On Monday 28th November, I travelled with some of my family and 2 of our customers to Switzerland with Newmarket holidays from Bristol. We were met at Switzerland airport by the lovely rep Lisa.
We had around a 2-hour transfer to our resort up in the mountains at Chateau-d’ Oex, the hotel Roc Et Neige is normally used for skiing holidays. We checked into our rooms and then had some dinner. It was traditional Swiss cuisine, not something I would normally choose but it was very nice.
As we arrived in the dark, the next morning was a real treat! We woke up to beautiful views of snow-covered mountains. We were all ready on the coach for 9.15am. We travelled through a winter wonderland! With scenes you would normally see on a Christmas card. It was absolutely stunning. Snow covered trees, mountains and little wooden chalet's, it was truly something out of a fairytail.
Our first stop was a visit to The Chateaux d Chillion castle In Montreux. The views we had when we arrived were breathtaking, I will never forget them. The castle is on the side of Lake Geneva and in the distance, you can see snow-covered mountains.
We had to pay extra for entrance to the castle. The entry fee was 13 Swiss Francs but they did do an OAP discount, most of my family group could qualify for the discount.
We had an hour and a half to explore the castle and get some refreshments in the cafe outside. Our next stop was what we had all been waiting for! The Christmas market at Montreux. Wow! It was stunning, next to the lake and the beautiful backdrop of mountains. We got to spend the afternoon here. There were lots of Christmas market stalls to look at, with delicious food and drink. I particularly liked the hot cider.
There was a Ferris wheel, which some of our coach passengers went on. There is also a statue of Freddy Mercury at one end of the Christmas markets and further into the shopping area a museum about him too.
I bought some lovely things at the Christmas market including Christmas decorations, jewellery and Swiss chocolate. At 5pm when it had started to get dark, everyone gathered around the lake to see Santa!! He flys across the lake on his sleigh every evening. It was absolutely magical, a real treat especially for the children. Just after this we met up with everyone and got the coach back up into the mountains.
The next day most of the group took the optional day excursion to the Capital Bern! This was another 2 hour journey but we all had a lovely time on the coach. Chatting, singing and making new friends.
We were dropped off near the Parliament buildings. We had the day to explore at our own leisure. There were lots of beautiful buildings to look at shops, restaurants and cafés. Our group spilt up and did different things. It was nice to wander around the streets, admiring all the architecture. I visited the Munter Cathedral, unfortunately, it was closed so I didn’t get to go inside. We did find a Catholic Church down another side street, so we went in and lit a candle for my gran who is no longer with us.
We also had a look around the shops, some more traditional selling Cuckoo clocks and other high street chain stores. We ended our day at another Christmas market, it was a lot smaller than the one at Montreux. We sampled some delicious food, especially the Kaiserschmarrn, an Austrian-style pancake. We then headed back to our hotel.
That evening Lisa our rep did a Christmas quiz for all of us after dinner. She was great fun. The next day we had a couple of hours to look around Chateaux-d’ Oex. There was a lot more there than we thought. They have a big supermarket, shops, cafes, pubs and even a charity shop and bowling alley. It’s a shame we didn’t have longer to explore.
Before this, I never thought I would go on a coach trip holiday but I thoroughly enjoyed it. I would definitely do it again and recommend it to anyone thinking about it. If you are thinking about a Christmas market this year please come and have a chat with me.
