Montreux – Music fever at the Montreux Jazz Festival

Montreaux Switzerland 2189063XSmallIn the 19th century, belletrists with their ambiguous descriptions provided for the discovery of Montreux as a holiday destination. At the head of them Jean Jacques Rousseau and Lord Byron. Since then and up to this day, many authors, musicians and painters have been seeking the idyll at the Lake Geneva as a source of inspiration. However, sometimes this place is no longer such quiet but a little bit more turbulent. At the charming lakeside promenade, you can find many large hotel complexes, enabling their guests a perfect view to the Lake Geneva. Guests intending to risk a game are welcome at the Montreux Casino.

Since the 20th century, musician have been providing for the fact that everyone is talking about Montreux. Every summer, innumerable visitors from abroad travel to Montreux Switzerland with one aim: the Montreux Jazz Festival. What started as a small jazz festival in 1967, has developed to a big musical event. International stars pass on the microphone in a never-ending stream during concerts and apart from jazz you will hear pop and rock sounds out of the loudspeakers as well. Year by year, the presentations of the artists put the audience in rapture again. The concerts take place at the Auditorium Strawinsky, at the Miles Davis Hall and at the Casino Barrière de Montreux. Even on the Lake Geneva and in the railway compartments there is plenty of music as well: On special excursions with musical background you can experience the Swiss landscape in an extraordinary way.

You should book your tickets in time because the concerts are often sold out within shortest time. The same applies to the hotels in Montreux: It is better to book a room in advance. There is no need to be too sad should you fail to get a ticket. There are attractive alternatives such as open-air concerts and parties in the city area.

Chateau Chillon – World-known castle near Montreux, Switzerland

Not even five kilometres apart from Montreux you can see the Chateau Chillon at the border of the Lake Geneva. In ancient times, this building of the Middle Age was the domicile of counts and bailiffs. Keen strollers can walk from Montreux along the lakeside promenade to get to the popular Swiss attraction. In the past, this building defied enemies and still today the gates are only opened to guests after payment of a road toll. After that, you roam through the castle alone or participate in a guided tour. The lords of the castle even had their own vineyard and thus their own domestic wine, the Clos de Chillon. Nowadays, the proceeds of the wine-selling fall to the conservation of the old buildings.

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