Fit for a poet: a swimmer’s guide to Lausanne

Jo Tinsley hops on the train to Lausanne, Switzerland, to explore its lakeside beaches and open-air pools

Lausanne has long held a strong connection to water thanks, in part, to British poet (and heroic Hellespont swimmer) Lord Byron who retreated to Switzerland in 1816 in the wake of a scandalous separation from his wife. It was here that Byron met up with fellow Romantics Percy Shelley and Mary Godwin (the future Mrs Shelley, who began writing Frankenstein here) for what would become an exceptionally creative summer.

The group stayed at a guesthouse in Ouchy, Lausanne’s Old Port, and rented summer houses in Cologny, near Geneva, spending their time boating, swimming and touring the Alps. In the years that followed, Byron fans, including French writer Victor Hugo, made pilgrimages to Lake Geneva and ‘Byron stayed here’ plaques began to appear on buildings around the city. Lausanne was firmly placed on the tourist trail.

Today the city’s connection with the water remains, with an array of treasured beaches, open-air pools and art installations exploring peoples’ relationships with water in the city.

Travelling overland to Lausanne, as Byron would have done some 200 years ago, is remarkably easy. You can take the train from London St Pancras International to Lausanne in as little as seven hours, six minutes, although it often takes a little longer with a change in Paris. What’s more, once you get there, public transport is free for all hotel guests with the Lausanne Transport Card providing easy access to buses, metros and trains, not just within the city but into the vineyards surrounding it. In short, it’s the ideal place for no-fly swimming city break.

The Swiss Riviera

At 45 miles long and nearly nine miles wide, Lake Geneva (Lac Léman in French), the croissant shaped lake straddling the border between Switzerland and France, is Switzerland’s largest and deepest body of water. On the French side, above the spa town of Évian-les-Bains, the Chablais Alps tower 2,000m high over the mineral rich waters while 800 hectares of terraced UNESCO-listed vineyards score the steep hillsides on its north eastern shores above a string of pretty winegrower’s villages.

The sheer quantity of water creates a microclimate where palms and agaves grow beside quaint pebble beaches, off which locals swim year-round in waters ranging from 24 degrees Celsius in the summer to 1 degree in winter. To reach its many plages, ferries and Belle Epoque paddle steamers criss-cross the water, docking at over 30 harbours, while on-time trains can transport you to anywhere on the lake’s shore within an hour. And at the heart of it all, perched on the lake’s northern shore, is Lausanne: a compact and charming city built on three hills, with a thriving gastronomic scene and lively café culture, that’s known as Switzerland’s San Francisco for good reason.

Vidy beach

Waking early on my first morning in Lausanne, I take the bus to Théâtre de Vidy and stroll across leafy lawns to a series of small sheltered coves between rocky piers. A popular spot on hot days, today I find the beaches deserted and I swim laps in the cool water as cormorants dive for fish just beyond the buoys.

The cove is backed by floating yellow planters, marking out a ‘pool’ in the lake. This ‘Nautical Garden’ is one of around 40 temporary art installations dotted around the city exploring peoples’ connection with water. There’s also ‘Olympic Baths’, a 50m pool marked out with lanes stretched between floating pontoons; ‘The Baths of Atlantis’, a submerged multi-coloured platform with steps into the water to remember the historic Bains Rochat, which closed in 1897; and ‘The Augmented River’, a 400m riverside walk where the characteristics of the river bed are amplified by sensory devices such as a giant mist shower.

Bellerive-plage

After my first dip, I throw a pair of shorts over my costume and walk the short distance to Bellerive-Plage, a 1930s concrete pool complex with an Olympic swimming pool, enormous leisure pool, splash pads, lawns and beach. The 10m-high diving board is packed with whooping boys egging each other on to jump, while giggling groups of teenagers take turns to dive into the Olympic pool or idle on the lawns.

An attraction that welcomes up to 8,000 people on a hot summer’s day, there’s still plenty of space to swim among the lively atmosphere. After a while of lane swimming and lazing around under various water spouts and massage taps, I amble over to the lakeshore, where a lifeguard is watching a sole swimmer in a wide marked-out bay. It’s not even 11am and time for my third dip of the day.

