wz-test

The capital Geneva

The canton of Geneva has longer borders with prance than with Switzerland! 95% of its outlines are shared with the French departments of Ain and Haute-Savoie , the remaining 5% with the canton of Vaud.

Olympic City

Ballons Château-d'Oex

Every year, the International Balloon Festival is organized in this commune of the Vaud Pre-Alps.

Beautiful Lavaux wine region at Lake Geneva

Lavaux is a wine-growing region in the canton of Vaud (Switzerland), known for its terraced vineyards on the shores of Lake Geneva. On June 28, 2007, Lavaux entered the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Chillon Castle

Chillon Castle is located on the shores of Lake Geneva, in Veytaux in Switzerland. Oblong in shape, the castle measures 110 meters long and 50 meters wide, the keep rises to 25 meters. It is a major tourist attraction

ENTRY INTO CONFEDERATION

Vaud joined the Swiss Confederation as an independent canton in 1803.

Capital and largest city Lausanne

AREA: 3,211.94 km²

POPULATION (2019): 805,098

OFFICIAL LANGUAGE: French

Chocolate creators:

In the XIXᵉ century, the canton of Vaud has seen the birth of three great chocolate experts. François-Louis Cailler created the first modern Swiss chocolate factory. His daughter, Fanny-Louise, married another chocolate maker, Daniel Peter, who invented milk chocolate. As for Charles-Amédée Kohler, he is the inventor of hazelnut chocolate. Yummy!

The groundhog :

As early as spring, marmots run everywhere in the alpine meadows of the canton of Vaud, but also of all Switzerland. It only takes mountains to make them happy. At Rochers-de-Naye, it is possible to observe them closely throughout the summer. What luck!

A prestigious school :

Switzerland has two Federal Polytechnics, one in Zurich (EPFZ) and the other in … Lausanne (EPFL)! They are specialized in sciences such as architecture, physics, physics, chemistry or computer science. Their level of excellence is renowned around the world. In the canton of Vaud, students of nearly 120 nationalities study at EPFL!

The Lac de Joux in winter :

Every winter, an extraordinary phenomenon takes place in the Jura Mountains of Vaud. Lac de Joux is transformed into an ice rink! It is even the largest natural ice rink in Europe! . Some people take the opportunity to put on their ice skates and do pirouettes, while others prefer to walk on frozen water!

A Touch of History

In 1959, Vaud was the very first Swiss canton to allow women to vote! It was followed by Neuchâtel the same year. Five years later, he organized the Lausanne National Exhibition, which was the first of its kind since 1939 in Zurich. For this occasion, the first highway in Switzerland was built between Geneva and Lausanne!

The construction of the Centre hospitalier universitaire vaudois (CHUV) took from 1971 to 1982.

This enormous place treats patients and at the same time helps research to advance. The CHUV and the HUG (University Hospitals of Geneva) are the only university medical centers in French-speaking Switzerland.

The large chalet of Rossinière:

A huge house stands nobly in Rossinière. It is one of the most large wooden buildings of Europe: it has 113 windows and 60 rooms! Its construction required more than 200 spruces! It is named the Grand chalet de Rossinière. It is classified as “cultural property of national importance”!

The Olympic Museum:

In Lausanne, on the shores of Lake Geneva, there is a museum dedicated to sports. Inside, the entire history of the Olympic Games is told. The athletes follow the Latin motto chosen by Pierre de Coubertin, the creator of the modern Olympic Games: Citius, altius, fortius, which means “further, higher, stronger”!

The funicular became a metro:

In 1877, Lausanne inaugurated the first funicular in Switzerland, the Lausanne-Ouchy, which linked the port of Ouchy to Fion. In the 1950s, this funicular metamorphosed into a rack railway. And since 2008, a metro has replaced it all: the M2. It’s the smallest in the world! And it runs without a driver!

Lavaux

The canton of Vaud is a wine-producing region, the second largest in Switzerland after the Valais, with superb vineyard landscapes overlooking the lake in a place called Lavaux. The grapes ripen on terraces supported by stones. This incomparable place is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Vallorbe:

A good reason to go to the Jura-Nord district of Vaud? No, at least two! The municipality of Vallorbe has some of the most beautiful caves in Europe, with a natural cathedral! And its Juraparc offers a vast area of freedom to European wolves, American bison, brown bears, alpacas and deer.

Castles:

Two hundred. This is the number of castles that can be found in the canton of Vaud that counts the most in Switzerland (it is closely followed by the canton of Graubünden which has 126)! But only thirteen remain open to the public and are not in ruins. The most admired is that of Chillon. Located on a rocky island on the shores of Lake Geneva, it attracts tourists from all over the world.