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Some women of the AIWC got together over a pot of coffee and carrot cake to discuss their favorite sites and activities while living in Geneva. The result? Three new blogs about how to entertain summer guests both locally and further afield. My first blog covered the highlights of Geneva; this blog will focus on trips around our lake within Switzerland; and number 3 will venture over our borders.

So here are a couple of ideas for day trips around our lake within this fabulous country.

Leaving Geneva into the Canton of Vaud, the first stop is up on the Jura hillside at Signal de Bougy.  This is a child’s paradise. It has mini-golf, water ball, a huge playground, small animal park and the best tree-top obstacle course one of our members has ever experienced with a range of levels for 4 year-olds and up.

The small town of Nyon has a lot to offer. One can hike the Toblerone Trail, an easy 5 1/2 hour hike that passes the castles, a disguised fortresses and the tank traps named after the Toberone chocolates.  There are also boat tours to Yvoire, an antique market the last Sunday of the month, Lake Geneva Museum, the Roman Museum and small Roman remains in the lake front park as well as the fabulous chateau. Here’s some ideas from a previous blog : A Day Trip to Nyon.

Lausanne – the next largest town along the lake – is famous for its sporting connections with the Olympic museum and Olympic flame as well as The Foundation Hermitage with its fabulous art collections and exhibitions.

Venturing further along the lake we arrive at Vevey, home to Nestle who finance the Alimentarium, a small museum dedicated to food, its history, production and nutrition. If you go, make sure you find the 8 meter high fork protruding from the lake.

A new addition to Vevey’s tourist attraction is Chaplin World, a museum located in Charlie Chaplin’s home. Our AIWC members visited a couple months ago and raved about the museum. Designed for children and adults alike, you will see films, wax figures, the beautiful gardens as well as pose on movie sets with a barber, policeman and robbers.

Montreux – just next door is the pretty town of Montreux – is home to the jazz festival, Freddy Mercury’s statue and the Chateau Chillon.  Take a walk along the lake side to this island castle (well worth a visit inside) and look for Lord Byron’s name carved into the walls.

Here’s another idea out of Montreux- the Chocolate Train! This 1915 vintage train leaves Montreaux at 8:57 with coffee and croissant. It stops in Gruyere for a couple of hours of wandering and cheese tasting and then moves on to the Nestlé Cailler chocolate factory in Broc and returning in Montreux around 17:30.

The last stop along the lake before hitting France is Le Bouveret. For kids, Aquaparc and the Swiss Vapeur Parc (model railways) are a blast.

Enjoy your guests and the summer days!

We are a group of international women living in Geneva, Switzerland.  If you would like to join the AIWC, please visit our website at  http://www.aiwcgeneva.org/