1 week Romainmôtier/Mont-Vully Switzerland: food & wine trip
Roberta and her husband spent a week in mid-September 2024 exploring Romainmôtier and the Mont-Vully region for a food and wine tour they are hosting in 2025. They enjoyed a packed itinerary filled with local cuisine, brewery visits, and stunning scenery while driving around in a hired car.
- Stay at Maison Junod for a cozy B&B experience with a friendly owner and interesting local features.
- Visit the local bakery Fleur de Farine for amazing almond croissants and freshly baked goods.
- The Swiss Travel Pass can be useful if arriving by train, especially for accessing Romainmôtier from the nearby Croy station.
- Enjoy traditional fondue at La Breguettaz Chalet-Restaurant for a memorable dining experience.
- Don’t miss the delicious local wines from the Mont Vully region while enjoying the beautiful lakeside scenery.
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In mid-September 2024 my husband and I spent a week in Romainmôtier, Mont-Vully and surrounds doing research for a small-group food & wine tour I’m hosting in Switzerland in September 2025. It was a jam-packed itinerary of eating, drinking and site-seeing and – as we had to cover a lot of ground in a short-time – we had a hire car. Here are the highlights.
Thursday 19 September
We arrived in the ancient village of Romainmôtier in the Swiss Jura mountains (in the Canton of Vaud). It is truly one of my favourite places in the world. The village grew up around a monastic community founded about 450AD by a monk called Romanus and has a lovely sense of serenity – Romainmôtier means “Romanus’ monastery”.
We’ve been visiting Romainmôtier for years and feel at home here, sharing a drink with locals in the pub after dinner, returning to my favourite café to breakfast on excellent croissants, and visiting a nearby mountain chalet for great fondue. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
First up we checked into our favourite Swiss chambre d’hôte (French B&B), Maison Junod. The owner Laurent is super-efficient and always leaves our key in a passcode protected box in the cellar so we can check ourselves in. Rooms are simple, spacious and clean and ours looks out over the main street. There are only 6 rooms in the building and a common room on the top floor with a piano that anyone is welcome to play.
This afternoon I met with Guillaume at Brasse Mortier, an excellent micro-brewery in the village centre run as a cooperative by a team of locals committed to keeping artisanal brews alive. Archaeologist-turned-brewer, Fabrice Tournelle, joined us for a tasting and explained how he handmakes six traditional beers using local spring water: a pilsner, wheat beer and stout, plus pale, old and red ales. I love stout, so that was my favourite, but they were all very good.
We were joined by Magali and her husband, who own the neighbouring café, and were soon grouped around a table on the cobbled forecourt sharing a casual dinner of a planchette (tasting platter) of regional cold cuts and cheese with some of Magali’s hummus, carrot sticks and flatbread – and a few more beers of course.
After dinner we popped into the Hotel St Romain pub across the road from our B&B for a night cap with the locals and the pub’s quirky owner, Patrick.
Friday 20 September
Maison Junod offers a good continental breakfast delivered to the rooms, but I can’t resist an excuse to visit the excellent local bakery, Fleur de Farine. So we head up there as soon as it’s open for our morning coffee and the best almond croissants I know. The flans and artisanal bread here are good too, as is the view of the priory from my preferred perch at the window counter.
For lunch we drive up to La Breguettaz Chalet-Restaurant. This wooden chalet, built in the early 1700s, is one of my favourite places for fondue. The short drive up from Romainmôtier is part of the adventure as it sits at 1,080 metres in the Jura Mountains. We start with a plate of smoked ham, air-dried beef and pickles, then dive into motie-motie fondue (half Gruyère half Vacherin Fribourgeois). It’s all washed down with a chilled Swiss white wine and we finish with the traditional meringue with cream and schnapps.
After lunch we take a scenic drive back to Romainmôtier then I walk down to the neighbouring village of Croy to work off some of that rich lunch and make room for dinner. If you do arrive by train instead of car, Croy is the best station to arrive at, then it’s a 5 minute taxi ride or 15 minute stroll to Romainmôtier. The view of the Alps from this walk is breathtaking on a clear day.
