm thrust in the air, microphone stand in the other. Built right over Lake Geneva, medieval Chillon Castle long guarded access through the Alps. Credit: stephan wiesner Had you not been aware of the deep relationship the Queen frontman had to the city, you'll certainly be prompted to explore the fine small exhibition in the Montreux Casino that is devoted to him and his cohorts. Queen the Studio Experience takes up space that was once Mountain Studios where the band recorded six albums. Among fantastical costumes, there's even a full mixing board at which you can try out your musical skills. Those interested in a comprehensive Mercury experience can book the Freddie Tour, walking journeys of several lengths along which the live guide's narrative is accompanied by an audio/visual component with song and video clips. Next to the casino, an architectural curiosity soars over this low-rise town. An incongruous 25-story tower seen from all city vantage points, the Tour d'Ivoire residential building is on close inspection worthy of its landmark protection status for its sleek 1960s Modernist lines and wing- or sail-like balconies. Travel less than two miles further down the lakefront in this French-speaking canton of Vaud and you're taken from the modern rock era back to a literal rock era. Built on a jut of a rock sticking up from the water, Chillon Castle is an imposing medieval stone fortress whose unique oval shape conforms to the islet upon which it sits. The origin of its very name is even derived from an old Waldensian language word for rock. The Fairmont Le Montreux Palace is one of several Belle Époque hotels overlooking Lake Geneva in Montreux. Credit: Mettler With three full courtyards and mazes of tunnels and buildings, Chillon was brilliantly designed to bamboozle any invaders who managed to enter. For centuries, you didn't pass here without paying a toll to the House of Savoy, but by the mid-16th century Bernese army forces had indeed managed to take over. With enormous wood-paneled banquet and meeting halls, a vast prison below, and a soaring watchtower with lake and mountain views that would set a real estate agent on fire, the fortress is absolutely worthy of relying on the audioguide. Chillon is simply too immense and rich in history to conquer without the more than forty excellently produced narrative tracks that let you profit the most from your time here. In Chillon-related popular culture, Lord Byron composed a poem, 'The Prisoner of Chillon,' while Delacroix painted a theme of the same name. Taking us back to the Montreux Jazz Festival, the great pianist Bill Evans used the castle on the cover of his live album recorded at the second iteration of the festival in 1968. After a few hours going up and down medieval parapets, you'll welcome a refreshment stop just outside the gates at the Café Byron. And then you may wish to cross the lakefront road to a fortress of another kind built right into the steep mountain face. The WWII-era defensive bunker system with anti-tank guns, also named Fort Chillon, has been turned into a popular museum. Back in Montreux proper, a number of stately Belle Époque hotels face the water. The Grand Hôtel Suisse Majestic is often described as Wes Anderson-ish, while the Eden Palace au Lac right by the casino certainly has equally as many stories to tell of well more than a century's-worth of high society hijinks. La Terrasse du Petit Palais makes for delightful open air lakefront dining at the 1906 Fairmont Le Montreux Palace hotel, while its indoor Montreux Jazz Café features a fine dining menu, despite its casual name. The lively Funky Claude's Bar takes its name in homage to Claude Nobs, the late founder of the jazz festival. The Rochers de Naye cogwheel railway rises in no time from Montreux on Lake Geneva up to the Prealps. Credit: VALENTIN FLAURAUD/ Switzerland's excellent public transportation system makes going up and down the lakefront a breeze, especially with the unlimited Swiss Travel Pass. To go even higher, there's the sheer fun of chugging up the switchbacks of the cogwheel railway (it's not a funicular, as you might assume) that goes up to 6,700-foot Rochers-de-Naye peak. Along the way, stop at 3,800 feet where Le CouCou in Caux hamlet is as Alpine a chalet restaurant as you'd ever imagine. It may be remote, but it's known far and wide for its comfy setting of wooden plank floors, fireplaces and booth seating on plush crimson banquettes. Either indoor or on terraces, diners enjoy regional produce and wines from the Lavaux terraces down by the lake. It's all the epitome of Swiss comfort food, from lamb shanks in a spiced sauce to the hash brown-like rösti with Gruyère, or fondue with Champagne and truffles. They also operate the small Tralala hotel in the Montreux old town, which is designed around the theme of musical artists who've helped make the city famous. That main theme is everywhere. A minute away from Le CouCou, the late Claude Nob's whimsical chalet home is open on occasion for events. Stuffed in room after room, gift memorabilia from rock and jazz stars includes personal outfits, guitars and pianos, and art work by Ronnie Woods and others. Then, there are jukeboxes, pinball machines, tchotchkes galore, and large-scale model trains lining entire walls. It's the adult playroom you wish you had. The Montreux Jazz Festival has long been much more than jazz, with major rock acts on the scene since the early days. This year's festival runs from July 4-19, and will include, among other major stars, Chaka Khan in a tribute to the late friend of the festival, Quincy Jones.
