Estimated duration: 100 minutes
Overview
Welcome to Lausanne, the Olympic Capital of the world and one of the most dramatically situated cities in Switzerland. Built on three hills above the northern shore of Lake Geneva, Lausanne cascades down steep slopes toward the water, its streets rising and falling in a topography that keeps your legs working and your eyes constantly delighted. On this tour, you will climb to one of the finest Gothic cathedrals in the country, descend through a vibrant old town, discover why the Olympics chose this city as their permanent home, and finish along the beautiful lakefront promenade of Ouchy. Lausanne is a city of art students and international bureaucrats, of medieval lanes and avant-garde museums, and it is full of surprises.
Let us begin.
Stop 1: Place de la Palud and the Fountain of Justice
Start at Place de la Palud, a small square in the centre of the old town, accessible from the Lausanne-Flon metro station.
You are standing in Place de la Palud, one of the oldest and liveliest squares in Lausanne. At its centre stands the Fontaine de la Justice, the Fountain of Justice, dating from 1557. The figure atop the fountain represents Justice, blindfolded and holding scales, and she has been presiding over this square for nearly five centuries.
Place de la Palud is the site of one of Lausanne's most charming traditions. Look at the building on the north side of the square. That is the Hotel de Ville, the town hall, built in the seventeenth century. On its facade, you will see a mechanical clock. Every hour, from 9 in the morning to 7 in the evening, a series of animated figures emerge from the clock to enact scenes from Lausanne's history. It is brief and delightful, and if your timing is right, pause to watch.
A market has been held in this square since the Middle Ages, and every Wednesday and Saturday morning it still fills with stalls selling flowers, fruits, vegetables, and local cheeses. The tradition is unbroken for centuries.
Lausanne's old town is built on the steep hill called the Cité, and the streets around you climb sharply. This is a city where you earn your views. From the square, take the steep covered staircase called the Escaliers du Marché, the Market Stairs, which climb up to the left. These medieval wooden stairs, covered by a roof and lined with shops, are one of the most atmospheric passages in the city.
Stop 2: Cathédrale de Lausanne
Climb the Escaliers du Marché to the cathedral, which dominates the hilltop above.
The Cathédrale de Lausanne is widely considered the finest Gothic building in Switzerland, and standing before it now, you can see why. Its south portal, known as the Painted Portal or Portail Peint, is one of the masterpieces of Gothic sculpture, with its ranks of carved figures, originally brilliantly painted, depicting biblical scenes and the hierarchy of the Christian cosmos.
Construction of the cathedral began around 1170 and continued for about a century. It was consecrated in 1275 in a grand ceremony attended by Pope Gregory X, the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf I of Habsburg, and a gathering of European dignitaries. The event was one of the most significant in medieval Lausanne.
Step inside. The nave is tall and light, with elegant clustered columns and pointed arches in the classic French Gothic style. Lausanne's cathedral shows the strong influence of the great cathedrals of northern France, particularly those of Laon and Canterbury. The rose window in the south transept, dating from the thirteenth century, is extraordinary. It depicts the seasons, the months, the elements, and the rivers of paradise, a medieval cosmology rendered in luminous stained glass.
One of Lausanne's most beloved traditions takes place here every night. From 10 pm to 2 am, every hour on the hour, a watchman called the Guet calls out from the cathedral tower, announcing the time to the four cardinal directions. This tradition dates back to the Middle Ages, when the watchman's role was to alert the city to fire. Lausanne is one of the last cities in Europe to maintain a night watchman. The current watchman's call, "C'est le guet; il a sonné l'heure," echoes across the sleeping city in a tradition that has endured for over six hundred years.
If you have the energy, climb the tower. The 224 steps lead to a viewing platform with a breathtaking panorama of the city, the lake, and the Alps.
From the cathedral, walk east along Rue Cité-Derrière and then descend toward the Pont Bessières.
Stop 3: Pont Bessières and the City Skyline
Walk east from the cathedral to the Pont Bessières, the bridge spanning the Flon valley.
The Pont Bessières is a grand stone bridge built in 1910 that spans the deep valley of the Flon river, which flows far below you in a culverted channel. From the bridge, you have a dramatic view of Lausanne's extraordinary topography.
