Montreux, Switzerland.

As my hubbie had a significant birthday this year, I treated him to a few days in Montreux, Switzerland in September.

It was somewhere I had always wanted to go, since watching the Montreux Rock Festival on television as a teenager in the 80’s. Also, as John is a big Queen fan, and it is where Queen recorded their albums for many years, between 1978 and 1995, I decided it would be a good place to visit for his big birthday celebration.

I booked a lake view room at the lakeside Golf Hotel, just a short walk from Montreux town centre. We enjoyed first class rail from Geneva Airport straight to Montreux and then just a short taxi ride from the station.

On arrival at our hotel, the view from our balcony of Lac Leman (Lake Geneva) and the mountains beyond, didn’t disappoint.

The icing on the cake was that there was a Queen Festival on all weekend, celebrating what would have been Freddie’s 78th birthday, so there were lots of bands playing, stalls, tribute acts etc, inside and outside all weekend.

The Queen Studio Experience, in what was the famous Mountain Studios, is now open to the public (free to enter), inside the Casino in Montreux. This casino, incidentally, burnt down in 1971, during a concert, inspiring the famous Deep Purple song, ‘Smoke on the Water’.

We visited the Queen Studio Experience, seeing a lot of the outfits worn by the band, records and memorabilia, as well as visiting the famous lakeside statue of Freddie Mercury.

The town of Montreux is a lovely lakeside town with a pedestrianised walkway all along the front, right up to Chillon Castle, which we walked up one afternoon, and enjoyed a tour of the castle.

There are many shops, ice-cream stalls, bars and restaurants to visit in the town.

There is also the Charlie Chaplin Museum, just outside Montreux, again easily accessible by train or bus.

The trains all over Switzerland provide an excellent service, departing and arriving bang on time, every time. 

As walkers, we were both looking forward to getting up some of the higher mountains, but the bonus for me is that we caught the train most of the way up and then walked down 😀. We had a discount on the trains, buses and boats whilst we were there, as part of our package, as well as discounts into many attractions, including Chillon Castle.

Although Switzerland isn’t the cheapest of destinations, it is a beautiful country, and I would highly recommend a visit. We booked a package which included breakfast and dinner in the hotel, first class rail transfers and discounted transport and entry fees whilst there. So all-in all, it was well worth the money.

If you would like more information on travel to Switzerland please give Lisa a call on at Chic Boutique Travel on 01706 250006