This Place Is A Real-Life Postcard! But Is It TOO Perfect? Welcome To Montreux, Switzerland...

A rail challenge brought me here, but I stuck around for a wander. In the morning I went up the mountain (previous video) and now I go for a walk along the Promenade to a spectacular castle on the lakeside. This town blew my mind, I hope you enjoy it too...

Filmed on Wednesday 20th March 2024
Thumbnail designed using Canva
This video is not sponsored and all opinions are my own

I don’t pretend to be a travel expert, but I love what I do and would be honoured if you came along with me. My channel focusses on the wide-eyed wonder and excitement of finding somewhere new, and my genuine reaction to it. You may not get a history lesson in my videos, but who knows, you might pick up some useful travel tips along the way, add a few destinations to your bucket list and hopefully be entertained by what you see. Thanks for watching, it means a lot to me :)

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I was born in Glasgow but have lived in Carnoustie, Dalgety Bay, Stonehaven, Edinburgh, Montrose, and further afield (Salamanca, Spain & Devonport, New Zealand)
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This is both my business model and a result of doing everything myself. Editing takes time and I also like to schedule videos a bit in advance in case of any problems/illness/cancellations etc. Keeping my uploads appearing every Saturday is important to me, so I don’t want anything to get in the way of it. Also, I occasionally need some time off to recover from trips! But more than anything else, it's about budgets. I generally need to film a number of videos on each trip to break even. And each one of these take a while to fall into place on a Saturday morning.
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The usual suspects I'm afraid - time and money! Hotels especially these days make my eyes water like a true Scotsman. Also my weekly upload schedule means I need to keep on the move.
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Alicja will feature whenever possible, but she has her own life and a proper job so it can take a while for our schedules to match up. Trust me though, I prefer it when She is there too!
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#SteveMarsh #Montreux #Switzerland

[peterjackson]

My late wife and I met in Montreux, at the age of 15, 73 years ago. I have returned to Montreux on many occasions and have absorbed some of its soul. In the limited time you had available I feel you captured some of its spirit.. The wealth is adjacent to the lake. Elsewhere, there is the old town of Montreux and adjacent smaller towns/villages where the standard of living is comfortable but ordinary. Montreux has managed to avoid mass tourism. Switzerland has always seemed expensive to UK visitors, but it is partly our fault in deciding to become a poor country. Not all that long ago there were 5 swiss franks to the pound, more recently 2 franks and now almost parity

[byronhowells]

I’ve been to Switzerland a few times whilst staying in Austria, A tip I have found useful is “follow the Hi-Viz”, The Hi-viz jackets is usually worn by local workmen and they know all the cheap places to eat.

[DanielEarlester]

Just like a Lord Byron quote, "To have joy, you must share it". Thanks for sharing.

[erinmcgrathejm]

That 5th floor hotel patio was great! You should have bought that pot noodle at the grocery store to go with your drink and chocolate and had your meal up there…watching the lake and the trains and imagining yourself relaxing in your very own Montreux vacation home! Cheers, and ATB!

[WalterBoylan]

Another great excursion in a wonderfully beautiful country. I would give a lot to go there.

[ynotdeviltry]

Even with the presence of the great Freddie Mercury, I couldn't get 'Smoke on the Water' out of my head! Cheers from Maine, U.S.A.

[MrPhantom]

You captured Montreux on a perfect day with that wonderful light and the mountain scenery around the lake. There was a time in the UK when you would see people cleaning and maintaining the local environment....ok, I'm perhaps going back 50+ years ago!

[colleveloer]

I went on a school skiing trip from Banff Academy in 1965 to a resort in the mountains above Montreux and paid a visit to the Chateau De Chillon. It all started with a bus journey to Aberdeen then rail and Cross-Channel ferry to Villars (just down the line from Montreux)! I bought a wooden chess set in Montreux as a momento of my trip and I still have it after all these years! Up until then, my travel horizons were trips to Banff Links or Tarlair Pool in Macduff but the school trip opened my eyes to the world! Thanks for a great nostalgic video! 😊

[viviennehart]

When you mentioned Montreux, Steve, it rang a bell with me, and then you showed the Chateau de Chillon, which I visited back in 1968, on a camping tour of Europe, tents and all, no hotels, brought back so many memories!

[TheUluxian]

Was an exchange student in Tuttlingen Germany back in 1979, and had a day trip to the Roman ruins at Kaiseraugst. Even seeing that tiny part of Switzerland some 45 years ago still makes me long to go back and see some more.

[KarenG.-qswc]

I didn't know Freddie Mercury had such strong links to Montreaux. I love his themed hotel with his signature on the bed and towels👍🙂

[TheJohnscot]

Your videos are so refreshing and never pretentious. I am now hooked on the Steve Marsh picture company. It's weird seeing palm trees with snow behind them!!!

[JimGDMAC]

When in Switzerland last year I found the best option if you were staying in the same place for a time was to rent a holiday apartment in a small town outside the big city. Around £75 per night and it meant you could cook for yourself and not have to pay high prices to eat out. One good piece of advice I saw was don't buy the big brand chocolates, go for the supermarket brands, they cost much less and are just as good quality. Also if you are going to be using trains a lot then get a railpass, they cover the mainlines as well as cablecars, mountain railways and often lake cruises.

[johncrwarner]

When we go to Switzerland
we do a lot of self-catering
and have learnt to ask the hotel workers
or appartment cleaners
where they shop?
There is often a Lidl or Aldi
and we buy basics there.
That saves the pennies!

[Fanw]

Thank you Steve for yet another wonderful video! Two tips from a regular visitor to Switzerland. The big Coop and Migros supermarkets often have self-service restaurants charging (relatively) reasonable prices. Secondly - fares. If you are doing a lot of travelling in Switzerland always buy a Swiss Travel Pass. This gives you free travel on all public transport (bus, train, tram, BOAT etc.) except lines which simply go up mountains. Eg, on the trip up the Rochers-de-Naye the STP gives free travel up to Caux Above Caux the STP holder gets a 50% discount. I regularly visit Switzerland travelling around on an STP. I seem to recall that a trip up to Rochers-de-Naye in 2019 cost me about 27 Franks.

[banana]

My gosh, Steve... so many happy memories of Montreux. I used to walk from the Chateau to Montreux and back for exercise and be past by roller bladers by the dozen... As you witnessed the views are sublime, everything looks clean and tidy and well maintained - even the mountains! 😀😀
You are right about that steel building: at Christmas they put up tarpaulent type sheeting on the sides and have a Chistmas market in there but.... they also have numerous stalls alongside the lake selling just about everything. Wouldn't surprise me if there was a small stall with Rolls Royce sales people! Have been there at other times and heard bands - Swiss music bands playing inside - it's a great venue.
Your video captured Montreux beautifully - most enjoyable: a big thank you! Keep up the good job. 👍👍

[elliebeep]

The costs, oh my goodness. Thanks for bringing us along. It's really making me want to visit Switzerland, what a gorgeous country!

[hughprice]

Steve, having been to Switzerland many times, do as the Swiss do and go for picnics! Denner and CoOp supermarkets often have food and booze on Action = Offert! Migros is a good supermarket for food too, but booze is not for sale! Another tip is an Apex train ticket you need to book well in advance which should allow you to travel anywhere in Switzerland for a day!

[redspecial]

And the Casino there has the old Queen (and Bowie) recording studio under it and you can do a tour there. It’s the one that a fire there in the 70s (before Queen owned it) inspired the song “Smoke on the water”

[KarenG.-qswc]

What a beautiful place. No wonder Freddie loved it.🏞