Lausanne Swizerland - any info?

kenmc

Hi,
I'm going to be spending a few weeks over there working, so was wondering if anyone had been there and knew any good bars/restaurants, and also anything to do at weekends in the nearby area?
Cheers
Ken

Trojan

Olympic Museum is there - nice for a visit sometime (got a restaurant at the top too). Beautiful location for a town on the lake - if you like watersports you're set. Don't know bars, was staying in Neuchatel (and don't remember that much either ).

kenmc

love watersports, esp windsurfing, cept I've got a seperated AC joint under repair, so snowboarding in Chamonix and windsurfing in Lake Geneva are not really viable options I fear. Cept if I power up on paracetamol!

Culchie

Ken,

I worked immediately across the lake in Evian (France)for a summer, and then a year in Leysin, and then a year in Verbier.

It is a great spot to work for a while.

Make use of Switzerlands location and it's infrastructure on your days off .... Go to Italy, Germany, France, hell wherever you want....it's great.
Zermatt (Matterhorn), Simplon Pass, Lucerne, use the trains ...it's brilliant.

Do your shopping in the hypermarkets on the French side of the border.

Geneva is good, and has a good Irish community there, a good Irish pub, and a few English Pubs as well (not full of louts either).

Swimming in the lake is great, you can ferry all around the lake as well.

'Publife' is not as you know it here really. I recommend the nearby ski resorts for that ... Braconnerie Pub (Hunter) in Leysin is a great spot for pool, jukebox, craic etc...

There's a casino in Evian (and loads of mineral water) .... check out La Verniaz restaurant in Evian in the summertime.....anything else PM me. !!

kenmc

Thanks for the info - i'll have a rental so will be driving around a bit allright, i'll deffo head into geneva for a bit all right do you know if there is a train from there to lausanne that could be taken home at nite? no point in drving places and not being able to sample the local beer eh??

Culchie

Yeh,

Laussane is on Main Geneva - Zagreb train route, so plenty of overnight trains.
I think the TGV to Paris starts there as well, so that's handy.

Best memory of Laussane was seeing U2 in Olympic Statdium, hed to get last Ferry back to Evian, so we drifting across the lake on a lovely summers night listening to "With or Without You" booming out during their encore ... something else.

Are you going there for long?

embraer170

Laussane is on Main Geneva - Zagreb train route, so plenty of overnight trains.

No the last trains run ate around 23-24:00.

Culchie

http://fahrplan.sbb.ch/bin/query.exe/en?seqnr=9&ident=k1.076151.1114760887&REQ0HafasScrollDir=2


Last Train ... 12.30 ish ... first train 5 to 5.

To disco or not to disco !!

kenmc

I *think* I've gotten myself out of going! Was there for 2 days earlier in the week, on the outskirts of the town, too far to walk into town and couldn't be arsed driving. Found the area I was in to be incredibly boring. Oh and Taxis are incredibly expensive! 25CHF to a localish restaurant - certainly no more than 7-8 minutes drive away. thank god for expenses!

Culchie

Oh yea ... mucho mullah required in Switzerland, it was 12CHF ( Old Irish £6) for a pint of guinness in 1994.

You'd need to be on a Swiss wage to survive out there.

Boring ... Laussane is not !

embraer170

kenmc wrote:

I *think* I've gotten myself out of going! Was there for 2 days earlier in the week, on the outskirts of the town, too far to walk into town and couldn't be arsed driving. Found the area I was in to be incredibly boring. Oh and Taxis are incredibly expensive! 25CHF to a localish restaurant - certainly no more than 7-8 minutes drive away. thank god for expenses!

Surely there was a public transport option.

Lausanne (or any other average non-touristic Swiss town) isn't a place you'll fall in love with in an afternoon, but after living there for some time you will start to appreciate the place.

kenmc

well the girl at reception in the hotel asked if I had a car, so I guess not! hence the taxi. well since the company are paying i'm not too worried. next time I'll insist that i get a hotel in the city centre though. the only one available those days was 450 euro per night.... the company didn't wanna pay that, hence the outskirts...:(

embraer170

kenmc wrote:

well the girl at reception in the hotel asked if I had a car, so I guess not! hence the taxi. well since the company are paying i'm not too worried.

Or maybe/probably one of those hotels which would not suggest a public transport option to customers.

There is literally public from anywhere to anywhere in Switzerland. Lausanne has two tram lines and a huge bus network (they are also upgrading and extending the metro)

One you get to know the country and avoid the tourist trail, I don’t think it’s any more expensive than Ireland.

fruglo

I'm going to Leysin on a school trip in 3 weeks.
Any essential info before we go?
Is there much German spoken there or is it all French?