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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.
