For a change, we did not have an early flight out of Dublin and rather than take the bus, we drove as it worked out better for the return journey. Our flight was at 11:00 a.m. which was a nice time to depart, we also booked the Aer Lingus Lounge in Terminal 2, which is the better one from the Aer Lingus offerings. The lounge was surprisingly busy but it’s still nice to relax before the flight. Speaking of, our flight departed on time and before we knew it, we landed into Geneva, got through security in no time and headed towards the car rental area, which is a short bus journey from the airport arrivals hall.
As we were planning on doing a good bit of driving, we got a decent size car with all the bells and whistles, plus, it was really comfortable. The drive to our hotel in the centre of Geneva was just over 15 minutes which was handy. We also decided to push the boat out (again) and we booked into the Mandarin Oriental, which was pretty much bang in the centre of Geneva. Once we arrived at the hotel, the valet grabbed our bags and took the car off to park it up. The reception area of the hotel is simple but nice and check-in took no time. Our room was a decent size, with all the mod cons you expect from a hotel of this calibre and it was spotlessly clean.
As always, once we checked out the amenities in the room we hit the streets for a stroll. The weather was pretty good, mild with no rain, however, this would soon change in the days to come.
After a stroll along the waterfront, we headed back to the hotel to get ready for dinner and have a pre-dinner drink. For our first night, we booked a restaurant by one of the world’s most famous chefs – Joël Robuchon. Joël Robuchon was actually voted chef of the century at the turn of the millennium and there are several dozen restaurants around the world which are owned by the Joël Robuchon International, Joël himself passed away a few years back.
The restaurant is a decent size with a dark interior with lots of red trim. Our seat was at the counter which also offered views into parts of the kitchen. There were plenty of staff and they were all well-presented and very polite – plus, they all spoke perfect English, of course. Ok, down to business, the food, I’ll let the photos do the talking…
On the grand scheme of things, the food was really good, well presented and tasty, we would certainly consider returning again if in the area. Once done, we strolled back along the waterfront to our hotel and called it a night.
Breakfast the next morning was in Le Bistrot du Rhône restaurant of the hotel, it had the usual hot food offerings and table service as well as the usual buffet selection of cured meats, cheese, fruits, pastries etc. After breakfast, we hit the streets and as it was Sunday there was not a huge amount open, nonetheless it was nice to wander around the old town while it was not too busy.
After wandering for a while, we made our way to the Museum of Natural History. The museum is spread out over several floors and the displays are really impressive, the only down side … kids, lots of kids running riot around the place, still though, it did not really take from enjoying the museum. Once done with the museum, we did a littler more wandering and grabbed lunch in a place called Restaurant Les Armures which was very busy.
Although just salads, the lunch was pretty tasty, after lunch we checked out a few more of the sites before leaving and heading back towards our hotel – unfortunately the weather had changed at this stage and not for the better.
Later that evening, we had no plans for dinner, so we wandered around for a bit to find a spot, by chance we came across the Four Seasons hotel (how convenient), so we wandered in, in search of dinner. As much as I’d like to say we had a great meal there, unfortunately all of their restaurants were full – so as the weather was now getting worse, we strolled back towards our hotel to eat there. We kept it pretty casual, just burgers and fries, they were pretty decent, we finished off the night with a drink before heading to bed.
The next morning, we grabbed breakfast, checked out and hit the road. We had a bit of a drive ahead of us as we decided to take the long road round to our destination – Chamonix in France. Our route was to head north and go all round Lake Geneva. Despite plenty of views of the lake, the weather did not let up so it was very overcast. Our first stop was Montreux and a small bakery/café where we grabbed a sambo each. Once done, we wandered around Montreux for a look. It was interesting to see that even parts of Switzerland did not escape a post-pandemic world, there were a lot of businesses that no longer exist.
It was back on the road again and after driving for about two hours, we went in search of a coffee. We spotted a random town on the GPS and decided to head there, however, the GPS did not indicate that the town was up over 1,500 metres, so the drive up the winding roads took a lot longer than planned. When we arrived, we found ourselves in a very small town, completely shut down, except for a local community centre. We figured this place is really a ski resort when in season, so at this time of the year, there’s next to nothing going on – still though, it was a nice looking place. So with the weather still dreadful, we hopped back in the car drove back down the mountain and continued on to a small road-side restaurant of sorts and popped in to have a coffee.
After our pitstop, we hit the road and continued on our journey, thankfully when we crossed the border into France, the weather had improved. As we arrived into Chamonix, it was surprisingly really busy, I guess we always associated it with the ski season, but it offers plenty of other seasonal pursuits. After navigating the busy streets, we arrived at our hotel – we were given instructions that once we arrive, ring the reception and they will come out to open the underground parking garage. We’re staying at the Grand Hôtel des Alpes, it has an old world charm and the staff were really friendly and had perfect English. Our room was a nice size and spotlessly clean. As always, we dropped the bags and hit the streets.
