The Swiss flag stretched as a summer sunshade over the Place de la Palud in front of the Hotel de Ville in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Though I’ve lived in Lausanne for several years now, I still feel like I’m exploring and discovering it.

Because I still have so much to see and to do, I’ve delayed developing this article. Will there ever be a time when I feel I’ve done it all, though? Nope. And I do at least feel I’ve done and seen enough to have a few favorites and a few go-to handy recommendations.

Shopping

While Lausanne has all the European chain stores you can imagine (or most of them), it does have a few areas of town where you can find city-specific treats and gifts:

For gallery visits and boutiques galore, go to the neighborhood called “Flon,” where the two alleys along the edges have the best and most creative options. The interior alleys have bigger stores—and restaurants, bars, and nightclubs for after your shopping trip.
Along Avenue de Grancy just below the train station (the top of an area called “Sous Gare”) you’ll find a few little local boutiques and shops worth a visit for clothes, cards, and gifts.
Need an over-the-top, Swissness-on-overdrive souvenir or gift from Switzerland? The tiny little Ouchy Bazar is your place. You’ll have your options from the elegant to the unapologetically kitsch.

How do you find these neighborhoods if you don’t know the town? Use the maps applications on your phone, ask almost anyone anywhere, or visit one of the Lausanne tourist offices throughout town for a paper map or two.

Food Shopping

Do you have a place where you can cook or do you want fresh foods in your hotel room for snacking?

Here are a few of my favorite options:

The Bread Store has the best bread I’ve found in Lausanne, all raised from a starter (not from chemical leaveners). The classic baguette is your best bet for the straightforward, but don’t hesitate to try some of the more creative concoctions. I haven’t found one I don’t love.
Globus, the Swiss department store in the center of town, has a food market on its ground floor that has prepared meals and snacks (see below for more details) and luxury grocery items that span from fresh fruits and vegetables, to meats and seafood, to cheeses and desserts—and on through to jams and jellies and crackers and cookies.
Wednesday and Saturday mornings (until around noon or 1 p.m.) in the center of town starting from Place St. François and running up to Riponne, you’ll find merchants with stands selling all sorts of fresh foods and snacks, from fruits and vegetables to honeys and cheeses and even hot and cold snacks.
Desserts to take away or to eat in the tearoom are the reason to stop at Moutalier in the center of town in the Place de la Palud in the same stretch of buildings with the city’s town hall. My favorites lean away from their chocolates (for my chocolate favorites, read one bullet down), toward their jewel-like cakes and tarts in individual or dinner-party proportions.
Lausanne will spoil you with choice when it comes to artisan chocolatiers. Everyone has a favorite, and I have a few—go to the one closest to you during your stay or visit them all (just remember that, in the heat of summer, you need to eat them fast or get them back into a cool spot quickly after your purchase): Blondel, La Chocolatière, L’Espace Chocolat, Noz.

Prepared Meals and Snacks

I don’t always want to go to a full restaurant when I have limited time in a place or between activities. Having a few options for ready-to-eat meals and snacks helps avoid the hangries—and helps ensure I don’t get stuck eating junk food.

Here are my favorites:

The food market at the Globus department store (mentioned above for food shopping) has tables and seating where you can eat the numerous cold and room temperature options for meals and snacks (including sushi!) available for purchase at their different kiosks across the store.
Green Gorilla in the center of town offers coffee and tea and tables for seating, along with a few refrigerators filled daily with different healthy food options, including salads, wraps, and parfaits in vegetarian and vegan options and with tuna and salmon.
The food market on the ground floor at the Manor department store is more of a grocery store with prepared foods that you can buy and take away than it is a place to sit and eat, as it has no tables. However, you’ll find benches throughout Lausanne to enjoy what you find—and you can always take your purchased back to your place of stay, of course.

Sit-Down Restaurants

Lausanne has a lot of assets—though it isn’t what I’d call a restaurant-focused town.

However, because I’m still in discovery mode and continually trying new options, I’m adding to and modifying my favorite-restaurants list all the time. Toward that end, I’ve created a separate post with options for people seeking restaurants in Lausanne.

