Chateaux photos

 

Vineyards at Chateau d’Aigle 

Chateau d’Aigle

 

                                                                                                                   

Chateau de Menthon-Saint-Bernard

Switzerland 2025 Chateau de Chillon

The Chateau de Chillon is a very good castle to visit, whether it’s your first tour of a castle or your hundredth tour. The signage says it’s the most historically significant site in all of Switzerland. We did the self-guided tour and saw wonderful vaulted ceilings, a prison, murals, antique and medieval furnishings, old weaponry - you name it, Chillon has it. We did the self-guided tour with a map and had seen most of the castle (or so we thought) when we realized we were at station #24 and there were over 40 stations to visit! There are centuries of history, stories of famous prisoners, and lakefront escapes from conquering armies, what more could you want? You get all of this and free 2 hour parking, which is a rarity in Montreux as far as we could tell. It was definitely worth a visit. 

Switzerland 2025 Chateau d’Aigle & Chateau de Menthon-Saint-Bernard

We left Zermatt and drove west toward Lac Leman, the scenery changing from mountains and meadows to hills and vineyards. We stopped first at Chateau d’Aigle. The chateau was originally built in the 12th century and today houses a wine museum as well as producing wine. The drive up to the castle takes you through the vineyards which are separated from the road by walls on either side of the one lane road. Once inside we saw some old wine presses, wine barrels, rooms and galleries. The weather was sunny and warm with lovely views of the vineyards and mountains. You also get a free (small) glass of wine at the end of your visit. 

Our next stop was Chateau de Menthon-Saint-Bernard near Annecy, France. Yes, I know, you’re thinking “another castle”? Yes, we love castles and incorporate some into our trips whenever possible. This chateau  tour (self-guided with docents in some of the rooms) included many rooms all of which were well- furnished and contained interesting and beautiful antiques. There were beautifully carved doors, tapestries, even a piece of clothing that was a gift from Marie Antoinette to the lady of the castle. There are great fireplaces, one of which had an elaborately carved wooden covering.  In the kitchen, there was a little train track with a pulley and cart that went through a long tunnel in the wall. It was used to get food from the kitchen to the dining room which was thirty feet away ensuring the guests received their food piping hot. Once outside we opted for an ice cream while listening to a chamber music ensemble in the garden.  It was a nice way to enjoy the sunny and very warm afternoon.  

We tried to stop in Annecy because I’ve seen photos of the beautiful old town and the lake but the place was absolute madness. It was the last warm, sunny day in the forecast for at least a week and it was a Saturday. So many people! People were swimming, boating, crowding the sidewalks. Parking was impossible so we decided to move on and perhaps leave Annecy for another visit. It was really unfortunate because we added about 3 hours to our day to visit that side of the lake but we still thought it was worth doing because we enjoyed the Chateau de Menthon on the way. 

Our next stop was Montreux which is a city with a lovely promenade on the shore of Lac Leman. I had booked a hotel on the promenade with a view of the lake, but we soon realized that the type of crazy crowds we saw at Annecy were here as well. Saturday night was loud with a band playing just down the street and the restaurants were very busy too. The view from our room however was beautiful. Lac Leman is quite large and the largest lake in Switzerland, France and the Alps. The next day was a Sunday and it was cloudy so much quieter and parking was easier too. 

I honestly think Montreux could have been a day trip to see the Chateau Chillon and the promenade and we could have done it easily from our stay in Brienz. The whole vibe of the town was just not our style. I also booked Montreux because of its proximity to Gruyeres where there is a castle, the famous Gruyeres cheese factory and the Cailler chocolate factory was also nearby. The tiny village of Gruyeres near the castle was charming and we had some nice rosti there but the castle was not worth the trip. We did do the Cailler chocolate factory tour and it was actually quite interesting. 

