We will be staying in Montreux and would like to take a RT cruise to Lausanne to visit the Old Town area and return. We will be using our Swiss Travel Passes. Any recommendations would be appreciated. Also looking for restaurant recommendations in Montreux. PS - is Chilton castle worth visiting? Thx, Jim S. Chicago
We liked Chillon castle. Also can take a boat to Yvoire, across the lake in France. Beautiful old town with lots of beautiful flowers. And you can see the large statue of Freddy Mercury in Montreaux along the lake.
Chateau de Chillon is very much worth visiting. The audio tour is excellent and it's one of the best castles we've visited in Europe and we've been to a lot of them!
If you're staying in Montreux, walk the lake promenade to the castle (very pretty and dripping with flowers amidst the sculpture installations), tour the castle and then leave on the boat that goes right from the castle to Lausanne. The view of the castle from the boat is great and very unique, since the castle was built on a tiny island in the water.
CGN runs all the boats and you can hop on/off at your leisure - www.cgn.ch/en
Other great stops along the water that you can get to via boat that we liked better than Lausanne - Cully, Vevey & Lutry
A nice day would be starting the morning with a walk to the castle, boat to Vevey (explore), boat to Cully (explore), boat to Lausanne (explore) and then boat back to Montreux
You should also plan time to visit the Lavaux vineyards (stone terraces built by monks over 1,000 years ago and still in use today) + St Saphorin (a village that looks like it's a fake movie set, it's so perfect)