Gruyères: A Medieval Village, a Castle, and the Cheese That Named It

The old town is closed to cars, which is much of its charm. You enter through a gate at the bottom and walk up a gently curving cobbled street lined with fifteenth and sixteenth century houses, most now cafés and artisan shops, to the Château de Gruyères at the top. The castle has stood for around eight hundred years and its ramparts give a wide view over the pre-Alpine hills toward the Moléson.

It takes only a few minutes to walk the length of the town, so there is no rush. The pleasure is in stopping: a coffee on a terrace, a look into a workshop, the quiet once the day-trip coaches have moved on in the late afternoon.

At the foot of the hill, La Maison du Gruyère is a working dairy where you can watch the wheels of Gruyère AOP being made and aged, usually several times a day. The cheese has been produced in this valley since at least the twelfth century, and the demonstration makes clear how little the essentials have changed: milk from cows grazing alpine grass, a copper vat, and a great deal of patience.

The natural pairing is a fondue moitié-moitié in one of the village restaurants, made half with Gruyère and half with the neighbouring Vacherin Fribourgeois. For a sweeter note, the region is also known for its double cream, served with meringues and local strawberries.

Gruyères pairs naturally with two nearby stops. A few minutes away, the town of Broc is home to a historic chocolate factory, making it easy to build a single day around the two things Switzerland is most associated with. And for walkers, the cable car up the Moléson opens a wide panorama over the whole region.

Because the village itself is car-free and parking sits below the walls, arriving with a private chauffeur removes the one small friction of the day. You are dropped at the gate, and the drive through the Fribourg countryside, some of the prettiest rolling pastureland in the country, becomes part of the outing rather than a detour.