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. 

Mountain photos

 

Susten Pass 

View of the mountains above the Lauterbrunnen Valley 

Switzerland 2025 The drive from Wengen to Ascona

We were booked for three nights in southern Switzerland called the Ticino region, specifically staying in Ascona on Lake Maggiore. When we left Wengen we had to drive through Interlaken so we stopped at a laundromat to do some wash.  It’s not fun to do laundry on vacation but hey, it’s got to be done somehow when you’re traveling for three weeks. Once the wash was done we headed east over the Susten Pass. This was a curvy road, but it was wild and amazing landscape up there. We saw lots of motorcycle riders, some expensive sports cars, and even a few bicyclists! The top of the pass is 7400 feet! I think I would be scared to death to ride a bicycle on such a very curvy mountain ride like that one it’s lots of hairpin turns. It took us quite a while to drive over the pass because we kept stopping to admire the views and take photos. We then headed south with plans to drive the Gotthard Pass including the winding section near Tremola but we were sort of over the curvy road thing and it was getting late in the afternoon. We decided to just go straight to Ascona via Locarno and hit rush hour Friday traffic in Locarno so it was in total a long, tiring travel day. Our hotel and room were lovely though so we went to find dinner and just walked a little bit before going back to our room and taking it easy. 

Wengen and Jungfrau area

 We stayed three nights in the village of Wengen which is a short train ride from Lauterbrunnen. Wengen is a nice-sized village, not too big but with plenty of places to stay and eat and even a nice COOP grocery store. Our first afternoon was rather cloudy so not much of a view of the mountaintops and we woke up the next day to some cloud cover,  but with hopes of it breaking up we took the cable car from Wengen to Mannlichen to hike the Panorama trail to Kleine Scheidegg. When we reached Mannlichen, the cloud cover had lifted from the mountains so we had clear views of multiple peaks including the big three in this area - the Eiger, the Mönch and the Jungfrau. They are massive mountains! It was a nice hike without much elevation change and great views. There were several other people we met on the trail but it was not busy at all.  We then took the train from Kleine Scheidegg back to Wengen. 

We took the train to Lauterbrunnen in the afternoon, and it seemed rather crowded to us. We walked over the river and viewed the Stabbach Falls and the church from that side but it hadn’t rained so the falls were pretty small. We decided to head back up the mountain to Wengen where things were less hectic. Wengen has a series of marble runs that I had told our youngest grandson about so we went to the tourism office to buy the large “marble” and then took some video of the various runs to send our little guy, which he loved. We had a terrace outside our hotel room so we picked up pre-made salad and some fruit and pretzels and enjoyed dinner on the terrace looking at the mountains.  

We had seen helicopters flying around the valley and up to the mountains so we decided to splurge on a helicopter ride. We booked a time and then took the bus toward the heliport. We’re not very familiar with public transit as it’s not really available where we live, so we missed pushing the button to request the bus to stop at the heliport and ended up walking back a mile or two so we would be on time for our appointment. Releases were signed and we were harnessed into the helicopter and off we went! It was a beautiful view of the Lauterbrunnen valley as we took off, then a close look at the cliffs along the side of the valley. It wasn’t long before we flying toward the mountains, big and imposing from the helicopter’s windows. We flew near the Jungfraujoch Top of Europe, saw the Aletsch glacier, and also flew by the Pilz Gloria restaurant at the Schilthorn. It wasn’t a long flight but the scenery was amazing. 

After our helicopter ride, we caught the bus and stopped at Trummelbach Falls, which are a series of ten waterfalls inside a mountain. You first take an elevator up to see #6-10 of the waterfalls. The volume and pressure of the water was amazing, especially considering that the waterfall in town had very little water running over it.  There are a good number of stairs to reach the various waterfalls and then you come back down the same way to a landing where you see #1-5 as you walk down to the exit. We went to the small restaurant by the bus stop and had a snack and something to drink and then it was time to catch the bus back to town.  Here is where we ran into another bus problem. The buses going back to town originate in Stechelberg which is where a lot of people get off the transport coming down from Mürren so the buses were absolutely jammed full of people. After letting one go by because no one could possibly squeeze in, we had to jam into the next bus which was also very crowded because it was the next to the last bus going back to town. We made it though and were very grateful to be back in peaceful Wengen. 