Matterhorn photo

                           Alpenglow at sunrise on the top of the mountain 07:15 that morning 

Switzerland 2025 Zermatt and the Matterhorn

We left Ascona to drive to Zermatt and the very nice lady at our hotel reception said that we should take road around the lake rather than driving the Centovalli road. It would take longer but was not as narrow or winding. Did we take her advice? Of course not! We regretted that decision later because the Centovalli was perhaps the narrowest, curviest road we have ever been on - even worse than the Conor Pass in Ireland. The road was super narrow and at one point we met a car pulling a travel trailer coming from the other direction. We both slowed down to a crawl as we held our breath inching past each other. We did manage to get by without losing a mirror or scraping the side of the stone hill on our passenger side. After what seemed like hours of pretty intense driving we came out of the Centovalli only to realize we now had to drive the Simplon Pass! No worries though as the Simplon was nothing compared to the others we had done and soon we were parking in Täsch to catch the train up to Zermatt. 

We checked into our hotel and found out we had received an upgraded room - nice! We had a large terrace off the bedroom and also another terrace off the bathroom. We spent the late afternoon sitting on the terrace and enjoying the view of the Matterhorn and even ordered room service and ate it on the terrace. After all the driving of the last few days, we just wanted some time to chill and relax. I did some journaling while Mike had a nice massage. 

The next morning we woke up at 6:00 so we could get showered and dressed to catch the sunrise colors on the mountain. We had scouted around a little bit after dinner last night and decided the area right in front of our hotel was the perfect spot to get a photo without the construction cranes in the way. We were out front at 6:45 and got some blue hour photos and then waited for the magic to happen. Finally at 7:15 as the sun rose, it shed a lovely rosy alpenglow on the top of the Matterhorn. High fives and hugs exchanged at our good luck then it was back inside to a nice breakfast to celebrate.  We were so lucky to have good clear weather to see the mountain. The afternoon before had been a little hazy but it was crystal clear in the morning, hooray! 

Ticino photos

Bellinzona’s Castel Grande

Verzasca River

 

Ponti dei Salti bridge 

 

Waterfall at Foroglio

Stone houses of Foroglio

Switzerland 2025 Ticino region

The Ticino region of southern Switzerland is very close to the border with Italy and has a very Italian vibe. The weather was warm and there were lots of lakeside restaurants to enjoy dinner with a pretty view of Lake Maggiore. 

We visited two of the three castles in Bellinzona in the morning and the Castel Grande was large and imposing with some lovely outdoor areas as well. We then set off to drive the Verzasca Valley. It was a winding road (again!) and somewhat narrow in places but the scenery was amazing. We stopped at the popular bridge, the Ponti dei Salti on the Verzasca River and admired the ancient Roman stone bridge and the rocky channels of the river. There were quite a few people there enjoying the cool water on such a warm day. As we drove further up the valley, all the way to Sonogno, we could see several waterfalls and charming little villages. This was our favorite of the two valleys and we wish we had dedicated a full day to the drive. 

The next day we drove the Maggia Valley where we liked the waterfall and stone houses at Foroglio and drove up as far as San Carlos before heading back. The stone houses were so cool and rustic, some even built directly into the rock of the hillside. It was interesting to see that the roofs were made from stone stacked directly onto wood frames without using any kind of mortar, just the pressure of the stones holding each other in place. It was very quiet up there especially once you pass Foroglio. There is a lot of roadwork everywhere we’ve been in Switzerland so far, from the cities to the small rustic roads. They’re working hard to complete the road repairs and construction before winter comes. 

In the afternoon we drove to Morcote to the Scherer gardens. They were a pretty succession of gardens and pavilions with different themes. It was not as large as we anticipated and a hot afternoon so we weren’t sure it was the best way to have spent our afternoon given the one hour drive and we hit heavy traffic again in Locarno on the way back to our hotel. 

A nice cold gelato after dinner was just what we needed to finish the day off right and we turned in early because we were heading to Zermatt the next morning.