Gruyeres tourist information & hotel reservations.

We warmly welcome you to visit Gruyeres and wish you a wonderful vacation.

Gruyeres is situated only 6 kilometers south of Bulle, 64 kilometers south-west of Bern and 43 kilometers east of Palézieux. It is a small town popular with its cheese and castle. Visiting it is a must for the ones taking the “cheese route” all over Switzerland. From there you can also start exploring the Gruyère region.
Gruyères is located in the Fribourg canton and the atmosphere in it resembles greatly the one from the Middle Ages. There are ramparts around the town, dating back to the 12th century. The counts of Gruyères used to live in the castle from the 12th to the 16th century and their crest with a crane is still used in the town.
Cars are not allowed in the village from April to November and on every Sunday throughout the whole year. You should park outside the gates and can explore everything on foot.

Just at the entrance of the town, on a hill near the train station, you can see Fromagerie de Démonstration – a dairy operated by the Swiss Cheese Union. The dairy is used for demonstrations and in it you can see the production of the famous Gruyère cheese – a more piquant version of the Emmenthaler. There is also an audiovisual show which shows the whole production process. The dairy is open every day but you’d better visit between 10 and 11 or 2 and 3 p.m. when the cheese is made.
The traditional lunch in Gruyeres includes raclette. On your table they place a machine which will allow you to melt and scrape the cheese yourself, at your own pace. You can even eat the rind which some people consider the finest part of the raclette. Sometimes the lunch finishes with a bowl of raspberry cream.
Along a cobblestone road you can reach Château Gruyères and you will pass by the house of the popular court jester Chalamala. Most parts of the castle itself date from the 15th century and today it is owned by the canton. In 1848 it belonged to the Bovy family of Geneva who placed most of the decorations. In the castle also lived a number of famous artists. There are many valuable art objects in the chateau including 3 mourning copes from the Order of the Golden Fleece. The castle is open for public visits every day.

Gruyeres Transportation

You can take a train from Lausanne or Zurich and transfer at Palézieux in order to reach Gruyeres. From Zurich to Gruyeres the trip takes about 4 hours and a half and from Palézieux – an hour.
There seven daily buses which connect Gruyères with the transport junction of Bulle – 10 minutes away from Gruyeres by car. From there you can take a bus to Fribourg or a train to other parts of the country.
By car you can reach the town from Bern by following N12 in southwest direction and turning southeast to Bulle.

Visitor Information

The Tourist Office is located in the centre of the village and is open daily. There aren’t street names as the place is pretty small.

For flights, trains and car-rental reservations as well as for buses, coaches and taxi ski transfers refer to the general Switzerland Transportation page!