Experience the best of Montreux

Montreux curves along the northern shore of Lake Geneva, with steep vineyards and mountains behind it and the Alps of Savoy across the water. Its mild microclimate allows palms and flowering gardens along the lakeside promenade, where a statue of Freddie Mercury, who recorded here with Queen, looks over the lake. Belle Époque hotels line the shore.

The Château de Chillon, a medieval castle on a rock at the water's edge near Veytaux, inspired Lord Byron's poem The Prisoner of Chillon. Vevey, where Charlie Chaplin spent his last years, has a lakeside market, and a cogwheel railway climbs from Montreux to the summit of Rochers-de-Naye. The Lavaux vineyard terraces, a World Heritage site, lie between Montreux and Lausanne.

Cheese fondue and raclette, perch fillets from the lake and white Chasselas wine from the terraces are the standard menu. In July the Montreux Jazz Festival fills the lakeside, in May wild narcissus covers the meadows above the town, and in December the Christmas market lines the quay.