Vaud Part 2: Lavaux Vineyards, Vevey, Montreux and Eating Well
Fodor’s Essential Switzerland (3rd Edition), Fodor’s Travel, ISBN 9781640977280
← Vaud Part 1 · Geneva Part 1 →
Part 2 of Fodor’s Vaud chapter is the Riviera payoff. Lavaux terraces, Vevey’s literary ghosts, Montreux jazz, Chillon castle, and a full “Eating Well” sidebar that reads like a local food cheat sheet. After lake towns and Lausanne’s hills, this is the stretch most people picture when they say “Lake Geneva.”
St-Saphorin and the Corniche
St-Saphorin clings to the Corniche de Lavaux above the water. Cobbled streets, Roman church foundations, a tiny museum in the altar wall. Auberge de l’Onde was a stagecoach stop where Stravinsky and Chaplin ate; sommelier Jérôme Aké Béda still curates the wine list. Chexbres uphill offers Baron Tavernier rooms with terrace views worth the tight road nerves.
The 11 km Lavaux Vineyard Terraces Trail links Lutry to St-Saphorin with UNESCO walls, Chasselas tastings, and lake-blue backdrop. Lavaux Vinorama in Rivaz solves the problem of wineries with weird hours: 200 regional bottles under one roof.
Vevey: Nestlé and celebrity walks
Vevey keeps old-world gentility next to flashy Montreux. Henry James set Daisy Miller here. Charlie Chaplin’s bronze statue sits in the lakefront rose garden. Chaplin’s World museum is in Corsier. Nestlé’s Alimentarium celebrates food with live kitchen demos and gardens on the quay.
Musée Historique du Vieux Vevey, camera museum, game museum in a 13th-century castle, Obrist winery, Blonay-Chamby steam railway: the town packs culture without feeling rushed. Grand Hôtel du Lac inspired Anita Brookner’s novel. Hôtel des Trois Couronnes is the Henry James address.
Le Mazot serves fondue in a 10-foot-wide room. Läderach sells Charlie Chaplin shoe-shaped chocolate. National bar (“Natio”) does spicy mango crème brûlée for late crowds.
Montreux and Château de Chillon
Montreux is the Swiss Riviera capital: palms, magnolias, Fairmont Le Montreux Palace yellow awnings, July jazz festival exploding the usually calm promenade. Stravinsky wrote Petrouchka here. Nabokov lived in splendor. Byron carved his name in Chillon’s dungeon (now protected under a plaque).
Chillon is the must-see: 12th-century Savoy prison on Roman foundations, Bonivard chained six years before Bernese rescue. High season means bus groups in restored chambers, but Mark Twain thought the prisoner had it half okay given the lake view. Clos de Chillon wine funds restoration.
Montreux Jazz Festival sells out fast. Zurcher confiserie does potage and torte on the main drag. Casino Barrière needs your passport. Nautic Loisirs rents paddleboats if you want lake time without a steamer schedule.
Eating Well in Vaud
This sidebar is one of the book’s best food pages. Core idea: cuisine du marché, seasonal produce, cozy pintes with local wine.
Malakoffs in Vinzel and Bursins: fried Gruyère toast named after a Crimean War officer.
Papet Vaudois: leeks and potatoes stewed with white wine, served with saucisse aux choux sausage.
Filets de perche: lake perch with butter or wine sauce. Ask if it’s local; much comes from Eastern Europe now.
Saucisson vaudois and Taillé aux greubons: pork traditions born from hiding ham from Bernese rulers.
Tarte à la raisinée and Tarte au vin cuit: fruit reductions on pastry.
Taillé aux pommes: apple tart with optional double cream.
The guide ties dishes to villages and seasons. It’s not Michelin fluff. It’s what to order when you sit down hungry after a vineyard walk.
Lausanne nightlife and markets (from this section’s tail)
Part 2 also finishes Lausanne listings: Flon clubs like D! Club and MAD, jazz cellar Le Chorus, markets on Riponne and Chauderon, free bike rentals at Maison du Vélo with CHF20 deposit, Bellerive lakeside pools. Royal Savoy and Lausanne Palace anchor the luxury end.
My read on Part 2
This is the romantic Switzerland chapter. Lavaux is manual vineyard labor on impossible slopes. Vevey is writers and chocolate. Montreux is music and castle stone. The eating section grounds it in sausage and perch, not just palace dining. Crowds in July are the honest warning. Come in late spring or early autumn if you can. Bring appetite and comfortable shoes for cobblestone grades.