Exploring Lausanne

I spend the rest of the day exploring the city on foot, starting with lunch at the Café de Grancy, a neighbourhood bistro with sink-in armchairs, battered books and board games, followed by dessert at The Sweet Sage, a pastry house and tea room serving elaborate pastries paired with bespoke herbal tea infusions. I take in a Surrealist exhibition at Plateforme 10, Lausanne’s new arts quarter overlooking the railway lines, before bracing myself to explore the upper reaches of the city.

I climb the Escaliers du Marches, steep covered steps that run between Place de la Palud and the city’s cathedral, as locals play cards and drink beers outside the nearby cafés. At the top of the steps is the impressive gothic cathedral, which is almost permanently clad in scaffolding as the soft sandstone erodes in the rain. After an afternoon of climbing steep cobbled streets, it begins to make sense why people say Lausanners have the best legs in Switzerland.

That evening, I take a bus back to Vidy to friendly lakeside eatery La Vaudaire, which has a colourful interior with frescoes of old fishing boats and illustrated perch tails hanging from the ceiling. Aside from a tempting array of cocktails (try the Swiss Negroni!), the speciality, I’m told, is filets de perches, a platter of tender white fish served with salted fries, which tastes delicious.

La Plateforme

The next morning, I hop on the metro to the last stop at Ouchy, Lausanne’s Old Port, where a short walk brings me to a new swimming pontoon, known locally as ‘la plateforme’, which allows you to swim directly in the port in a 2,000m2 reserved bathing area. Metal steps lead down into deep blue-green water, where shoals of slender silver fish flit several metres below. The new bathing area is open in all weathers, meaning the hardiest of swimmers can now enjoy the lake safely year round.

The three suns

The Lausanne Transport Card doesn’t just include travel within the city; you can also journey east along the lake shore as far as Epesses, stopping to explore several small villages along the way. I catch a train to Cully then walk along the lake shore to Epesses, stopping to swim when I reach a copse of shady trees with stone steps leading into the water. Groups of friends are sunbathing on the sun-warmed rocks and I swim out to a floating platform to take it all in.

Stretching for around 30km along the south-facing shores of Lake Geneva, the UNESCO-listed Lavaux vineyard terraces score the steep slopes, dotted with bijou wineries and charming half-timbered pintes (cafe-bistros). The vines, which have been growing here since the 11th century, thrive on the limestone and clay soils as well as ‘The Three Suns’ effect – whereby the sun, the reflection on the lake and the warmth that resonates from the stones ripen the grapes equally on all sides.

The terraces are criss-crossed with waymarked trails, including a 32km path that leads from Lausanne-Ouchy to Chillon Castle. But today I’m taking a short but steep walk to Auberge du Vigneron, where I tuck into a delicious meal of lamb served with olives and polenta on a terrace overlooking the lake.

Later, a short walk brings me to the home of winemaker Blaise Duboux, who brushes leaves off his garden table and invites me to sit and try his wines, which his family have been tending for 17 generations. The Lavaux vineyards produce a grape called Chasselas, an historic variety that makes a white wine that’s light, crisp and easy to drink, ideal for hot summer days. An organic wine-maker, Blaise works by hand on the sunbaked slopes. If you haven’t tried Swiss wine yet, it’s because Switzerland only exports 1.2 per cent of the wine it produces – “because we drink it”, says Blaise, smiling.

While a weekend trip to Lausanne gives ample time to swim and explore, I feel like I’ve only just dipped my toe in what’s on offer here. Past Vidy, there are even more beaches to explore from tiny coves in the shade of a few trees to long stretches of sand. Then there’s Lutry beach with its diving board and lawns, where locals gather for evening barbecues. And, of course, the countless open-air pools. On the train home, I’m already making plans to return.

Plan your trip to Lausanne

Plan your trip to Lausanne by visiting Lausanne Tourisme or following @thelausanner on Instagram. A stay at Hôtel de la Paix starts from 175CHF (£152) per night in a double room. All guests staying at a hotel in the city get a Lausanne Transport Card, which provides free public transport on the bus, Metro and train. The Lausanne Gardens runs until mid-October 2024.

Join a Lake Geneva Relay

Take on the ultimate endurance test with SwimTayka’s Lake Geneva Relay Challenge. Swim 70 kilometres from the iconic Chillon Castle to Bains des Pâquis in Geneva. Twice the length of the English Channel, this is one of the world’s toughest open water swims. Immerse yourself in pristine Alpine waters and make a lasting impact.