You’ll find in reading it that I’ve tried to mainly focus on restaurant options that meet needs from the casual and easy—though still sit-down—through to the slightly more elegant.

So far, I confess, the elegant restaurants I’ve tried haven’t yet wowed me when it comes to the quality of the cuisine in the context of its cost. But keep an eye on that post—that could change!

Museums and Sites

Lausanne has far too many fabulous museums for me to do all the options justice without making this post far longer than you’d like. Therefore, if you’re a museum fan (like me) and want to check out your options, read my article about my favorite museums in Lausanne.

I promise the cathedral—even lit for the night—doesn’t normally look like this. Here you can sort of see me in front of the cathedral doors, which the city decorates in vibrant lighting every night during the December holidays as part of an art installation across the city.

As for sites in and around Lausanne to recommend, I’ve made it a point to wander as much as possible to see all the top-listed options (and many not on the lists) for tourists. To set some parameters for this post—because you can find many options for things to see and to do only a short train or car ride outside of town—I’ve decided to keep my list of recommendations to options within walking distance of the center of the city or that you can reach via in-town public transportation options:

For a great walk to get a feel for Lausanne, I recommend exiting the Lausanne train station, walking up the Rue du Petit-Chêne, crossing Place St. François, and continuing to the Place de la Palud. (Pause to watch and hear the mechanical clock currently above the pharmacy facing the fountain that features a statue representing justice, if it comes to life while you’re there). From the Place de la Palud, take a slight right around the building with the clock and then look almost immediately left to see the medieval Escaliers du Marche. Take them up to the gothic Lausanne cathedral and the incredible views over the town and Lake Geneva.
Either via the walk described in the first bullet or via public transportation, I recommend seeing the gothic cathedral crowning Lausanne. The exterior is impressive (the interior less so, though you can enter for free and it does feature a massive organ worth a gander if you go in) and the square next to the cathedral overlooking the town and the lake is a don’t-miss. If you go up there at night, the lights on the cathedral façade are beautiful (and romantic!), as is the town below lit up at night. Further, starting at 10 p.m., the cathedral has a night watchperson who comes out onto the bell tower every hour to announce the time.

The cathedral, the squares, and all the streets listed will show up on your phone’s map application, I promise.

Activities

Lausanne will regale you with theater, dance, and events throughout the year. For offerings during your stay in town, search the local listings available and regularly updated on-line. (More tips on where to look for temporary events while on travel anywhere, read my article with travel tips.)

Anytime of the year, though, you can find the following available to you during your visit:

Take a cruise on the lake (with or without a meal) via the boats and ferries CGN operates. You can take a cruise just to sight see or you can take a cruise to see the lake, the shorefront from the lake, and even to make your way over to another town or area (from which you can then boat, train, or even walk back to Lausanne).
Walk or bike (via the bike rentals available in several places) along the bike- and pedestrian-only paths stretching from the neighborhood of Ouchy toward the neighborhood of St. Sulpice (a shady and green route) or choose to head from Ouchy to the neighborhood or Pully or even Lutry, a little farther away (a sunnier route peppered with luxury lakefront properties). If you have enough time, you can do both routes!

Arnaud and I stand-up paddleboarding on Lake Geneva just down the shoreline a bit from Lausanne, Switzerland.

During the summer months only (alas!), you have a couple of additional possibilities for activities in Lausanne:

Along the lakefront in several locations, you can rent paddle boats, kayaks, and stand-up paddle boards to enjoy the sun and the water and the views from the lake back toward the mountains and the shoreline.
The company that offers boats and ferries throughout the year, CGN, offers special sightseeing cruises on Lake Geneva aboard restored Belle Epoque paddleboats in the summer months. You can rent a general-seating ticket, a ticket on the sundeck, or even a trip in the boat’s restaurant, where you can get a meal while looking out on the views.

My Lausanne Adventure Continues

This post will, without question, grow and change the longer I live in Lausanne.

If you know of any places I should try or things I should experience in Lausanne or the area, please share them. I’d love ideas!

What to See and Do in Lausanne, Switzerland