Look to your left. The cathedral rises behind you. Ahead, the hill of the Bourg climbs on the far side of the valley. To your right, the modern city extends downhill toward the lake. Lausanne is built on three hills separated by two valleys, the Flon and the Louve, and the city's character is defined by this vertiginous landscape. Streets plunge downward, staircases connect levels, and the metro, one of the steepest in the world, burrows through the hillsides.
The Pont Bessières is named after Charles-Marc Bessières, a Lausanne politician who advocated for the bridge's construction. It replaced a medieval bridge that had been the main crossing of the Flon valley for centuries.
Look down into the valley. The Flon district below was once an industrial area, home to warehouses and workshops. Beginning in the 1990s, it was transformed into one of Lausanne's trendiest neighbourhoods, with bars, clubs, restaurants, and cultural spaces occupying the former industrial buildings. The regeneration of the Flon is one of the great urban success stories of modern Switzerland.
Cross the bridge and walk south on Rue du Grand-Pont, heading downhill toward Place Saint-François.
Stop 4: Place Saint-François
Continue downhill to Place Saint-François, the busy square at the commercial heart of the city.
Place Saint-François is Lausanne's main commercial square, dominated by the Church of Saint-François, which gives it its name. This Gothic church dates from the thirteenth century and was originally part of a Franciscan monastery. During the Reformation, when the canton of Vaud adopted Protestantism in 1536 under Bernese pressure, the monastery was dissolved and the church became a parish church.
The square around you is a major transport hub, with buses and the metro converging here. It is also the beginning of Lausanne's main shopping streets, the Rue du Bourg and the Rue de Bourg, which climb elegantly to the east.
Lausanne became the capital of the canton of Vaud when the French revolutionary armies liberated it from Bernese rule in 1798. The Bernese had governed the Vaud region since 1536, and their rule, though initially accepted, became increasingly resented. The arrival of French troops triggered an uprising, and the Vaudois declared their independence. When Napoleon reorganised Switzerland with the Act of Mediation in 1803, the canton of Vaud was formally established with Lausanne as its capital.
From Place Saint-François, we need to travel downhill to Ouchy. You can walk, which takes about 25 minutes on a steep descent, or you can take the metro line M2 from Lausanne-Flon, just a few minutes' walk north. The metro descends dramatically through the hillside to the lakefront. Let us take the metro for efficiency.
Stop 5: Ouchy Waterfront
Exit the metro at Ouchy station and walk toward the lake.
Welcome to Ouchy, Lausanne's lakefront quarter, and a world away from the medieval hilltop you just left. The air is softer here, the palm trees along the promenade give a faintly Mediterranean flavour, and the vast expanse of Lake Geneva stretches before you.
Ouchy has been Lausanne's port and gateway for centuries. The Château d'Ouchy, the turreted medieval castle you may notice near the metro exit, was built by the bishops of Lausanne in the twelfth century and served as a toll station and harbour defence. Today it is a hotel, but its towers still lend a romantic air to the waterfront.
A momentous event in diplomatic history took place in Ouchy. In 1923, the Treaty of Lausanne was signed at the Beau-Rivage Palace hotel, just along the waterfront. This treaty established the borders of modern Turkey following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and the Turkish War of Independence. Diplomats from Turkey, Greece, Britain, France, Italy, Japan, Romania, and Yugoslavia gathered in this elegant lakeside hotel to redraw the map of the Middle East. The Beau-Rivage Palace, opened in 1861, remains one of Switzerland's grandest hotels and has hosted countless dignitaries over its history.
Walk east along the lakefront promenade. The Olympic Museum is about a ten-minute walk ahead.
Stop 6: The Olympic Museum
Walk east along Quai d'Ouchy. The museum is set in terraced gardens above the lake.
The Olympic Museum is the world's largest archive and exhibition centre devoted to the Olympic Games, and it is the reason Lausanne is known as the Olympic Capital. The museum, which opened in 1993 and was extensively renovated in 2013, sits in beautiful terraced gardens overlooking the lake, and the approach through the grounds, with its sculptures, Olympic flame, and timeline of the Games, sets the tone.
