Le Gruyeres: Best day trip in Switzerland
Before we tell you what to see in Switzerland and especially what to do in the beautiful town of Gruyeres and its surroundings (apart from devouring tons of Gruyère cheese), we are going to tell you how we arrived to Switzerland.
Beautiful and surprising things in life often come by chance without planning, and that is exactly what happened to us in Switzerland.
The story was a little bit like this: We were looking for an interesting project in the restaurant world (in addition to writing this blog and travelling, my first profession is Chef) and we found ourselves in the position of choosing between two destinations, Dubai and Switzerland.
Due to a series of coincidences and decisions that we made between the two of us, we chose to live in Switzerland for a while and that’s why we decided to share with you our experience about this corner of the world.
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Switzerland is an incredible place, probably one of the best countries we have been lucky enough to live and work. Although it is a relatively small country, there are plenty of things to do and see in Switzerland.
Amazing high mountains with green nature, clean and organized cities and picturesque villages all together creating a fantastic place to visit.
Among the many places you can visit in Switzerland, we have been lucky enough to go to Gruyeres, which became one of our favorite places in this country.
Curiosities:
The town of Gruyeres is located in the canton of Fribourg, and given its position it is a perfect place to visit even if you have only one day at your disposal. It is more or less 2-3 hours by car from the borders of Italy, France, Germany, and all other cities in Switzerland.
When we decided to come to this town, our main goal was to see how Gruyère cheese was made and also to taste it directly from the source. At the end, we found many more things to see and do in Gruyeres. We really enjoyed the trip, so it was definitely worth writing a post and sharing with you all about this incredible corner of the world.
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1. The House of Gruyere (Maison Gruyère)
Our motivation to visit this city was definitely the famous Gruyère cheese. Gruyère cheese is (at least in Europe) one of the most famous cow cheeses on the market, one of the most eaten, and also one of the most copied by the large food industries.
Although this type of cheese is sold on a large scale throughout the world, its production follows strict processes and rules, which allow keeping the same flavor and quality, which is appreciated by its consumers.
And this is also why you should not miss the museum entirely dedicated to cheese, “La Maison Gruyère”. This museum (mini-factory) is fascinating, since during the guided tour you can see the entire process and the steps that have to be followed to obtain a form of this delicacy.
Just imagine, to make 35 kg cheese, the homemaker needs about 400 liters of milk.
We don’t want to reveal too much information about the production of this cheese, so you discover all the cheese secrets by yourself. We hope that you will enjoy the next tour at this museum.
PS: If you want to make the most of your visit, in the same establishment you will find a restaurant and a shop, both naturally focused on offering cheese in all its variants.
2. Historic center
If you don’t know us yet, we have to share with you that in general we don’t plan almost anything before travelling and this way we often have pleasant and unexpected surprises on the way. In this case, it was the historic part of Gruyère town. Honestly, we had no idea that in addition to the cheese museum we were going to find such a beautiful medieval town with many things to see.
The most eye-catching part of the town is definitely the historic center with the fountains, beautiful church, shops with local products, and restaurants with classic Swiss food. By the way, we ate in one of those restaurants, and it was delicious.
This historical part of Gruyère is an authentic-hidden gem, which itself is worth visiting. We even discovered more attractions in the town, which we are going to share with you below.
If you are interested in beautiful Europe, check out this post about the incredible food of Eastern Europe. A real madness!
3.The castle
Apart from the historical part of Gruyeres, the first thing you also notice when coming here is a fantastic castle. This medieval construction is fantastic.
We recommend getting a self-guided tour since it was totally worth it. We first visited the castle from the outside, and we were able to appreciate not only its history but also its beautiful gardens with an incredible views all over the town.
In addition to that, inside the castle, we discovered an exhibition of modern art that was super interesting, the modern and the old mixed without spoiling one or the other, definitely a fantastic surprise.
4. Tibet Museum
Yes, you are reading it correctly. Tibet Museum in a medieval town in the middle of Switzerland.
Crazy, right?
This museum is located just outside the castle, and it has one of the largest art and craft collections from the countries around the Himalayas.
We are talking about 300 pieces that represent the history and sacred culture of this part of the world. Most of the pieces come from private collections from the actor Alain Bordier and his foundation.
We personally didn’t visit the museum due to lack of time, however we still think it could be interesting for our readers, especially if you are interested in Tibet or Central Asian culture and history.
5. Hr Giger Museum + Bar
Probably the name itself it is not very familiar to you, unless you are big a fan of horror style, however we are quite sure that you know his work.
This Swiss graphic artist and sculptor is the creator of several works and sculptures that made the history of cinema. The most famous were the extraterrestrial creatures from the Alien saga.
That’s right, HR Giger is the founding father of the creatures that terrorized many children and young people in the 80s. You can find this museum with many of his works right in Gruyeres, next to the museum of the Tibet.
Right in front of the museum you will find the bar dedicated to this artist, another true architectural madness. We freaked out when we went inside, where we found a super futuristic atmosphere.
We found several works and super strange armchairs that make this bar a very unusual place. To be able to take photos you should consume something, so get yourself a nice drink and enjoy this crazy bar whether you like the horror genre or not.
In addition to these attractions, you can find other interesting things to do in Gruyeres. Here is the website of the town with all the information.
6. The chocolate museum one step away from Gruyeres
And finally, our surprise is here!
Gruyeres and its surroundings have many attractions more than we could ever mention, however there is one place very close to Gruyeres, La Maison Cailler, which probably should be a number one on your list of things to see in Switzerland if you are chocolate lovers like us.
The chocolate factory was one of our dreams come true, and the truth is that we left super satisfied with a lot of chocolate in our stomach.
Can you imagine visiting a cheese museum and a chocolate museum on the same day?
It is fantastic!
Practically the best of the best that you can taste in Switzerland, and it’s very close together since between the two museums-factories there is a distance of 6 km more or less 10 minutes by car (or bus).
The name Cailler is one of the most famous and prestigious in terms of chocolate in Switzerland, and therefore also worldwide. The founder was François-Louis Cailler who approximately 200 years ago started the brand Cailler and to this day, Maison Cailler continues with its own style, producing high quality chocolate with fresh milk from local dairies (just like Gruyeres cheese).
In addition to that, they have two more advantages in their favor. In their factory, they use sustainable cocoa and the best complementary ingredients from all over the world which creates high-quality chocolate.
The visit to the Cailler museum factory is a multisensory experience that you cannot miss. We personally enjoyed it a lot, from seeing the entire process of making chocolate and also being able to taste several freshly made chocolates of all different flavours.
Conclusions
Gruyeres and its surroundings are some of the most beautiful memories we had during our stay in Switzerland. We think that this corner of the world is totally worth visiting not only for the reasons we mentioned above but also for many more that you can discover yourself.
We hope that our post will help you find the information you were looking for and make you want to visit the beautiful town of Gruyeres in Switzerland very soon.
Until the next post, your travelling friends and gluttons of Funfoodtravelling.
Our tip: When we travel we always make sure to have travel insurance. Our personal recommendation is Truetraveller as they have great support and health coverage around the world. And don’t worry if you forget about it, you can purchase the insurance during your trip!
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