Lavaux Vineyard Terraces

UNESCO-listed vineyard terraces running along the lake to Montreux

The Lavaux UNESCO World Heritage vineyard terraces stretch for about 30 kilometres along the north shore of Lake Geneva between Lausanne and Montreux. Steep stone-walled terraces cut into the hillside hold the vines above the lake, and the views from the paths running between them — back over the water to the Alps of Savoie — are among the finest in French-speaking Switzerland.

The classic way to explore Lavaux is to take a train to one of the villages (Rivaz, St-Saphorin, or Lutry are all good starting points) and walk back along the vineyard path toward Lausanne, stopping to taste the local Chasselas at producers along the way. The wine is dry, light, and minerally — it doesn't travel well, so this is genuinely the place to drink it. The full path from Lutry to Chillon takes about four hours.

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The Lavaux terraces have been cultivated since at least the 11th century, when Benedictine and Cistercian monks began cutting into the steep hillsides above the lake. The vines here grow facing south over the water, benefiting from what locals call three suns: direct sunlight, reflected light from the lake surface, and warmth stored in the stone terrace walls. The Chasselas grapes grown here rarely travel well, which means the wine is largely unknown outside Switzerland.