Although it was mild, it did start to rain again, however, there were plenty of shops that we wandered into for a look around – and get out of the rain for a bit. After some shopping, we went in search of a place to eat for dinner. We had nothing booked, but it was evident there were plenty of places to grab a bite, from casual burger spots to places that looked that bit fancier. We stumbled across a place called Le Comptoir des Alpes that we liked the look of, so we popped in and thankfully were able to book a table for later. We did a little more walking around, then headed back to the hotel to relax for a bit. Before heading out for the evening, we grabbed a quick drink and made our way to the restaurant. Le Comptoir des Alpes seemed to tick all the boxes, it looked inviting and the staff were very well presented and friendly. We got seated, ordered a drink and looked over the menu.
There was an a la carte and taster menu option – we went with the taster of course and ordered a glass of the usual.
Overall, the food was fine, nothing special but not too bad, the staff, however, were very professional and friendly. Once done, we made our way back to the hotel and called it a night. The following morning, we grabbed breakfast before heading out for the day. Our main port of call was to take the cable cars up to the Aiguille du Midi at 3,842m high. On a side note, the centre was crazy busy as there was some sort of endurance marathon on, but it did create a good atmosphere. We made our way to the Aiguille du Midi cable car which was short walk from the centre. Thankfully the weather was really good and more importantly when heading up to the mountains, it was clear.
Once we got out of the cable car, we decided to grab a quick coffee before exploring the area. There are several areas that can be explored which offer different views of the mountains and town below. You can also see Mont Blanc off in the distance, despite being slightly cloudy, you could still get a nice view. We grabbed lunch here, again, your several thousand metres up, the food is never going to be anything special. We kept it simple – a sambo and coffee. Once done, it was time to make the descent so we hopped back in the cable car to make our way back down.
Once back on terra firma, we did a little more window shopping and soaked up the atmosphere stopping for a drink along the way. For dinner, we kept it simple, there are plenty of casual eateries that line the main street, so we opted for a burger. The burger joint was called ‘La Maison Vintage Des Burgers (almost sounds like a movie) and it only had outdoor seating, which was fine as it was still very mild. The burger, while nothing special, was pretty decent. Once done, it was back to the hotel for the evening.
The following morning we grabbed breakfast, checked out and hit the road for the return journey to Switzerland. The journey back was reasonably pleasant, the weather had improved and when we arrived into Grindelwald for the evening, the sun was shining. We’re staying at the Bergwelt Grindelwald hotel pretty much in the centre of Grindelwald. Grindelwald is the perfect spot to base yourself as there are plenty of nearby attractions that can be visited. The town is pretty small, but has plenty of gift shops and a few places to eat. After walking the length of the town we hopped into a place called Barry’s for a coffee, we also decided this would suffice for dinner. Once done, we made our way back to the hotel to relax for a bit before heading out for dinner.
As planned we hit Barry’s for dinner. We opted to share the starter (which does not happen very often) which was the country salad and it was a good call as the salad was huge. For our mains we went with the Schnitzel and Swiss Rosti – the portions were actually huge and tasty. Once done, it was back to the hotel for a good night’s rest, we did however grab a drink at the bar to take back to our room as a nightcap :-).
The next morning, we hit the road, the plan was to visit Piz Gloria and take the cable cars to the top to see probably one of the most famous mountain restaurants not just in Switzerland, but the world – why you ask? Well the James Bond movie – On Her Majesty’s Secret Service was filmed here in 1969 and it’s still a huge draw for tourist even today, over 50 years after the release of the movie. As we were purchasing our tickets to the top, we were informed that the mountain was clouded over, but we said, well we’re here now and won’t be back anytime soon so we purchased tickets and hopped on the cable cars to take us to the top.
The journey up was spectacular with amazing views down to the valley, however, as we went higher, the clouds got thicker and on the final cable car towards the mountain (there are three cable cars to the top), there was barely a few feet of visibility, it did make for a quite surreal journey not seeing where you were going. Once to the top, we made our way inside to start the tour. They recently upgraded the Bond tour with more props from the movie as well as some interactive areas and a few rooms showing videos with scenes from the movie, as well as behind the scenes and the impact of the movie on the then ‘sleepy’ town of Mürren.
