Where are the Rapaljes?: Lavaux Vineyards, Switzerland: A Travel Recommendation

I read about Switzerland's Lavaux Vineyards in National Geographic Travel ... saw pictures.. and HAD to go. What a choice. The whole trip for us (minus the GPS) was good luck after more good luck. I found a last minute studio/B&B to rent which was in an awesome location and MUCHHHH cheaper than all the hotels we looked at. The studio turned out to be much more than we imagined. On top of that, it was originally supposed to rain Friday and Sunday. The weather turned out or as A likes to say, it blew over. We had perfect sun, few clouds, and 26C, a perfect weekend to bike. On our first night there we found an awesomeeeeee typical Swiss restaurant and had an AMAZING meal (pictures of that to come later!). Best of all, our car window was NOT busted in - woo!

Friday night, we arrived later. So we checked into the studio, went out for an awesome dinner (cheese, bread, quiche, fish with hollandaise sauce, fish with bernaise sauce), hung out, talked, drank local wine, and then went back to the studio for some US Open action on TV. Sounds boring, but it was quite fab. Saturday morning we got up and sat on our awesome private terrace drinking coffee, supplied by our studio (they had this bad.ass coffee maker... and now we want one!). The area was so peaceful and the view was just unbeatable. Alps in front. Alps behind. Perfection. We took our bikes to Chatea de Chillon and started biking from there. Every town, country, state, EVERYWHERE, should have such a bike path (Germany does as well - what is America doing?!). Anyhoo, we biked through all the linking towns, stopping to take pictures, to eat lunch, to have a drink, to get a pastry at a bakery, walk through the vineyards, asking about wine tasting, etc. We biked around 6 or 7 hours, but this is LEISURELY biking (Bike.. eat...drink = Europe!). All in all, we only biked about 20 miles. Following our bike ride, we headed back to the studio, got ready for dinner, and went out again. Our meal wasn't nearly as extravagant because we had appetizers at the studio - local cheese with a freshly baked (still warm) baguette. Yes, we spoiled our dinner. But man, the cheese there is just to die for - TOTALLY worth it! We went out to a restaurant anyways, had some more local wine and an appetizer. Again, nothing crazy exciting (this is small town Switzerland!), but EXTREMELY enjoyable night, followed by more US Open. Sunday we got up, same great view, same great coffee, same great silence. We headed toward an area of the Lake that we hadn't made it to the day before - Lausanne. Same story - great views, great weather. We biked around, took some pictures, ate some lunch, walked through the farmer's market, etc. We left a little earlier in the afternoon BECAUSE we wanted to head to La Gruyère, Switzerland - home of the infamous and absolutely deliciousssss cheeeesssseeee (pics & info to come!).

We liked the area so very much that we are thinking about going back in August for the Jazz Festival... We'll see. Either way, this area is a MUST SEE! Perfect place for my favorite kind of weekend getaway - on a bike!