Two Hours in Montreux: A Panoramic Train, Lake Geneva & Our Last Meal in Europe

Montreux was never on the plan. It was the accidental last stop of a fifteen-day Europe trip — a town we landed in because the Panoramic View train from Interlaken was so beautiful that we just kept going. We were meant to get down at Gstaad, the village made famous to every Indian by Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge. We didn't. We rode it an hour further to Montreux, one stop short of Geneva, sat by the lake for two hours, ate a pizza, and turned around.

This isn't a deep-dive guide. It's a two-hour stopover, honestly told.

Arriving by the Panoramic View Train

The morning began in the rain at Grindelwald with three cards getting declined at a shop, our SBI debit card finally bailing us out at COOP, and a missed train. We caught the next one and connected onto the Panoramic View train from Interlaken. Two trains to reach it, on time by a thread. Switzerland's train transport, no matter what it costs, is genuinely impeccable — that's the line I keep coming back to.

The PV train climbs slowly through alpine pre-mountains, and just as it began, the sun finally came out for the first time in days of grey, rainy Swiss weather. The view, the sunshine, the carriage windows — everything was so good that we never got down at Gstaad. We kept going till the line ended at Montreux, one hour short of Geneva. Lake Geneva opened up below us on arrival.

Two Hours by the Lake & Our Final Meal in Europe

We checked the timetable for the train back to Zurich, then walked down to the lakefront with two hours to spend. We found a place and ordered pizza and drinks — and that turned out to be our final meal in Europe.

That's exactly what it felt like. The palm trees, the lake, the French Alps on the far side — the whole gentle, lake-resort grace of Montreux, all of it borrowed for two hours before we had to head back to Dietikon, pack, and catch a 5 am taxi to the airport.

What We Skipped (So You Know What This Page Isn't)

To be straight with anyone using this page to plan: we didn't actually do Montreux. The classic stops were all skipped:

• Château de Chillon — the famous castle on the lake. Didn't go.
• Geneva — only an hour away by train. Didn't go. Harshit's senior had invited us but the timing didn't work.
• Freddie Mercury statue / Queen Studio Experience — the Montreux pilgrimage. Didn't do it.
• Lavaux vineyards, Vevey, Rochers-de-Naye — all the proper day trips. None of them.

The stop was about catching the train back to Zurich for the flight home. So treat this as a brief stop, not a guide. If you actually have two days here, you'll have a much fuller story to tell than ours.