When I first saw a picture of the mountains with Lake Geneva in the background, I immediately made a mental note that we would have to visit Rochers-de-Naye the next time we were in Montreux.
We could have had the chance on our way back from Whitepod but as the weather was cloudy, we gave it a miss.
Another chance popped up on the way to Valais for our recent skiing trip.
How to get there:
You can either take the cog railway from Montreux or Glion to the top of Rochers-de-Naye.
We parked near the train station in Glion (follow signs to Glion-Caux) and it cost CHF 15.90 one way with the half-fare card per adult.
This train station may very well be one of the most beautiful train stations out there with enviable views of Lake Geneva, Montreux and the Swiss and French alps.
The Journey:
It takes 37 minutes from Glion to the top of Rochers-de-Naye, an altitude of 2042m.
The picturesque train journey to the top was special as it was overlooking to Lake of Geneva, the Swiss Alps and a slither of the mountaintops of the French Alps above the clouds.
Visiting Rochers de Naye:
As we visited in February, everything was covered in deep snow.
I look forward to revisiting Rochers-de-Naye in the summer to visit “La Rambertia”, the garden with a collection of a thousand alpine plants.
The Marmots Paradise is a park I am sure all kids would enjoy from which one can view different marmot species from around the world.
We didn’t wander too far from the train station. We could have climbed further to the top for better views of Lake Geneva but it would have been almost impossible with the 3 boys.
We had amazing views of the lake from where we were.
I left the family to venture along a little winter ridge hike in the opposite direction of Lake Geneva.
The snow was really deep and the climb looked intimidating. As there were 2 couples ahead of me, I soldiered on.
The climb wasn’t bad at all although I was wearing jeans and normal boots that had no grip.
The view of the Swiss Alps that greeted me at the top of the ridge was mesmerising. It was worth the little adventure.
Coming back down however was a whole other story. I was extremely scared and truly feared for my life. The thought crossed my mind that this could be the end of my life and I may have to choose if I wanted to die on the right or the left side of the mountain.
This is not for anyone who is afraid of heights.
I survived.
I look forward to coming back to doing this ridge hike in the summer. Click here for my post on the amazing Lisengrat ridge hike from Säntis.
It also reminded me of the Hardergrat trail, the first ridge hike I had done overlooking Brienzersee near Interlaken.
Other things to do:
Montreux, Vevey and Villenueve are all towns along the Riviera.
As we had stopped at Vevey on the way back from Whitepod for a second time some weeks beforehand to revisit the giant fork, we did a stop at Villeneuve this time.
We enjoyed some ice cream under the warm winter sun along the pier off Mahatma Gandhi Square.
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For more tips on traveling in Switzerland, click here.