Forbes
25-06-2025
- Forbes
Lake Geneva's Terraced Lavaux Vineyards Gaining Deserved Notice
The terraced vineyards of Lavaux on Lake Geneva are a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Credit: Maude Rion If Switzerland hardly jumps to mind as a wine producing nation and the white grape variety Chasselas rings no bell, expect that to change as the stretch of steep Lake Geneva shoreline called Lavaux gains ever more recognition. Between Lausanne and Montreux in the canton of Vaud, Lavaux's south-facing terraced vineyards are a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The town of Vevey makes an ideal base for exploring this section of the broader area known as the Montreux Riviera. You can dispel with thoughts of only the usual trifecta of Swiss watches, cheese and chocolate as your goal here. Perhaps you already know the small Italian-speaking canton of Ticino as a prime wine growing region. Some 2,000 acres harvested here in Lavaux represent an even tinier fraction of the wine world, but it's all packing an ever great wallop on the enotourism scene. Even without vineyards that go back to Roman times, the views from Lavaux to the Alps on the southern French side of Lake Geneva are spectacular. Switzerland's exceptional train system with its unlimited Swiss Travel Pass makes it a mere hour ride to get here from Geneva and twenty minutes from Lausanne. From the train stop at Grandvaux village, a wander down the slopes toward the lake takes you through the heart of this unique physical and cultural environment. With their stone houses, hamlets dotted throughout the Lavaux terraced landscape look much like they have for centuries. Credit: Maude Rion You would do well in advance to engage the services of UNESCO-certified guide Marc Checkley who has lived in Lavaux for nearly a decade. The New Zealand native with an infectious enthusiasm for the region is adept at walking backward downhill as he explains 15,000 years of geologic time; how a retreat of the Rhône Glacier began creating the deep lake; and, how, like right out of a Hollywood cataclysmic event, the 6th-century Tauredunum mountain collapse triggered a tsunami and caused massive shoreline destruction all the way to Geneva on the lake's southwestern tip. As you walk through hamlets and between 280-miles-worth of high stone walls that monks built a millennia ago to create the terraces, Checkley explains how the walls breath and retain the solar heat that keeps the narrow lanes and vines themselves warm at night. The sun reflecting off the lake adds to the ripening process. To the English ear, domaine sounds like a grand name for what here at Domaine Potterat is, like most Lavaux wineries, a quintessentially small family run operation. In the post card-perfect village of Cully, Eliane and Guillaume Potterat work over a six-hundred-year old cellar. Their late-19th-century press is primitive enough that it takes a team of workers to push the heavy timber lever to crush the grapes, but its cast iron mechanics are a thing of late-industrial era beauty. Among the some 30,000 bottles that Domaine Potterat produces annually, their Epesses Grand Cru, Courseboux and Côtes de Courseboux white wines are among the best known. You'll find a weekly farmers market just outside their operation in the narrow streets of Cully, while in springtime some performances of the Cully Jazz festival are held in their cellar and garden. The CGN fleet of historic ships plies the waters of Lake Geneva, with a stop at Lavaux. Credit: Marie Contreras Uncommonly these days, all harvesting in Lavaux is done by hand—given the challenging terrain, not such a remarkable practice. Just enjoying the exquisite countryside here might be good enough reason to come back in the fall to sign up with a vintner and join in the labor yourself. With plenty of helpful signage along the paths and roads, you can't get lost among the Lavaux terraces. Down in Cully proper, one of various docks on Lake Geneva is a stop for the CGN fleet of Belle Époque steam paddle boats that still ply the waters. To be sure, a few in the fleet of eight are no longer steam powered, but the big red paddle wheels on either side remain a romantic element. With Lake Geneva having thirty species of fish, trout, perch or monkfish may well be on the menu for lunch that can be booked onboard, along with wine tastings. A cruise is also the chance to spot some of 230 bird species at home here, from ducks of all manner to mute swans, gray herons, great crested grebes and great cormorants. In the town of Vevey, the Hôtel des Trois Couronnes lies right on Lake Geneva. Credit: Leading Hotels of the World Two Leading Hotels of the World member properties lie within minutes of one another. Le Mirador Resort and Spa on Le Mont-Pèlerin looks far over the lake. In the town of Vevey, the Hôtel des Trois Couronnes with origins back to 1842 retains its old world flair—attic rooms have heavy timber crossbeams that run low through the middle, so watch your head. It should be a rule that dining under the Le 3C Restaurant patio awning be followed by a walk on the lake promenade. The property's Puressens Spa includes a long ground floor lap pool. Two doors from the hotel, the Alimentarium museum takes up a handsome early 20th-century Neo-classical lakefront building. As it once housed Nestlé headquarters, no surprise that the museum is devoted to food and nutrition around the world. La Fourchette , or the Fork of Vevey, is an instantly recognizable Instagram star of a 26-foot-tall stainless steel sculpture that sticks up from the lake water. Just outside of Vevey, fans of the seminal modern architect Le Corbusier can drop in for a look at his mid-1920s Villa Le Lac on the water. Minutes away inland, the Chaplin's World museum is housed in Manoir de Ban where the early cinema genius Charlie spent the last 25 years of his life, and is devoted to his work.
