Montreux

Montreux sits on the northeastern curve of Lake Geneva at the point where the Rhône valley narrows and the Alps begin to rise sharply behind the town. The lake here is wide enough to feel like a sea and calm enough to reflect the Savoy Alps on the French bank opposite. Palm trees and magnolias line the promenade — the result of a microclimate created by the surrounding mountains that keeps temperatures several degrees warmer than the Swiss interior year-round. It is an incongruous combination, Alpine peaks visible directly above a lakeside esplanade that reads as Mediterranean, and it is the thing most visitors find genuinely surprising about the place.

The Château de Chillon stands on a rocky island connected to the shore by a wooden bridge, 3 kilometres east of the town centre. It is one of the most completely preserved medieval castles in Europe — the counts of Savoy built it in the 13th century to control the road between the Alpine passes and northern Italy, and Byron made it famous in 1816 when he carved his name into one of the dungeon pillars and wrote The Prisoner of Chillon about the Genevan statesman François Bonivard, who was chained there for four years. The castle is worth two hours. The Freddie Mercury statue at the eastern end of the promenade marks Montreux's other cultural claim: Mercury lived here for the last years of his life, and the Montreux Jazz Festival — founded in 1967 — remains one of the oldest and most attended music festivals in Europe, held each July.

For travellers on the Scenic Swiss tour, Montreux is the overnight stop between Zermatt and the Bernese Oberland, and the departure point for the GoldenPass Panoramic Train — the 2-hour rail journey through Lavaux's UNESCO vineyard terraces and the Pays-d'Enhaut highlands to Zweisimmen. The station is at the top of the town, connected to the promenade by funicular. Halal dining options are available in the town centre; the promenade restaurants lean heavily toward Swiss and Italian, so it is worth asking ahead. The best time to visit is late spring through early autumn — the lake is warmest in July and August, and the Jazz Festival draws significant crowds in the first two weeks of July.