The air is a chilly, but only a bit. With the moderating influence of palm-tree-lined Lake Geneva, the brief cold spell is more a matter of seasonal ambience than impediment: Just enough to make a steaming glass of mulled cider or hot spiced wine go down all smooth and comforting.
You can buy the cider or wine (or coffee or tea or cookies and cakes and a thousand souvenirs) at the temporary stalls clustered around the center of town, near the famed Montreux Casino. You can also learn to make traditional Christmas crafts: So far, I’ve tried my hands at making an Advent wreath (fairly successfully, I’d say, admiring my arrangement of pine branches, red candles, and glass decorations) and decorating delicate glass ornaments (not so successfully: I tend to make more mess than art with glue and glitter.)
In Your Bucket Because…
- The idea of a Christmas market makes you break out into choruses of “Jingle Bells” and “Santa Claus is Coming to Town.”
- You’d like to have some fun Christmas shopping, for once.
- You can’t beat the combination of pine cones and palm trees.
- Good for: shoppers, revelers, skiers, families.
I’ve grabbed handfuls of chestnuts (yes, roasting over an open fire) and snacked on Swiss fondue. And I’ve filled up on raclette, the signature cold-weather potato-and-cheese dish of French-speaking Switzerland, which is cooked in huge bubbling vats, also over an open fire. Cookies, cakes, local gourmet cheeses, and, of course, chocolates, complete the menu. (I have to admit that I am updating this article in 2020, and full disclosure: I no longer eat most of those things. If I were to go today, I would be all about the cheese. But it is a delicious reminiscence.)
The Montreux Christmas Market
The Montreux Christmas market embodies the long tradition of European Christmas markets with a combination of Franco-Swiss elegance and down-home alpine heartiness. One of three Christmas markets in the Lake Geneva region, it offers a seemingly endless assortment of Swiss souvenirs: local handicrafts, jewelry, woodwork, and clothing, along with local food cultural events, all in an incomparable outdoor setting on the shores of Lake Geneva. If you don’t get enough Christmas spirit here, it’s a short train ride to the other Lake Geneva Christmas markets in Lausanne and Geneva.
To me, Montreux has always been about music: It hosts its famed annual jazz festival, of course, and it’s also the setting memorialized in Deep Purple’s “Smoke on the Water.” But in December, the music takes a more traditional turn, and Montreux is all about glass ornaments and decorated pine cones and Chistmas cakes and cookies. The Montreux Christmas market (Marche de Noel) takes over the center of town, where the gardens of the famous Montreux Casino are decked out in seasonal finery. The history of European Christmas markets goes back to medieval times, when midwinter events were introduced to lighten up the dark days and public spirits around the solstice. And certainly, spirits are high around here.
At the nearby Château de Chillon, which presides over the lake, the Montreux Noël Medieval Market and Story Festival takes place on weekends. Characters in period costumes bring visitors into the world of the knights and nobility of Medieval Savoie.
Father Christmas’s Magic World
If you need snow and ice with your Christmas, not to mention Father Christmas himself, take the cog railway an hour (and more than a vertical mile) up to the Monde Magique du Pere Noel. Here, near the cog railway stop at Rochers-de-Naye 6,000 feet above Lake Geneva, Father Christmas holds court, doling out cheer and souvenirs to children.
The train ride offers glorious views of the Alps, and the experience of riding from palm trees to snow is unforgettable. There is even a herd of Santa’s reindeer. Santa receives visitors most days through the 24th of December; after which, presumably, he has other jobs to do. Cog railway reservations are required, and can be made at the railway office.
Practicalities
- Montreux is in the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Although many of the vendors speak English, having a few well-practiced French phrases will break the ice.
- Montreux hotels fill up quickly in December, but lodgings can be found in neighboring towns and cities such as nearby Vevey and Lausanne, which is only a 20-minute rail ride away.
- For a splurge, try Fairmont’s Montreux Palace, which is palatial indeed; it is located smack in the middle of town and all of Montreux’s Christmas Market action.
- The Montreux Christmas market is near the train station, which is probably the best way to travel. In Montreux, parking during market season is at a premium, and sometimes impossible.
- Montreux is an hour from Geneva by rail.
