Gruyeres – The Perfect Day Trip from Lausanne, Gruyeres, Switzerland

Gruyères, voted as one of the “Best Tourism Villages” by the World Tourism Organisation (WTO) in 2021, is a cutesy medieval town in the Fribourg canton of Switzerland. It’s famous for its cheese bearing the same name. Being a massive cheese fan and looking for an easy day trip from my house sit in Switzerland, I knew I had to visit.

According to legend, Gruyères was founded in 400 BC by the Vandal King Gruerius. He spotted a crane flying across the crimson evening sky and decided he must build a town on that very spot like you do. The word for a crane in French is “Grue’. All makes perfect sense now. And this is also why the coat of arms of Gruyères has a crane on a red background.

It’s a tiny town – it won’t take you very long to walk from one side to the other. The Main Street that runs from one side to the other is only 300 metres long. The medieval town is very much a tourist town, but it’s charming, especially on a sunny Wednesday afternoon in January surrounded by snow-capped mountains and very few visitors. Maybe in the height of the season with tour busses and crowds, I might think differently.  ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).