Bivio / Vaud Alps
What to see, what flowers up high, what to eat, and 12 hikes to get there on foot, from 2 h 00 to 6 h 10 of walking.
The spots not to miss, and the hike that takes you there.
Chillon CastleGlacier 3000 Peak WalkLac Lioson1Rochers-de-Naye and La Rambertia garden2Ruins of the Salausex tower3Aigle Castle4Gypsum pyramids of the Col de la Croix5Lac Retaud6Anzeinde plateau7Lac d'Aï8Bex salt minesThe numbers are the places just below. The white dots are where the hikes start.
A few minutes from the summit station, this alpine garden grows around 1,000 species of mountain plants from Switzerland, Europe and other continents. It has been here since 1896 and opens from mid-June to October, weather permitting.
Getting there on foot
Rochers-de-Naye5 h 35From Montreux to Rochers-de-Naye station
A square medieval tower, probably from the 10th or 11th century, with almost nothing left of it. It served as a refuge and a lookout post between the castles of Chillon, Le Châtelard and Blonay.
Getting there on foot
Chemin des Narcisses2 h 00Loop from Montreux, Les Avants
Its oldest part probably dates from the late 12th century; the Bernese rebuilt it after 1475. Inside is the Museum of Vines, Wine and Wine Labels: over 10,000 objects and over 400,000 wine labels.
Getting there on foot
Aigle → Leysin3 h 10From Aigle to Leysin
White, pointed shapes carved by water and wind into gypsum laid down more than 210 million years ago. You can only see them in summer.
Getting there on foot
Chemin des pyramides de gypse3 h 35Loop from Bretaye
At 1,685 m, at the foot of La Palette, facing the Scex Rouge, the Oldenhorn and the Diablerets glacier. In summer you can swim, paddleboard or fish here.
Getting there on foot
Tour de La Palette3 h 10Loop from Col du Pillon
1,000 ha of grass: the Federal Inventory of Landscapes calls it "the largest pasture in the canton of Vaud and one of the most extensive in Switzerland". People from Bex have farmed this alpine pasture since at least the 13th century.
Getting there on foot
Tour de l'Argentine5 h 15Loop from Solalex
Together with Lac Yaka and Lac de Mayen, it forms a string of mountain lakes at the foot of the Tour d'Aï and Tour de Mayen. You walk down to it from La Berneuse, where the gondola goes up.
Getting there on foot
Sentier des trois tours de Leysin2 h 45From Leysin, Berneuse to Leysin
You can tour what Salina Helvetica presents as "the oldest working mine in Switzerland". Alpine salt is still extracted here.
Getting there on foot
Sentier du Sel3 h 35From Plambuit to Bex
First mentioned in writing in 1150. The Bernese took it on 29 March 1536; in 1816, Lord Byron drew inspiration from its prisoner, François Bonivard.
Our nearest hike, the Rochers-de-Naye, passes 1.9 km away, high above.
107 m long and 80 cm wide, from the View Point to the Scex Rouge. Glacier 3000 presents it as the only suspension bridge in the world linking two summits.
Our nearest hike, the La Palette loop, is 3 km away.
The tourist office nicknames it the "pearl of alpine lakes". It is home to Arctic char and rainbow trout.
Our nearest hike, Les Mosses → Château-d'Oex, is 2.4 km away.
Ranked from the walks told on this site.
Rating = average of the diamonds given by hikers, from 1 to 5. A hike joins the ranking once it has 5 reviews, each checked before it goes online.
When things flower, when the animals show up: the mountains, month by month.
From Mont-Pèlerin to the hills above Montreux, the narcissi bloom so thickly in May that the fields turn white. In less than 20 years, around 40% of the narcissus meadows have disappeared: look, but don't pick. This photo was taken above Sonloup.
An orchid of wet meadows and open woodland, in flower from May to August. The one in the photo grows on the trail between L'Encrène and the Col de la Croix.
Les Diablerets → Villars-sur-Ollon6 h 10Chemin des pyramides de gypse3 h 35
This one lives in the Grand Muveran federal wildlife reserve, which the Argentine loop crosses. In late September, marmots settle in to hibernate.
