We would like to take a day trip from Lausanne to Gruyeres. We will have a car and could drive to Gruyeres but we are also thinking of a more leasurely alternative of the train. We have heard of the Chocolate Train but as two adults we prefer to travel on our own time table as much as possible and avoid day tours. Is the Chocolate Train worth the loss of flexibility? Can we take a commuter train to Gruyeres of part of the Golden pass run? We were not too concerned with seeing Caillon and the chocolate factory- is this something we will regret missing?
You can do the entire Chocolate Train journey using the regular local trains. The "offical" chocolate train is mostly used by large tour groups. You can check schedules at the Swiss rail site:
The chocolate factory is only a few miles from Greyere so it's close by. I would choose the Chocolate factory over the big cheese factory. But do check out the village of Gruyere.