I began my backpacking journey through Switzerland in Montreux. After my plane arrived in Geneva, I went straight to the train station and bought a ticket to Montreux. It wasn’t particularly cheap… It would have been a good idea to buy a Swiss Rail Pass instead, which allows you unlimited train rides to anywhere in Switzerland plus bus trips and some boat rides. I just ended up getting a Swiss Rail Pass for 15 days once I got into Montreux. 

As soon as I checked into the Montreux Youth Hostel, a friend, Igor, and I walked along Lake Geneva for about half an hour. The lake lived up to my expectations from the pictures I saw online before coming to Montreux. It was beautiful!Once we got to the train station, we bought tickets to Vevey. From there we walked through the Lavaux Vineyard Terraces, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Barels on the roof of one of the wineries… Eventually we stopped at one of the charming vineyards to have a glass of wine and soak in the view of the rolling hills and picturesque homes. After four to five hours of walking, Igor and I stopped in Lutry to go swimming. The lake was incredibly clear and clean! We swam out to a diving board and enjoyed the refreshing water for awhile before catching the train back to Montreux. 

By this time, 8:00 pm, I started to get hungry. I missed the memo that essentially everything in Switzerland shuts down early on Sundays. I walked along the road from my hostel hoping to come across something, and eventually asked a woman where I could find something to eat. She said that most shops closed early because Sunday is a family day, and suggested I walk into the center town of Montreux. 

In Montreux I found plenty of open restaurants, catering to the tourists. However, they weren’t catering to the young, backpacking tourists; their menus were some of the priciest menus I’ve ever seen. So I kept walking, hoping to get to the train station and buy something small there. I ended up walking by a really small market, and bought some food sufficient enough to help me make it to breakfast the next morning.

I walked along the lake back to my hostel and it was just as beautiful at night with the sun setting as it was earlier in the day… Monday morning I took a long walk along the lake and eventually found a larger market to buy fruit, and bread and peanut butter to make a sandwich for lunch. At the recommendation of the receptionist at the hostel, I found a cable car that took me midway up the mountain behind my hostel. From there I walked along Caux Road for a little over an hour for yet another beautiful view of the lake.Then I took a boat ride long Lake Geneva with plans to hop off the boat in Lausanne and walk around, but it started to get cloudy and rain so I made my way back to my hostel earlier than expected. I packed up my backpack and got some extra sleep so I could wake up at 7 the next morning to go to Lauterbrunnen. 

A lot of forums I read online suggested staying in Lausanne, but I loved my time in Montreux! It was charming and the train made it easy to get to other nearby towns quickly. It was a perfect place to stay at with only a couple days to spend on Lake Geneva.