Once done with the inside part of the tour, we headed outside. There was maybe 10 feet of visibility so with no view to be had, we made our way back inside to grab lunch in the famous revolving restaurant. If it was not for the weather, the views I’m sure would have been amazing as the restaurant revolves while you eat. Now the menu has the usual fare as you would expect, however, they do have the ‘Bond burger’, which I had to try, C just had a plain sambo. The burger was pretty poor and over-priced, but hey, it’s the ‘Bond burger’, what’s not to love 🙂
Overall, we spent just over two hours at the top before making the journey back down. Once down we drove to the town of Lauterbrunnen. This is the one that pops up on social media all the time when you see sights in Switzerland. It was crazy busy and we got lucky with parking as there were not many spaces to be had. Once parked up, we walked the length of the town in awe of the fantastic waterfalls that are thundering down the valley – plus you can go behind one of the falls which was nice to do.
Next, it was back on the road to head to Grindelwald. For dinner that evening, we booked the hotel restaurant as the previous night we had looked over the menu and it looked pretty good. We headed down for dinner, ordered a drink to get things started from the very friendly staff. I opted for the spring rolls to start, C, forwent the starter and for mains we went with roast chicken and a pasta dish. Overall the food was really good, it was certainly worth dining in the hotel, as sometimes hotel food is not always the best – depending on the hotel of course :-).
The next day, we grabbed breakfast, checked out and hit the road for our next stop, Interlaken, one of the most visited places in Switzerland. We have visited Interlaken before and we loved it, you can check out our previous Swiss trip here. We only booked our accommodation the day before and opted for the budget friendly Hotel Interlaken. The hotel is at the far end of the town but still ‘in’ the centre so to speak. The hotel was, as expected, a little dated, a little musty, but, more than adequate for what we needed.
As we arrived just after lunch, we hit the town and popped into the five star, Victoria Jungfrau Grand Hotel. We had eyed this up for our night in Interlaken, but, we felt for one night we would not get to really experience the hotel. We dined outside in the huge outdoor dining area, we kept it very simple and just ordered some hummus which was tasty as well as the Korean fried chicken, which was pretty decent, the mocktails we had were fantastic.
Once done, we wandered around the town in search of a place for dinner that evening, however we did have a plan. We had dined in a place called OX before and it was one of the best meals we had on our last visit, so the plan was to go back, unfortunately, it was no longer in business – a result of Covid, I guess. We eyed up a few places and picked Cafe Paris as even though early it was really busy. We then headed back towards our hotel and took the funicular which was a short walk from the hotel to the Harder Kulm lookout spot at 1322 metres. We had done this before and it offers amazing views of the surrounding mountains and Interlaken below.
We grabbed a coffee and took a few snaps before heading back down and making our was to Cafe Paris for dinner. By the time we got there is was very busy but we did not have to wait too long for a table. The food is very causal, basically fancy sambos, pasta dishes and a few other bits. I went with the BLT and C opted for the chicken salad again portion sizes were pretty big and the food overall, for what it was, was decent.
Afterwards, it was back to the hotel for a good night’s rest. The next morning, we grabbed an early breakfast and hit the road for the return journey to Geneva. Of course, on our last day, the weather was perfect, blue skies, no clouds anywhere, it made for a fantastic drive back. Given the fantastic weather and having plenty of time we took the more scenic route back to Geneva, basically up and over several mountains – at one point, the satnav was showing us up at 2,000 metres – amazing. We stopped for a coffee in a small roadside restaurant which was really cute and had a nice outdoor seating area so you could admire the view.
We had no plans for lunch, other than to find some decent size town – and by chance, we spotted signposts for a place called Gruyères – yes, named after the famous cheese. What was interesting was, as we approached Gruyères, all we could see was a sort of castle/fortress up on a small hill, it certainly did not look like a ‘town’. Anyhow, we parked up and made the very short trek up to the entrance to this medieval town – well, once inside, we did not expect to see what we did. The place is really cool and really busy with dozens of places to shop and eat. For lunch we went with a placed called Cafe Restaurant des Remparts. We had a chicken curry salad and a quiche which were really tasty, plus the young staff were really friendly – this was a short but fantastic stop.
As much as we would have loved to spend more time in Gruyères, we were now short on time as we had to return the car and hop on our flight home. We got back to the airport and returned the car and while I’m not blowing my own trumpet here, the rental was due back at 16:30, I handed back the keys at 16:29 J.
As mentioned at the outset, this was a return journey to Switzerland for us and it was equally as enjoyable as the last. It’s a beautiful country that everyone should visit at some stage, yes, it’s very expensive but worth it. For this trip, we went with the rental car option rather than relying on public transport. However, the public transport in Switzerland is outstanding allowing you to visit so many parts of the country. However, the advantage of having your own car made for a more adventurous trip and when we next return, we will certainly consider this option depending on the plan.
As always, hope you enjoyed reading about this little trip.
Until next time,
Bye for now,
C&J
cjfoodandtravel 