Best Places to Spend Christmas – Montreux, Switzerland

Best Places to Spend Christmas – Montreux, Switzerland

This lakeside city is the place to visit in 2016; especially if you are travelling with young children. You can visit Santa, who comes directly from faraway Lapland to his house at the Rochers-de-Naye, discover an authentic Christmas Village in Caux, or stroll through the Medieval Enchantement within the walls of the legendary Château de Chillon.

For 22 years, the Christmas Market delights the some 550,000 visitors, who come from all over Switzerland and around the world, and reserves them a warm and friendly welcome in a festival of colours that create a magnificent atmosphere in the heart of the Montreux winter.

Credit: Nicolas Glauser, travelita.ch

The dream of the organisers has been realised for visitors by the Elves’ Village located in the gardens of the Casino Barrière in Montreux.

Families and children can discover, in a new magical illuminated setting, Santa’s workshops, his reindeer, circus and marionette shows for children, games and many other surprises!

Riding the Santa Claus Express from Montreux to Rochers-de-Naye

Trains depart Montreux hourly from 9:17 am to 3:47 pm and Rochers-de-Naye from 11:46 am to 5:46 pm.

Santa’s home at Rochers-de-Naye can only be reached by cog-wheel train. The train takes just less than an hour from Montreux. It is a magical journey with the train passing through many tunnels and crossing several bridges with wonderful views. During the journey, the mountain train climbs around 1,600 m from Lake Geneva to the top of the Alps.

The train departs generally once per hour between around 10 am and 6 pm from Montreux and two hours later from Rochers-de-Naye. Seat reservations are essential – if space allows, up to minutes before departure but on weekends it may be necessary to book weeks in advance.

Credit: Nicolas Glauser, travelita.ch

To find out more about Montreux and its Marché de Noël take a look at their website here or more reviews at www.travelita.ch.