Explore Montreux

First impressions of Montreux

Montreux is the small Belle Époque resort that sits at the heart of the Swiss Riviera — a string of palm-tree-lined lakeside towns along the eastern shore of Lake Geneva, with the snow-capped Dents du Midi mountains rising spectacularly to the south. The town's headline draw is the annual Montreux Jazz Festival, founded by Claude Nobs in 1967 and now one of the most prestigious music festivals in the world — the first two weeks of July see major performers across jazz, blues, rock, electronic, and beyond. The festival's history is also extraordinary: a 1971 fire at the casino during a Frank Zappa concert inspired Deep Purple's 'Smoke on the Water', written about the event ('we all came out to Montreux on the Lake Geneva shoreline...'). Freddie Mercury loved Montreux and recorded much of Queen's later work at the local Mountain Studios; his statue stands on the lakeside promenade. The 13th-century Château de Chillon, dramatically situated on a small island 3km southeast of the town, is the most-visited historic monument in Switzerland — made famous by Lord Byron's 1816 poem 'The Prisoner of Chillon'. Don't miss the lakeside promenade (a beautiful 8km walk west to Vevey and the Charlie Chaplin Museum), the Vevey market, and the brilliant Lavaux UNESCO-listed terraced vineyards in the hills above.