Staying in montreux

A train does Montreux to Zermatt in about 2 1/2 hours. I suspect a car would be the same. You will have to park the car in Taesch and ride up to Zermatt on the train. Tickets are 8.40 CHF each way. I think there might be a charge for the parking lot too.

Are you saying you think it be better to take the train?

If you have a car, you might as well use it. Its 148 CHF round trip per person on the train without Half Fare Cards. But Switzerland is one country you can get by without a car. A Half Fare Card is 120 CHF, then everything is half price, but you need a fair amount of travel for it to pay off. Places where trains don't go are covered by the Postbus.

Before going all the way from Montreux to Zermatt for one day, whether by car or train, be sure to check the weather in Zermatt first. If it's cloudy or rainy, you will have come a long way for nothing. There should be webcams you can check online.

Thank you all. Any other day trips from montreux you'd recommend?

Gruyeres for cheese, Broc for chocolate.

Lausanne for the Museum of Outsider Art and the Olympic Museum.

Unless you have a specific need for a car, it's much easier to travel by public transport. Parking is not always easy to find and it's often expensive. If you are staying in a hotel in Montreux, you'll receive a free public transport pass for the area to use during your stay. There's quite a lot to see locally, and day trips are easy by train. If you have specific questions, please let me know. Here's a link for the local area tourism. I recommend looking through to see what may interest you.

https://www.region-du-leman.ch/en/

What will the free public pass entail?

We were only getting a car because we like to explore on our own and wanted to be able to hop in the car and just drive anywhere we want to go Without restrictions of waiting for a train or paying for the seemingly very high price of a train. But I am getting concerned with what I'm reading about parking and wondering if it wouldn't be worth it.

I recommend when you get off the train in Zermatt. Take a left and go a block or two to the Läderach chocolate store on the right and get some of the milk chocolate that comes in sheets.
I'd also take in Zermatt for more than one Day.

Day trip recommendation:
Chaplin's World. It opened only recently. The movie studio and stage sets are fun, the old film clips very funny, and his estate and mansion are lovely to walk through, with a beautiful mountain view in the distance. It has an elegant outdoor restaurant, too -- just put in your lunch reservations in the morning, as soon as you arrive, before you explore the estate, so you can get a table at lunch time. (They also have a snack bar.) It's near Vevey, in Corsier. Take the train to Vevey and bus 212 to the "Chaplin" bus stop. (www.chaplinsworld.com)

I agree with Sam's recommendation to visit Gruyères. I got the best quiche in my life at the restaurant Chalet de Gruyères (recommended in the Rick Steves guide book. And the village is extremely charming, including the impressive castle there.

Thank you all! Appreciate the insight. If anyone has more feel free to share!

Also, don't miss the great medieval Chillon Castle (Château de Chillon). It's a couple of miles east of Montreux on the lake.

Here are the details for the free pass you will receive if you stay at a local hotel.

http://www.montreuxriviera.com/en/Z4845/montreux-riviera-card

Hopping in a car and then going may not be easy to do. Most hotels in Montreux do not have parking and if they do, there's likely a steep charge for it. This means that you'll need to locate parking somewhere nearby, which depending on where your hotel is, may or may not be easy to find. If you do not use a parking garage which are expensive, your parking will be either on a meter which you will have to feed or for a limited amount of time, which means you'll need to move your car during different times of the day.
If you are planning on doing any travel outside of the Rivera Card area, the half price card will pay for itself. If you want to go to the chocolate factory or Gruyere, there's a great train bus combo just for this purpose which leaves from Montreux and serves you with coffee and a croissant during your trip. You can easily take the bus or train almost anywhere you want to go. Chateau Chillon is just a 20 min walk from Montreux along the lake, or if it's raining, you can take the bus, which is free for you with the Rivera Card.