But why is the Olympic capital here, in a small Swiss city far from any major sports arena? The answer lies with one man: Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the French educator and historian who founded the modern Olympic Games. When Coubertin established the International Olympic Committee in 1894, he chose Lausanne as its headquarters, attracted by Switzerland's political neutrality, its central European location, and its tradition of hosting international organisations. The IOC has been based in Lausanne ever since, and today it occupies a striking headquarters building, Olympic House, designed by the Danish architecture firm 3XN and completed in 2019.
Inside the museum, the permanent exhibitions are organised around three themes: the Olympic World, the Olympic Games, and the Olympic Spirit. You will find thousands of objects, from Jesse Owens' running shoes to Nadia Comaneci's leotard, from ancient Greek athletic equipment to cutting-edge modern technology. The multimedia displays are outstanding, and the film archive allows you to relive the most memorable moments in Olympic history.
The gardens outside contain works by artists including Botero and Calder, and the view from the terrace, with the lake and the Savoy Alps in the background, is glorious.
From the museum, continue east along the lakefront, or retrace your steps west along the promenade.
Stop 7: Parc du Denantou and the Lakefront Gardens
Walk east from the Olympic Museum along the lakefront path.
The lakefront promenade east of the Olympic Museum is one of the most pleasant walks in Lausanne. You pass through the Parc du Denantou, a quiet garden with mature trees, playground areas, and views across the water to the French town of Evian-les-Bains on the far shore.
Lake Geneva, or Lac Léman as it is known in French, has been the defining feature of this region for millennia. It is the largest lake in Western Europe by surface area, covering 580 square kilometres, and it is shared between Switzerland and France. Its crescent shape, deep blue colour, and mountain-framed setting have inspired artists and writers for centuries. Lord Byron set his poem The Prisoner of Chillon on the lake's eastern shore. Mary Shelley conceived Frankenstein during a stormy summer at the Villa Diodati above the lake in 1816. And countless painters, from Turner to Hodler, have attempted to capture the quality of light on its surface.
The Belle Epoque steamers of the Compagnie Générale de Navigation operate a network of routes across the lake, and a cruise from Lausanne-Ouchy is a wonderful way to spend an afternoon. The paddle steamer La Suisse, built in 1910, is one of the finest historic vessels on European inland waters.
Enjoy the lakefront, breathe the fresh air off the water, and soak in this view that has enchanted visitors for generations.
Stop 8: Collection de l'Art Brut
From Ouchy, take bus number 2 or walk uphill to Avenue des Bergières 11. The museum is in the Château de Beaulieu.
Our final stop is one of Lausanne's most extraordinary museums, the Collection de l'Art Brut. Housed in the eighteenth-century Château de Beaulieu, this museum holds the world's foremost collection of outsider art, works created by self-taught artists, many of them psychiatric patients, prisoners, or social outcasts, who worked outside the mainstream art world.
The collection was assembled by the French artist Jean Dubuffet, who coined the term Art Brut, or Raw Art, in the 1940s. Dubuffet was fascinated by art created outside the cultural mainstream, art that was uninfluenced by academic training or commercial considerations. He assembled a vast collection of works and, after years of searching for a permanent home, donated it to the city of Lausanne in 1971.
The museum's collection now includes over 70,000 works by more than 1,000 artists. The pieces are startling, moving, and frequently astonishing in their inventiveness and intensity. These are works created from an inner compulsion, without regard for audience or market, and their raw power is unlike anything you will encounter in a conventional museum.
The Collection de l'Art Brut is a fitting final stop on a tour of Lausanne, a city that has always had room for unconventional ideas and individuals.
Closing Narration
Our walking tour of Lausanne has taken you from the medieval heights of the cathedral to the lakefront elegance of Ouchy, from a thirteenth-century Fountain of Justice to a twenty-first-century Olympic Museum. You have climbed and descended through a city of extraordinary topographic drama and cultural richness.
Lausanne is a city best explored at a wandering pace. Return to the cathedral to hear the night watchman call the hours. Ride the metro between the hilltop and the lake. Sit in a cafe in the Flon district and watch the world go by. Take a steamboat across the lake to France. And come back to the Collection de l'Art Brut, because one visit is never enough.
Thank you for joining this ch.tours walking tour of Lausanne. We look forward to guiding you through more of Switzerland's remarkable cities.