As you know, we usually visit smaller boutique hotels. This time, though, we went for a bigger place at the invitation of Montreux-Vevey Tourisme. Lo and behold, we were quickly surprised…
Now we like the small, modern, personally run “enthusiast hotels” more than the large, classic 5-star buildings of the Belle Époque. With somewhat mixed expectations we arrived in Montreux with the GoldenPass Classic (here’s our review) train from Rougemont and walked along the shore of Lake Geneva, straight past the luxury cars in the front drive and into the belly of the beast.
And already we were promptly surprised in the foyer by the incredibly friendly personnel of the Montreux Palace. Check-in was also swiftly taken care of so that we immediately found ourselves once more in a spacious Deluxe Room with a view of the “Swiss Riviera”.
Deluxe Rooms on Lake Geneva
The hall leading to the hotel room is also extra wide because the hotel was constructed in 1906, when the women wore wide sweeping skirts. The corridor was correspondingly dimensioned so widely that two women could cross paths in the hallway without ruffling up their frills.
The decoration in the Deluxe Room is decently modest and kept in tranquil, bright pastel tones. Definitely not bad after a funky night at the Montreux Jazz Festival…
The bed is also very comfortable. In any case I didn’t remember everything from the night; it was over in a heartbeat. But that was the fault of the nightcap at the hotel’s own Funky Claude’s Bar. The Montreux Palace has a surprisingly funky restaurant on offer with the Montreux Jazz Café…
The view from the little balcony over Lake Geneva and the garden of the hotel is gorgeous. It is worth celebrating in the latter during the legendary Montreux Jazz Festival parties, the details of which our hotel guide Michel Fouque simply did not want to disclose.
“What happens in Montreux, stays in Montreux…”
is all we got out of him.
So he showed us the Freddie Mercury Suite on the top floor, the counterpart to the Quincy Jones Suite opposite. These suites and their rooftop terraces are said to have hosted exuberant parties, too. But mum’s the word on that as well…
If anyone knows more, please fill us in!
Here is definitely a small tribute to the master:
Multicultural interior decoration
Especially impressive to us were the hotel rooms that are usually kept away from us “Westerners”: The guests from the Middle East clearly have different demands and different taste. They prefer the decoration to be as colourful and classic-original as possible.
In this regard the Montreux Palace cannot be stumped: Even with the special requests during Ramadan you can be certain that the dear guests extend a weekly stay into one month! For the entire floor, if need be…
Here are a few impressions from this “other world”:
Anybody fortunate enough to spend a weekend in Montreux should not miss out on the brunch. It is very extravagant and looks like this.
We thank Montreux-Vevey Tourism for the invitation and the Fairmont Le Montreux Palace for the great reception! Ursula Gretz from Gretz Communications was also a great help by facilitating this visit, thank you very much!
Prices and availability are available here.