Vines and chestnut trees grow on the slopes of Bex. Before Antagnes, the Salt Trail passes a centuries-old chestnut tree. It flowers in June.
Local produce, the ones with an official designation.
A raw-milk alpine cheese, made from 10 May to 10 October in copper cauldrons heated over a wood fire, then aged for at least 135 days in the cellars of the village of L'Etivaz, where the hike from Château-d'Oex ends.
A raw-milk cheese, made and aged in several cantons including Vaud. It matures for 5 to 18 months.
Pork and bacon fat, salt and pepper, cold-smoked; made in the canton of Vaud.
Pork and cabbage, cold-smoked; made in the canton of Vaud.
Every wine-growing village in the district of Aigle, with the names Aigle, Ollon and Bex on the label. Aigle Castle houses the museum of vines and wine; in Bex, the vines grow on the slopes.
The Lavaux AOC reaches as far as Montreux and Veytaux, where the climb to the Rochers-de-Naye begins.
Two hikes close together, the train or bus in between, and a good reason to do both.
Train from Les Avants to Montreux: about 30 min. You can also start straight from Les Avants, one of the starting points for the Rochers-de-Naye. Check the timetable on the day.
Two hikes in the hills above Montreux: the narcissus loop on day one, the climb to the summit and the cogwheel train on day two.
None: the first stage ends at Château-d'Oex station, where the second one starts. To get back from L'Etivaz by bus, check the timetable on the day.
Two back-to-back stages: from the marshes of the Col des Mosses to Château-d'Oex, then on to the cheese cellars of L'Etivaz.
Train and bus from Le Bévieux to Solalex: about 1 h 30, with a summer bus. Check the timetable on the day.
Two hikes in the municipality of Bex: the salt of the Bernese on day one, the vast Anzeinde pasture on day two.
The lifts and summer buses that take you to the start, with their dates.
At altitude there can be snow even in summer, and in late autumn some bridges or cables are taken down. Randa council information
What happened where you're about to walk.
In 1979, Château-d'Oex held the first International Hot Air Balloon Week: winter here is perfect for flying. On 1 March 1999, Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones took off from the village in the Breitling Orbiter 3. They landed in the Egyptian desert on 21 March: the first non-stop round-the-world balloon flight.
Château-d'Oex → L'Etivaz5 h 30
In 1476, the "salt mountain" became Bernese. Boiling the brine burned so much wood that the saltworks moved down to the plain, beside rivers used to float logs, as at Le Bévieux in 1681. From 1758 to 1764, they were run by the scholar Albrecht von Haller.
Sentier du Sel3 h 35
The Tine bridge was rebuilt in 1729 with stone vaults, Roman style. The old Planches bridge, built from 1776 to 1778, closed in 2015, and its downstream wall collapsed in March 2023, just before the repairs. Restored, it was reopened on 25 May 2024 and once again links Le Sépey and La Forclaz.
Sentier des ponts historiques du Sépey2 h 20From shortest to longest.
12 hikes, from 2 h 00 to 6 h 10 of walking according to SwitzerlandMobility: Chemin des Narcisses, Sentier des ponts historiques du Sépey, Sentier des trois tours de Leysin, Aigle → Leysin, Tour de La Palette, Chemin des pyramides de gypse, Sentier du Sel, Les Mosses → Château-d'Oex, Tour de l'Argentine, Château-d'Oex → L'Etivaz, Rochers-de-Naye and Les Diablerets → Villars-sur-Ollon.
Chemin des Narcisses: 2 h 00 of walking according to SwitzerlandMobility, 5.6 km, 360 m of climbing.
Les Diablerets → Villars-sur-Ollon: 6 h 10 of walking according to SwitzerlandMobility, 17.9 km, 1,100 m of climbing.
SwitzerlandMobility rates these stages as technically easy: Chemin des Narcisses, Sentier des ponts historiques du Sépey and Sentier du Sel.
12 of the 12 hikes end at a public transport stop; each page shows the next departures from the finish.
Bob relies on the site's data (SwitzerlandMobility, MeteoSwiss, official timetable) and can be wrong. On the ground, the signposts come first. Emergency: 1414 (Rega) or 112.