This evening we have an apero followed by an early light dinner at Chez Magali, in a shady cobbled courtyard next to Brasse-Mortier. For a long time, this beautiful village was lacking just one thing: a choice of great places to eat. Then, since my last visit, along came Magali with her love of spices – so this is the first time (apart from last night’s hummus) that I’ve tried her food. Magali’s husband is from Iran and much of her cooking is inspired by the spices and flavours of the Middle East. But she also makes excellent Bretagne crêpes using buckwheat from a local farm. That’s what I have – the simplest version with just gruyere and, Magali’s own touch, Kampot pepper from Cambodia. It may not be traditional, but the slightly eucalyptus notes of the pepper work a treat with the rich cheese. We share a sweet crêpe for dessert with caramel and salted butter (YUM!).
Another night cap at Hotel St Romain then across the road to bed.
Saturday 21 September
The morning starts with coffee and almond croissants at Fleur de Farine again – I have to get my fill as I know it’ll be 12 months before I taste croissants this good again.
Romainmôtier is built around an ancient priory that dates to the late 10th century. Today its ground floor houses a restaurant with several ornate dining rooms, one of which includes an open hearth in front of which chickens are roasted. This is where we have lunch at Maison du Prieuré.
The food is classic French Swiss and we start by sharing a good house-made terrine served with a generous salad garnished with pepitas. Next that spit-roasted chicken with very good rösti and, because I can’t resist fruit tarts, Franz has a slice of the plum and I try the apple. Both are rich, heavy and tasty.
The church adjoining the priory is one of Switzerland’s most important examples of Cluniac Romanesque architecture. After lunch I take a quiet wander through it to admire the amazing stonework.
Then we head off along the shore of Lake Neuchatel to beautiful Lake Murten. Lac de Morat (or Murtensee in German) is the smallest of the three lakes of the Seeland (Trois Lacs) district, known as Switzerland’s ‘vegetable garden’ and home to much of its beautiful fresh produce; Lakes Neuchatel and Biel are the others. Coupled with fish fresh from the lake, this makes it a haven for great food as well as excellent wines and stunning scenery.
We’re staying with friends in Lugnorre, so go and set up camp in their spare room.
The city of Murten has one of the best-preserved medieval centres in Switzerland and this afternoon we climb its ancient ramparts for a view over the surrounding countryside and to work up an appetite for a light dinner of excellent flammekueche (tarte flambée) at Bar Adler on the historic cobbled main street. This casual modern pub inhabits an ancient building which the owner says (and I have no reason to doubt) has housed Goethe, Casanova and the Dukes of Savoy as guests. They have great beer on tap and a good list of local wines.
Sunday 22 September
Lugnorre is in the heart of Mont Vully, Switzerland’s smallest wine region, and one of my favourite corners of this beautiful country. It runs along the northern shore of Lake Murten, straddling the cantons of Fribourg and Vaud, with vine-covered hills running down to the lake.
I make the most of the gorgeous views with a sunrise walk along the 5km ‘Chemin la Riviera’ vineyard trail winding through the vines from Lugnorre to Sugiez. It’s easy going, with only a few uphill sections to get to a good elevation for great views across the lake. Along the way I meet locals walking their dogs and on their morning jog and I stop to read the boards explaining the local grape varieties and the seasonal work of the vignerons.
Back on the main road, just at the end of the trail, I happen across L’ART’isan Pâtissier-Chocolatier and can’t resist popping in to check out the sweet treats. I leave with a mini-ice cream – chocolate-coated with a tangy fruit sorbet inside – that’s one of the best things I’ve ever tasted!
High above the vineyard-covered hills above the lake is a casual restaurant called Belle5, where chef Philip Hofkunst and his team serve delicious fresh fare with magnificent views over the lake plus wine and service to match. It’s the ideal spot for today’s leisurely al fresco lunch. I adore the theatre of steak tartare being prepared tableside and Franz is just as delighted with a generous serve of riz de veau (veal sweetbreads). The small well-curated cheese trolley is special too and I’m still dreaming about the beautiful plum gratin dessert.
This evening we relax ‘at home’ with our friends, enjoying the gorgeous view from their veranda of the sunset colours over The Alps. We snack on excellent cheese, bread, cold cuts and the local Gateau Vully with speck and caraway from nearby Boulangerie Guillaume. The region’s best vignerons here have created an accord to guarantee the quality of their two most distinctive grapes: freiburger and traminer. It’s obviously working as the gloriously amber traminer from Javet & Javet that we have this evening is one of the best wines I’ve ever tasted.
Monday 23 September
This morning I visit the small, family-run Fromagerie Schafer, the only dairy that makes Mont Vully Käse. Cheesemaker Jonas Schafer shows me how they produce their award-winning Mont Vully cheese as well as local Vacherin Fribourgeois (popular for fondue) and raclette. Once we’ve seen the cheese being made we drive a few minutes to the huge storehouse to see row upon row of colourful wheels as well as the machine used to wash them regularly.
