Switzerland 4

Unfortunately, we found out that there is no luggage storage at the Gruyeres station. Apparently there is luggage storage at Bulle, several stops past Gruyeres, but then you would have to get the train (or bus?) back, and we aren't going back in that direction later. So we just stuck it out with our bags!

We took the 260 bus (every ~30 minutes) from right outside the station to “Gruyeres, ville”, which took just a few minutes. There was a visitor center at the entry to the town which kindly agreed to store our luggage temporarily. We then wandered around the small cobblestone town, which also boasts another castle – Château de Gruyères (admittance should be free with the Swiss Travel Pass) – amidst picturesque scenery. It also, very randomly, happened to be the annual cheese festival, so there were lots of venders set up and the place was packed!

We had just missed the return bus so we decided to walk the 25-minutes-or-so back to the Gruyeres train station, with our bags in tow. We then went to the Gruyeres factory (La Maison du Gruyère), which is right across the from the train station. And again, admission was free with the Swiss Travel Pass. You get an audio tour and can walk around watching them do some of the cheese making process – and they let us leave our bags in a storage room near the front entrance. You also get some free samples of cheese :)

We loaded up on cheese, bread, and dried meat in the shop and then hopped on a bus (the 260 in the other direction) – which only runs every 45-60 minutes, so look up the time before you head into the cheese factory to make sure you don't miss it like we did! – to Broc station, where we caught a local train the one stop to Broc-chocolaterie (the RE2/3, every 30 minutes), from which it is just a few minutes walk to the Maison Cailler chocolate factory. In theory the bus had a stop that was a ~12 minute walk to the factory, but the bus system was a bit disturbed due to the cheese festival in Gruyeres ville, so we opted for the safer bet of the train.

The Swiss Travel Pass gets you into the chocolate factory for free, and there is also baggage storage out front – though you need several 1 and 2 Franc coins in order to make the lockers work, which you get back when you get your bags back out. The tour was conducted as a group, with an audio guide, and included quite a few free chocolate samples at the end. And of course, we bought lots of chocolate at the factory store (though it's also available in grocery stores and convenience stores, so that might have been easier than carting it, along with the biscuits, all around the country).

After the chocolate factory, we then headed towards Zermatt – taking the R2/3 from Broc-chocolaterie, transferring to the IC8/6 in Bern, and finally the RE42 in Visp (sitting on the left side is slightly better, in my opinion), for a total travel time of approximately 4 hours. We arrived in the late afternoon, walked to our hotel (with breakfast and a balcony!) to check in, then headed to the Brown Cow Pub for a drink or two before dinner at Grampi's. Reservations are pretty much required! The pizza at Grampi's was delicious. The post-dinner hot dog at Brown Cow, less so. But the bartenders were very friendly and the beer was good!

Switzerland Day 4: Gruyeres, Broc,Zermatt

This website uses cookies.