The vineyard trail
A waymarked walk among the terraces directly above the lake.
Lorenz Poffet — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Norbert Aepli, Switzerland (User:Noebu) — CC BY 3.0 · Norbert Aepli, Switzerland (User:Noebu) — CC BY 3.0 · Norbert Aepli, Switzerland (User:Noebu) — CC BY 3.0
Very easily: take the train from Montreux to **Rivaz** or **Saint-Saphorin** (10–20 minutes, small stations in the middle of the vines), then follow the yellow signs for the walk between villages above the lake, dropping down to any station to return by train. The Saint-Saphorin → Rivaz section takes about an hour and is among the site's finest. For families: the small tourist train tours the vineyards without walking.
Entirely — the site's core value is **scenic and cultural**: the walk among the terraces above the lake, the stone villages, and the views that earned it UNESCO status. The wine cellars are wholly optional and easily skipped, and the cafés serve local grape juice and coffee. Nothing in the experience requires drinking.
Sign in to write your review of this place.
No reviews yet — be the first.
The Lavaux terraces are a **UNESCO World Heritage site** and one of Europe's loveliest cultural landscapes: eight kilometres of vineyards terraced down a steep slope between Lausanne and Montreux, descending in stone-walled steps from the upper road right to the edge of Lake Geneva — some 830 hectares of vines worked since the eleventh century, when Cistercian monks laid them out. Local people say the grapes here feed on **three suns**: the sun in the sky, its reflection off the lake's surface, and the heat stored in the stone walls and released at night. From that comes the white Chasselas wine the region is known for and rarely exports. The ideal way to visit is **free**: the waymarked walking route between the villages — Saint-Saphorin, Rivaz, Epesses and Cully — through the rows of vines above the lake, past stone villages and small wine bars. There is also a tourist train through Lavaux, and cellar visits. The best half-day on the Swiss Riviera.
A waymarked walk among the terraces directly above the lake.
Sky, lake and stone walls ripening the grapes.
Saint-Saphorin, Rivaz and Epesses with their wine bars.
Lavaux, between Montreux and Lausanne