Are you planning a trip to Montreux, Switzerland? Maybe you are heading to the Montreux Jazz Fest like my girlfriends and I did. Keep reading to hear all about our travels!
Getting to Montreux, Switzerland
The girls and I met up in Geneva for three days before we headed on our hiking trip on the Tour de Mont Blanc. We happened to be in town during the Montreux Jazz Festival. It seemed like it was meant to be! So we hopped on a train and headed to Montreux. We switched trains in Lausanne and then we decided to take the train passed Montreux to Chateau Chillon and then walk the 30 minutes back along the lake to the festival.
Chateau Chillon is worth the Trip
One of the most iconic things to do when you’re visiting Montreux is to walk along Lake Geneva and visit the
ChateauChillon. What is it exactly? A gorgeous medieval chateau that was controlled by the Savoy family. We found it to be very well maintained and inside found lots of great information about living in the medieval times. The Savoy family only spent about one month a year here back in the 1400s. They would come with 300 horses, all their wares, and they would make furniture as soon as they arrived. I found it crazy to think that the family owned this beautiful chateau on Lake Geneva but only stayed a month out of the year!
Onto the Jazz Festival
After the chateau, we took a beautiful walk right along Lake Geneva back to Montreux. The Montreux Jazz Festival is a music festival in Switzerland about an hour and a half by train from Geneva. It was founded in 1967, lasted three days and was based in the Montreux casino. It was exclusively jazz at that time with Miles Davis, Bill Evans, Soft Machine Weather Report, and Ella Fitzgerald as some of the headlining artists. Nowadays, the festival lasts two weeks and happens every July. I suggest to visit all the shops along Lake Geneva where you can buy hats, shirts, and all the eclectic bohemian stuff that you would find at any festival. After that, you can head to the supermarket for some wine and snacks and sit at one of 
the picnic tables before you go see the music. That’s what we did.
We decided not to spend the155 Swiss francs to go see Slash and the other headliners. Instead, we went to the park to hear the wonderful artists that were playing there. All in all, it was a fabulous festival with the best views. I hope you enjoyed this blog. Make sure to stay tuned next week because I’m going to be paragliding in France!
