7126 posts
Hi Tbone1311!
That’s pretty ambitious for one day, especially if you want to return to Lausanne or a nearby town after your visit to Gruyères. It can be done if you leave early though. Please consult the timetable at http://www.myswissalps.com/ti metable, and the boat timetable we link to from http://www.myswissalps.com/bo atlakegeneva/gettingth ere, to plan your trip in detail. I’m not sure how important a visit to Vevey is to you, but note that you could skip that and simply take a boat from Lausanne to “Chateau de Chillon (lac)”: http://www.myswissalps.com/chilloncastle/gettingthere.
A visit to Chillon castle is free for Swiss Travel Pass holders indeed (http://www.myswissalps.com/sw isstravelpass/details, http://www.myswissalps.com/chilloncastle/tickets). I wouldn’t know of any quick access solution, other than just waiting in line and showing your Swiss Travel Pass at the ticketing desk.
As for Gruyères: I think the village’s small medieval town centre is very charming. It’s at a 10-15 minute walk from the train station. The famous Cailler chocolate factory in Broc can be easily reached by train as well, but that visit would add some extra hours to your schedule.
8889 posts
If you are not into cheese then Gruyères Castle is worth a look. Also the H R Giger Museum if you like a bit of weird.
http://www.myswissalps.com/gruyeres
72625 posts
Thanks for info.
I know that in Velvey there is the “world’s biggest (and rarest) wine festivals.” going on and I am trying to decide if I should try to see Chillon and Gruyere or spent time in Velvey and then Chillon.
Seems like it may be tough to do all three.
Might it be more doable if I used the train and skipped the boat option?
7126 posts
Hi Tbone1311. Yes, a train from Lausanne to Vevey or Chateau de Chillon will be quicker. The timetables mentioned above allow you to find the differences between boat and train connections. I’m not familiar with the wine festival in Vevey, so unfortunately I can’t comment on that. I agree with you that planning all three in one day would be a bit too much, even with the train instead of boat connection. A visit to the Chateau de Chillon easily takes 1-2 hours, and even that’s a pretty tight time frame. I guess you’d want to spend a couple of hours, or at least 1 hour, at the wine festival too. It would be a challenge to add a trip to Gruyères on the same day, so I’m afraid it’s wiser to choose ;-).