The following day was bright and clear so we took the mountain transport to Brig to do the Thrill Walk. The Thrill Walk unfortunately was partially closed due to some construction but I did do the cable walk. After that, we went to Mürren and walked down to Gimmelwald which is a small village further down the mountain.  This walk was 100% downhill all the way at a pretty decent grade and my knee was screaming at me, but the scenery was absolutely worth it! It was a beautiful walk and we had lunch in Gimmelwald before taking the cable car back to Mürren and then another cable car back to Wengen. 

We really enjoyed our days in the Jungfrau area and we were lucky to have really nice weather too! 

Grandhotel Giessbach

 

Oeschinensee

 

Switzerland 2025 - Brienz part 2

Since we spent five nights at Giessbach, we were able to make several day trips throughout the surrounding area. We drove to the small city of Thun and visited Thun Castle as well as Castle Oberhofen which was our favorite of the two.  Oberhofen has five different levels to explore with some fun things to discover along the way. Hint: if someone is tapping on one the kitchen doors, open it! We had a lovely bit of cake at the restaurant terrace too. We saw some people surfing the wake created by the water gates under the old covered bridge in Thun as well.

One day we drove to Kandersteg to take the cable car up and hike to the lake Oeschinensee. As we were driving into Kandersteg, we found ourselves on the same street as a herd of local cows being brought down to their home barns from the summer pastures in the mountains.  They all wore lovely headdress of little trees with flowers and their cowbells would clang-clang as they walked by. It was a real treat to see this bovine parade. Once we took the cable car up, we hiked up to a mountain hut restaurant where we get a nice view of the lake.  We didn’t do the hike around the lake as I hurt one of my knees before we left on the trip. It’s a beautiful alpine lake and worth seeing. They do suggest making a reservation for the cable car as Instagram has made this a very popular spot and they now limit the number of people who go up via the cable car. You can hike up from the village of Kandersteg but to hike up there and then around the lake would take a lot of stamina I think as the hike around the lake itself is supposed to take more than two hours. 

Did you know that you can make your very own Swiss Army knife? When I found this out, Mike was keen to do it so I made an appointment with the Victorinox store in Brunnen. So we drove to Brunnen and a lovely young lady named Katrina helped Mike build his very own knife. It took about twenty minutes and he had some options of the type of knife and the pieces he could choose, the cover he wanted, the type of engraving, what you want it to say, etc. He was quite pleased with the result and very happy with the experience, so that was definitely a worthwhile activity. After leaving Brunnen we drove to Lucerne to look around a bit and then it was back to our hotel to lounge in our wonderful terrace and watch the sunset over the lake. 

We also visited the Aareschlucht gorge which we liked. We like gorges and seeing what the power of water can create from flowing over the stone.  We started at the west end and it was a flat, easy boardwalk that took about 40 minutes to walk, stopping for photo and to look at various features. There was even an old military bunker on the opposite side of the river that was built into the stone of the gorge but never used. We turned around at the end and walked back through the gorge rather than waiting for the bus and it only took us about ten minutes to walk back lol. 

We rode the Brienzer Rothornbahn train to the top of the mountain overlooking Lake Brienz and Lake Thun.  This was a very slow one-hour ride each way so it does take all morning to do this with time enough to look around at the top. It was not our favorite activity unfortunately. 

We spent some time looking around Interlaken as well and enjoyed watching the paragliders taking off from Harder Kulm landing in the park.

