IAESTE Gruyère Weekend
July 25-26, 2009

Maybe you know the famous Swiss cheese called "gruyère"... But do you know that this name come from a medieval village in the canton of Fribourg?!?

The medieval town of Gruyeres and its famous castle

The historical town of Gruyères stands on top of an isolated hill, in the foothills of an impressive mount, the Moléson. All around are green fields, mountains and cows...This fairytale landscape is a paradise for hikers or cyclists. And for the more curious, this traditional place is hiding some secrets about Swiss recipes: chocolate and cheese !

IAESTE LC Lausanne invites you to experience all of this !!

View from Plan-Francey, where we'll eat teh fondue and spend the night

Program

The week-end will bring you first to the Chocolate factory, where you will taste different kinds of chocolate, mmh! Then we'll enjoy a quiet walk along the river Sarine to reach Gruyères. After some sightseeing in the medieval town and castle, you'll experiment another Swiss thing: hiking ! And to recover, a good fondue (and a bed) will be waiting for you up there. On Sunday we'll continue hiking to reach the top of the Moléson - amazing view ! And to finish the week end properly, we'll go to the 17th Century Cheese dairy to see a demonstration of fabrication...  

Saturday, July 25

  • Chocolate factory Cailler: visit and tasting
  • Walk along the Sarine and discover the "Pont qui branle"
  • Visit the medieval town of Gruyères and its castle
  • Walk ~1h30 up to Plan-Francey, at 1500m
  • Taste a fondue and sleep there
Traditionnal way of making cheese

Sunday, July 26

  • Breakfast to have enough energy for the active day
  • Walk up the Moléson (~2h), amazing view on the top !!
  • Sandwiches on the top
  • Go down by cable car
  • Demonstration of cheese fabrication in the old cheese dairy
  • Try the "summer-sledging" in Moléson village
  • Alternative for very bad weather: visit of Fribourg
Bob-luge

Participation fees

  • With SBB General Abonnement (GA): 60 CHF
  • With SBB half-fare (1/2) : 60 CHF
  • Without SBB half-fare (1/2): 65 CHF

If you do not yet have a SBB half-fare card, we recommend you buying one! Check the SBB website!

A surcharge of 35 CHF will apply for participants who are not affiliated with IAESTE or its partner organisations.

The money will be collected at the start of the weekend . Only cash is accepted! :-)

Included in the participation fee

  • Visit and tasting at the chocolate factory
  • Entrance at the castle
  • Transport by bus from Gruyères to Moléson
  • Fondue on Saturday evening
  • Lodging with breakfast
  • Lunch (sandwich) on Sunday
  • Cable car down the Moléson
  • Demonstration at the cheese dairy
  • One ride down with the summer-sledge
Not included in the fees:
  • Train ride from your place to Broc-Fabrique and back from Moléson
  • Lunch on Saturday

Cancellation Policy

If you cancel your registration
  • less than 12 hours before the start of the event (that is, 09:45 PM, Friday 24 July), you pay the entire participation fee
  • 12-24 hours before the start of the event, you pay 75% of the participation fee
  • 24-48 hours before the start of the event, you pay 50% of the participation fee
  • 48-72 hours before the start of the event, you pay 25% of the participation fee

Checklist - Remember to Bring

  • Cash for paying the participation fee
  • Lunch for Saturday
  • Student card if you have one
  • Clothes depending on the weather (it can be windy on the top so think about taking a rain jacket or something similar)
  • Sunglasses, sun cream and helmet
  • Hiking shoes: we are walking up the mountain so you'll be more comfortable with good shoes!
  • Lots of energy and your best smile!

Take only a backpack with you, as we are going to walk from one place to the other, you'll have to carry it all along...

The place where we're spleeping offer mattress cloth, pillow and wool covers, so you don't need to take your spleeping bag with you .

For the ones you really don't want to walk up on Saturday evening or Sunday morning, you can take the cable car, but you'll have to pay it yourself (5.- each with SBB half-fare 1/2.

Please Note

  • Important remarks about hiking: We will climb up until 2000m. The path is secured, but you'll be walking on a mountain path. During the hike, and for sure from the top too ;-) , you get an amazing view over the Gruyère area. The way up lasts about 1:30 hour on Saturday and 2 hours on Sunday. WARNING : This activity is reserved to fit people, who have no vertigo! You HAVE TO wear good hiking shoes (no sports shoes). Take with you: enough water (at least 1l.), sun cream and sun glasses, ... and your camera!!! No prior knowledge or special equipment is required. Please note that the hiking trip is only going to take place in case of good weather conditions, otherwise we'll visit Fribourg. We will also limit the maximum number of participants on the hike on a first-come-first-served basis.
  • Insurance: IAESTE Switzerland is not responsible for any damage or accident! IAESTE Switzerland and IAESTE Local Committees Zurich, Basel and Lausanne do not provide any kind of insurance coverage for the sport activities like hiking. Participating on the weekend means participating at one's own risk. Make sure that you are well insured (medical, accidental & liability insurance!)

Meeting point and train connections

  • Meeting point for all participants: Bulle station, meeting point, at 09:45. We'll take the train together from Bulle to Broc-Fabrique, but take directly your ticket until Broc-Fabrique!

From Basel

from basel

From Zurich

from zurich

From Lausanne

from Lausanne

To Basel

to Basel

To Zurich

to Zurich

To Lausanne

to Lausanne

 

For further information on train connections, check the SBB website.

Registration

The maximum number of participants allowed for this event is 20 (including organizers and helpers) and the registration is on a first-come, first-served basis. If your registration is not among the first 20, it will be put on the waiting list.

The online registration closed on Monday, 20 July 2009, at 18:00:00.

Check out the list of participants for this event.

Contact

If you have any questions, write to Show e-mail address.