Fun things to do in Lausanne

historically interesting town, ideal to explore on foot. plenty to see and do. hotels and restaurants excellent. geneva is worth a visit , it is not far by road or train.

it is useful to be able speak french or austrian or italian or german as well as english if you want to talk to other people, including the local people and other tourists. just because there is a macdonalds fast food restaurant, please dont expect them to understand english!!

Yes were the fancy water is from!

There are about 28 boats a day going over there. It takes only 35 minutes and is quite scenic. Evian is pittoresque and worth a trip. Specially to go over there for lunch.

With small kids a great outdoor pool! There is heaps of different pools for the little ones and a playground and lots of slides. Restaurant, Snack bar, 50 meter pool lots of shade and free parking.

Entrance for adults 5 CHF
For the big slides you will have to pay extra

The Lavaux landscape was formed during the last ice age (13,000 years BC). The moraines left by the Rhone glaciers carved out the steep hills, which were subsequently covered by vegetation.

The sharp drop of the hillsides (from 15 to 100%) made the terrain unsuitable for agriculture. Nevertheless, from the XIIth century, following the gift given by the King of Burgundy to the Bishop of Lausanne, several convents began to clear the hills and cultivate vineyards. It was the start of the winegrowing era…They went on to build walls and create a system of terraces in order to support and flatten the terrain.

Then, the orders (monks and nuns) delegated this cultivation to lay people, who maintained the plants and walls. Thus, some of today’s winegrowers are direct descendants of the first winegrowers, perpetuating their love of the vineyards for over 17 generations.

On 28 June 2007, Lavaux was officially registered as one of the UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites. Fashioned over the ages by man’s cultivation, this landscape is composed of terraced vineyards and typical villages, which have enabled Lavaux to be considered as a site of universal interest.

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[…] Musee cantonal des Beaux-Arts – Cantonal Museum of Fine Arts posses a collection of Swiss, French and Italian art from the Middle Ages to the present day. At the time of our visit, the museum presented the exhibition Eclairages. Regards sur les collections du Musee, featuring the works of several artists, among them Caroline Bachmann & Stefan Banz, Ilona Ruegg, Robert Ireland, USA born artist who lives and works in Lausanne…

Musee cantonal de geologie – Cantonal Museum of Geology was established in 1818 as the Cantonal Museum, "following public donations to acquire the mineral collection of Henri Struve. In 1874 the Cantonal Museum was reorganized thematically and the Museum of Geology installed itself in the former bishop's palace (present day Musee historique de Lausanne – Lausanne Historical Museum). The creation of the Museum encouraged those who were passionate about science to donate their collections. This is how such illustrious figures from the canton as Jean de Charpentier, director of the Bex salt mines and the patriotic vaudois, Frederic-Cesar de la Harpe, former private tutor to Tsar Alexander I, came to donate their impressive collections of minerals to the Museum. From 1850 onwards, Philippe de la Harpe, Eugene Renevier and later, Maurice Lugeon began to assemble the first paleontological collection and above all the great collection of regional geology […]." One of the most interesting parts of the museum is the dark room with fluorescent minerals.

Musee cantonal de zoologie – Cantonal Museum of Zoology displays a large collection of extinct animals from the region and other areas. Among the most astonishing is one of the largest white sharks to have ever been caught. In 1999 "the father of cryptozoology" Bernard Heuvelmans donated over 50,000 documents, photos, and specimens to the museum which made the Criptozoology Department of the Cantonal Museum of Zoology in Lausanne unique in the world.

Musee cantonal d'archeologie et d'historie – Cantonal Museum of Archeology and History was established in 1852. Its permanent exhibition was redesigned and modernized in 1997. It retraces the most ancient history of the canton of Vaud from the end of the Paleolithic times to the Neolithic era (12,000 – 2200 BC), displaying several small-scale model, slide shows and life-size reconstructions, presented in an innovative way, then continues with the Bronze Age (2200 – 800 BC), Iron Age (800 – 20 BC), the time of the Celts and Helvetians during the Roman era (20 BC – 450 AD), Middle Ages (450 – 800) and develop the villages, cities and religious monuments… and ends with modern era and predictions for the future.

Musee monetaire cantonal – Cantonal Money Museum is one of the richest museums of such type in Switzerland. Occupying tiny, beautifully designed space, it is heaven on earth for those interested in numismatics.

Museums in Palace Rumine offer very entertaining day for those interested in the subjects they are devoted to. They are very suitable for children.

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The most attractive part of Flon district certainly is the square called Esplanade du Flon with superb architectural achievement – Miroiterie building, designed by architects Brauen & Walchli. Miroiterie was opened in 2007. Its triangular cushions facade illuminated from the inside during night time is, as far as we heard, either highly admired or considered to be gross. We do think it is beautiful.

The huge nightclub Mad, opened in 1980, is at the same square (we have not been in it, but we still ask ourselves why, we will next time, for sure!).

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It was very hard for us to imagine that Flon, modern and greatly designed district of Lausanne, was considered to be a bad area of the city until the early 1990s. Flon, located between two bridges – Pont Chauderon and Grand-Pont, Rue de Geneve and Montbenon, was named after the river Flon, now running underground, once flowed in this area.

This ancient valley, during its history was wooded, latter covered with vineyards, and, to quote Wikipedia article: in "early industrial development in the 19th century saw new mills, tanneries and other fullers […], accompanied by a bad reputation due to the activity of leather work, which brought unpleasant smells, forcing Lausanne inhabitants to avoid the place". During the 19th century the valley was filled by the soil extracted when the first Swiss funicular was drilled, in 1877, connecting Ouchy with the Flon. Then warehouses were built to harbour the goods which came by boat from Ouchy.

In the late 20th century Flon developed into modern area with cafes, cinemas, art galleries…

During the our time in Lausanne, Flon was the venue of the open-air exhibition celebrating sport and announcing 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic Games. Among the most appealing was "Over the hurdles", artwork of Zhang Zhiyu, honouring the achievement of Chinese 110 metre hurdler Liu Xiang – Olympic Gold medal won in 2004, in Athens.

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Described on excellent Wikitravel Lausanne article as "a world-class photography museum", Musee de l'Elysee was among our must-sees in Lausanne. Greatly designed museum interior and two exhibitions – one displaying the old photos from the museum collection, and the other, temporary exhibition of present-day photography called Teen City, fulfilled our expectations.

The following is the copy-pasted and shortened text from the very good and informative web page of the museum, regarding the history of the museum building as well as the institution of the museum: "Musee de l'Elysee is housed in what was once an elegant mansion in the area known as the Little Ouchy. It was designed by the architect Abraham Fraisse and built between 1780 and 1783 for Henri de Mollins (1729 – 1811), a Swiss officer serving the Dutch Royal family and a Major of the regiment stationed in Lausanne. […] The building was named L'Elysee in 1834. With its splendid park, it stands on an exceptional site overlooking the lake. […] In 1971, the building was bought by the state. It was completely restored and in part equipped as a museum. Between 1980 and 1985, it housed the Canton of Vaud's Collection of Prints, later transferred to Vevey following the foundation of the Musee de l'Elysee, as a museum for photography, by Charles-Henri Favrod in October 1985. The wealth of its collection and the various loans deposited in the museum provide a comprehensive picture of the historical and aesthetic development of photography from the first images in the1840's to the digital photography of today. Over a period of 15 years, the museum has held some 350 exhibitions and has organized more than 100 elsewhere, developing progressively into an internationally renowned institution. […]"