Switzerland 2025 - Lake Brienz (Brienzersee) part 1

We are finally here in Switzerland! We decided to land in Zurich but not stay the night there as we have been to Zurich once before. Instead we picked up our rental car and drove past Lucerne to the Stansserhorn train and cable car. We took the first stage up the mountain by train, then everyone gets off and switches to a cable car for the remainder of the journey. We had a lovely sunny day with just a bit of haze on the mountains. There are a few different viewpoints there plus a restaurant and nice terrace. We saw several mountains and Lake Lucerne as well. A little Swiss boy tried to have a conversation with me but my German is unfortunately not good enough to actually converse. He was very sweet though and reminded me of the son of one of my daughter’s friends  

Once we left Stansserhorn, we traveled to our hotel in Giessbach on beautiful Lake Brienz. We stayed at the Grandhotel Giessbach in the Giessbach suite which was a bit of a splurge for us but was soooo worth it. We found this hotel because Mike is a fan of the TV miniseries Band of Brothers and part of the series was filmed at the Giessbach and in our suite.  I cannot say enough wonderful things about this hotel! The view from our terrace was so beautiful every day, no matter the time of day. We looked out over the lake and if we looked to our left, we saw the pretty Giessbach falls. The staff were wonderful, the breakfast was delicious and so many choices, everything was of the highest standard. Our suite had a large terrace with two sets of tables and chairs as well as two loungers. 

There are day visitors to the hotel because it is part of a nature park and you can actually hike to the top of the falls. We went as high as the second bridge which is about two-thirds of the way up. The day trippers can drive to the hotel or they can take the lake ferry to the hotel dock and ride the funicular up to the hotel, but in the late afternoon they leave with the last ferry and you have only guests remaining. 

We spent a total of five nights here, venturing out to enjoy the sights in the area. I loved this place and I was so sorry to leave it. We told each other that it might have been better to end our trip at this spot as we don’t think any other place will compare. 

Switzerland 2025 planning

 I'm currently working on plans to visit Switzerland this year but it's a bit overwhelming given the train system is quite extensive in the country and there are many, many regional passes, half fare passes, etc from which to choose. I don't often feel defeated about planing a trip but this one has my head spinning. We think we are going to drive to have the most flexibility and also because I hate dealing with luggage on trains. No matter how hard I try, I will never be one of those people who can manage a 3 week trip with just a carry-on. 

The other thing about Switzerland is that people say it is very expensive. I joined a Facebook group and of course I also still use TripAdvisor for advice. I don't feel the costs are substantially higher than in California right now. Most travelers complain about the cost of food more than lodging but I think if we stay in hotels where breakfast is included we should be okay. We typically don't eat much for lunch so the only cost would be for dinner. Im not sure about the cost of fuel but European cars typically get better mileage than cars here at home, we normally only have to fill up a couple of times in spite of the fact that we cover a lot of ground. Some of the hotels where we are staying offer a local pass for transport and admission so that's helpful. 

Our rough itinerary is to fly in and out of Zurich and staying in these cities:

Zurich-Brienz-Wengen-Ascona-Annecy(France)-Montreux-Colmar(France)-Tubingen(Germany)-Zurich. 

There may a day trip to Zermatt depending on the weather. I don't think there's any point in going to Zermatt if it's cloudy or raining and we can't see the Matterhorn. We're staying in a cool hotel in Brienz that was a filming location for Band of Brothers so Mike is excited about that. I'm really hoping we have good weather as our last two vacations have been cold, wet, and windy for the most part.

I'm still pricing everything out but I think this may be our most expensive trip yet, mostly because we upgraded to first class on the flights between Atlanta and Zurich. We arrive in Zurich at 8am and I want to be able to try to sleep on the plane, which never happens if I have to sit up the whole time. I want to mention that although I have a lot of Delta Skymiles it still wasn't enough to upgrade to first class.  I'm beginning to wonder if the Skymiles program is really worth it. Maybe if we flew a lot more? I don't know. We now have Visa cards that offer rewards too so I may begin to use that more than my Delta AmEx card. Also AmEx still charges a foreign transaction fee while the Visa card does not. All those fees add if your spending a lot of money lodging, car, etc. Who wants to pay a bunch of fees? Certainly not me.

This will be a trip of beautiful mountains, lakes, and castles - just what we love!