Hiking zigzags uphills and downhills between vineyards, crossing charming villages and tasting local wines with a postcard perfect view of the lake Geneva is something everybody should be doing when visiting Switzerland.
In 2002 when I came to visit my Swiss boyfriend (who is now my husband) for the first time I came by train from Milan. Not knowing so much about Switzerland other than the good chocolate and the expensive watches, I had absolute no idea what to expect. We were arriving with the train closing into Lausanne, I was looking out by the window seeing the lake and the vineyards on the slope for the first time made me jumping (inside) of happiness knowing that my boyfriend was living in a such beautiful place! I just couldn’t belive how lucky I was…it could have been worse right?
Now many years later living in Switzerland, the Lavaux vineyards, an UNESCO heritage site, is still one of my favorite place to visit! Unfortunately, now when we live in Bern we don’t visit the Lavaux as often but a few days ago when we finished running errands in Lausanne we did a stop at the beautiful Lavaux vineyards and it was the perfect timing for the colorful autumn foliage!
There are so many variations of hikes to do in the Lavaux vineyards so you could basically start and end your walk wherever you want. Just look at the map and choose one.
However, our walk started in Lutry! We parked our car at the Lutry train station. To put on GPS is Avenue de la gare, Lutry. If the small parking lot is full there are a lot of parking space in the center of Lutry about 5 mins walk from the train station.
We have done this walk before but we did it from the other direction which means that we took the train from Lutry and got of at St.Saphorin and walked the 12km trail back to Lutry.
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I don’t recommend doing in that direction because you will have the lake and the beautiful view on your back!
We like walking towards St.Saphorin better because the further we got the bigger the lake, the mountains and the vineyards appeared in front of us.
Sometimes it might be confusing and it might seem like walking in a maze but just follow the yellow arrow, the yellow walking man or the yellow post sign and you will be ok. But wherever you go, your will be surrounded by the vineyards. A dream place to get lost!
Another option if you are in a hurry you could take the Vineyard express train from Lutry to the different point views!
Please click Here for more information.
Along the way there are small boards with interesting informations about the wine and the village ect.
And of course you shouldn’t do the walk without tasting the local wine!
The trails are technically very easy as you will be walking on paved road most of the time so it perfect for a stroller. Just don’t forget though that there are a lot of downhills and uphills.
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We were just soaking up the late autumn sun and had a color therapy from the blue sky and the almost golden leaf, a reflection of the sun.
Our initially plan was to walk to St. Saphorin but Mirabelle was taking her time exploring everything and pretended to be a lion and as it was getting late we decided to take the train back to Lutry from Cully.
Mirabelle the lion. A very slow one!
While David was fetching the car in Lutry Mirabelle and I was enjoying the playground and the sunset in Cully.
I really think that if you are in Switzerland you shouldn’t leave without have seen the Lavaux vineyards!
Did you guys knew that a such place as the Lavaux vineyards existed in Switzerland?
103 Comments
Holy smokes this is even prettier than Napa!! I knew wine was made in Switzerland, but guess I had never thought twice about what the vineyards would look like. As a wine lover, I definitely am adding this to my bucket list!!!
The very first picture of your blog just caught my interest. I loved the zigzag pathways, the colors and the greenery. Lavaux is beautiful and it sure is going to my bucket list
Switzerland has always been my dream destination. What interests me more is the hike, which I am also fond of doing. I’ve been seeing the alps in Switzerland but never heard of doing the hike, especially during winter and autumn. By looking at those pictures, I could have packed my thing and fly all the way there. Unfortunately, that’s not possible right now. I am looking forward to hike the vineyards of Switzerland soon.