Afterwards we take a walk around the well-preserved Roman ruins of nearby Aventicum, which was the largest town and capital of Roman Switzerland. I’ve visited the impressive amphitheatre before, but this time I also discover the east gate of the perimeter wall a few kilometres away down a dirt road, which I suspect has far fewer visitors.
This afternoon I visit winemaker Marylene Bovard-Chervet at Château de Praz on Lake Murten for a guided tasting, including her freiburger and traminer, the two varieties that the Mont-Vully region is best known for. After having a Georgian winemaker working with her for a couple of years, she’s now also making a skin-contact traminer in traditional clay amphorae called qvevris.
Tonight we visit the 16th century Chateau Salavaux among the vines on Lake Murten. It’s now home to an elegant boutique hotel run by Neïla and Flavio Benedetto and their friend Maurits van Doorne. The trio met at hospitality college in Switzerland and have done a very tasteful renovation here, combining beautiful elements of the historic building with modern comforts. The kitchen makes great use of local produce and the dish that I can’t stop thinking about is a simple palate cleaner of blackberries churned into a vibrant sorbet topped with local sparkling wine.
Tuesday 24 September
This morning we take a drive around the lake to have a look at the rooms at Hotel Schiff (Schiff am See) which is right beside the medieval Altstadt of Murten. It’s an old hotel with nicely renovated rooms and friendly staff. The outside terrace has good views of the boats bobbing on the lake.
Just up the road we come to Chez Sommer, an artisanal bakery and provedore recommended by our friends. Apart from great wood-fired bread it has a colourful range of fresh local fruit and veg and great dry goods. If I was self-catering, I’d definitely be stocking up here.
Tonight we have dinner with our friends at Hôtel Restaurant Le Mont-Vully. The owner, Madame Mao, kindly shows me the rooms and I decide we’ll be staying here on tour next year. They’re clean and comfortable and all have balconies with 180-degree views across the lake to The Alps. I prefer staying on this side of the lake with the Alps in front of me, rather than the other side (near Murten) with the Alps at my back looking across to Mont Vully.
We all have egli fillet, the small freshwater fish for which Lake Murten is famous. I’ve had them in many different restaurants on previous visits and I think Restaurant Mont-Vully’s are the best. I’m glad there are four of us so we can try every version they offer: fried, in white wine sauce and – my favourite – la meunière simply dusted in flour and pan-fried in butter. The wine list and cheese trolley are both excellent too.
Wednesday 25 September
This morning we stop into La Ferme 1794, an independent grocery store selling an impressive range of fresh produce from their own organic farm and other organic local producers. There’s a good range of dry goods, dairy, cold cuts and some pre-prepared meals as well as a small café. Another great shop for self-caterers.
We drive on to the city of Fribourg. Like Murten this was a medieval city founded by the Dukes of Zähringen. It’s Altstadt is well-preserved and nice to stroll around, though I prefer the more compact historic centre of Murten. We have a good-value buffet lunch on the rooftop of Restaurant le Belvédère overlooking the river with good, food, wine and service.
For tonight’s dinner we drive back to the Murten side of the lake and the charming Auberge de la Croix Blanche in Villarepos (not far from the east gate of Aventicum). Here Michelin-starred chef Arno Abächerli and his wife Christa present both a fine-dining menu in their formal dining room and more traditional Swiss classics in the adjoining bistro.
I love just about everything we have, including excellent tongue in white wine sauce with capers as well as tete de veau (calves head terrine) – two dishes I wouldn’t normally order. The goats cheese salad is excellent as are the schnitzel and gnocchi. We have a great petite arvine from Vallis (Valais) and an excellent pinot noir from Graubünden (Grisons).
It’s a wonderful final evening in this beautiful region, tomorrow we head off to Canton Bern for more eating, drinking and sightseeing research.
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Thank you for this extensive trip report Roberta! I don’t think doing research gets any better than this 🙂 Your report reminds me of how much more there’s to explore for me in this beautiful area. Murten is a wonderful little town. I hope they’ll make the town center car-free one day, it was pretty busy last time.
Thanks again for your very tasty report.
It’s a tough job Arno – but someone has to do it! Seriously though, I do have to go on a diet of lettuce and water for a fortnight after on eof these research trips. Agreed Murten is a special place.
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