Montreux

Introduction

Montreux is a small city along the shores of Lake Geneva, in the Swiss canton of Waadt/Vaud, in the west of the country. It has just under 25,000 inhabitants and is a popular jetset resort and also famous because of its Freddie Mercury statue, several festivals and the Deep Purple song 'Smoke on the Water'.

Neighbourhoods

Sights and Activities

• Château de Chillon
• Place du Marché, with the statue of Freddie Mercury
• The centre with its pastel buildings
• Views of The Alps
• Walking along Lake Geneva

Montreux

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Events and Festivals

• Montreux Film Festival
• The Golden Rose Festival, annually in Spring
• The Golden Award of Montreux, annually in April
• Montreux Jazz Festival - annually in July
• Freddie Mercury's Montreux Memorial Day, annually during the first weekend of September

Weather

Summers in Montreux are from June to early September when daytime temperatures are mostly between 20 and 25 °C and nights are around 10-12 °C. Winters last from December to early March when it's around 3 or 4 °C during the day and few degrees below zero at night. Precipitation is fairly common throughout most of the year, although spring and summer are just slightly drier. Average monthly rain/snowfall is around 60-70mm.

Getting There

By Plane

The Geneva International Airport (GVA) is the main gateway, just about 70km away near Geneva. From here, dozens of airlines serve cities in Europe and further away. Lowcost airline Easyjet has many flights to/from Ajaccio, Alicante, Amsterdam, Asturias, Barcelona, Bastia, Belfast, Berlin, Birmingham, Bordeaux, Bournemouth, Bristol, Brussels, Budapest, Cagliari, Copenhagen, Dubrovnik, East Midlands, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Ibiza, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Lisbon, Liverpool, London, Madrid, Málaga, Manchester, Marrakech, Nantes, Naples, Newcastle, Nice, Olbia, Palma de Mallorca, Paris, Porto, Rome, Sharm el-Sheikh, Split, Stockholm and Toulouse. Some of them are seasonal only. Many other airlines mainly serve European destinations (as far away as Moscow and Reykjavik.
Cities further away include Montreal, Toronto, Algiers, Mauritius, New York, Tel Aviv, Cairo, Kuwait, Tehran, Beirut, Amman, Riyadh, several places in Tunisia and Morocco, and Tashkent.

By Train

The Swiss Federal Railways has regular connections to Geneva (hourly, about 70 minutes) and Lausanne (thrice an hour, 25 minutes), with connections to other destinations, both domestically and internationally.

By Car

Montreux is just west of the A9, which connects Lausanne with Martigny.

By Bus

The Postbus has domestic connections from Montreux.

By Boat

Getting Around

By Car

By Public Transport

By Foot

By Bike

Eat

Drink

Sleep

Work

Learn

• European University

Keep Connected

Internet

Phone

See also: International Telephone Calls

Post

Swiss Post is the national postal service of Switzerland and has fast and reliable services. For more information about prices to send postcards, letters and parcels, both domestically as well as internationally, they have a very useful Price Calculator. Domestically, there is priority mail (arriving the following day) and economy mail which takes 2-3 days to be send within Switzerland. Stamps can be bought at the post offices or from shops and kiosks that also sell postcards. In general, post offices are open from 8:00am to noon and 2:00pm to 5:00 or 6:00pm, with a lunchbreak in between. Opening times on Saturdays are usually only during mornings. Larger cities and central post offices might keep longer hours and skp the lunchbreak.