Geneva & the West - Discover Switzerland: Experience the Best of Switzerland - page 173

LA ROUVENAZ $
( 021 963 27 36; www.montreux.ch/rouvenaz-hotel ; Rue du Marché 1; s/d Sfr130/190; ) A stylish
family-run spot with its own tasty restaurant downstairs and wine bar next door - you can-
not get any closer to the lake or the heart of the action. Its six rooms are simple, but pleas-
ant; most have at least a lake glimpse.

| Hotel

CAFÉ DU GRÜTLI $
( 021 963 42 65; Rue du Grand Chêne 8; mains Sfr10-25; 8am-3pm Tue, to midnight Thu-Mon) No
Riviera glam at this address, rather a handful of locals who lunch here every day on hearty
meat dishes, fondues, omelettes and perfectly crispy rösti. And yes, the hike up the hill to
this banana-yellow village cafe, around for at least a century, definitely warrants dessert.

| Swiss

Detour:
Aigle
An absolute must for anyone with a passion for wine or turreted castles, Aigle (population 8160), at the southeast
end of Lake Geneva, is the capital of the Chablais wine-producing region in southeast Vaud. Grapes grown on the
vines carpeting the gentle slopes here make some of Switzerland's best whites.
Two thousand years of wine-making is explored in the compelling Musée de la Vigne et du Vin
( www.museeduvin.ch ; adult/child Sfr11/6; 11am-6pm Jul-Aug, Tue-Sun Apr-Jun & Sep-Oct) , a thor-
oughly modern and interactive wine museum inside Aigle's fairytale château. The six hands-on digital experiments
- indulge in your own Chasselas grape harvest, make wine etc - in the 'lab' are particularly fun.
Afterwards, cross the castle courtyard to the 13th-century Maison de la Dîme and peek at whatever temporary
exhibition is on upstairs (entry included in the wine-museum ticket price). Then lunch in the lovely La Pinte du
Paradis ( 024 466 18 44; www.lapinteduparadis.com ; Place du Château d'Aigle 2; mains Sfr25-45;
lunch & dinner Tue-Sat Apr-Oct) . It's got a great-value lunchtime Sfr20 menu - eaten between rustic wood
and suspended spoons inside or on the terrace with vineyard and Alps views.
There are several other equally atmospheric places to lunch in the narrow old-world lanes on the approach from
Aigle's new town to the old, château-crowned part of Aigle known as the Quartier du Cloître.
Regular trains link Lausanne (Sfr7.60, 30 minutes) with Aigle via Montreux. Pick up wheels at Rent a Bike (
051 224 60 04; www.rentabike.ch ; per day Sfr33) at Aigle train station.

Information