We walked through the forest by the light of kerosene lanterns at an altitude of 1'400 meters. Magical experience!
For the first part of our Vevey experience we had booked to take the Golden Pass train from Vevey to Pléiades for the evening lantern-lit walk. We chose to take the earlier train and with Alba on Jeans back and Jude on foot without snow shoes (they didn’t have any child's sizes left for him), we opted to do the 20 minute version of the walk (there is also a 45 minute version).
We were greeted by the aroma of vin chaud and drank a cup each while we were getting our snow shoes fitted before heading off to follow the lanterns.
There weren’t many people doing this shorter walk so it was a really peaceful, magical experience. The moon was almost full and the snow glittering in the moonlight was really beautiful. It was a fairly easy path and Jude did a great job of keeping up with us - he really enjoyed the experience and didn’t complain once which pleasantly surprised us.
At the end of the walk, we stopped at the restaurant for our fondue which was included in the price of the tickets. It was a typical mountain style restaurant and very busy but relatively efficient and the fondue was good.
We finished about an hour before the return train left so we killed some time playing in the snow before heading back down the mountain. It was very cold by then so we were glad to get into the car which we had left at the station.
Tickets for the lantern walk include the train, snow shoes and meal. Reservation is mandatory for this experience and the walks are running every Saturday until 2nd March so there is still time to book.
A few pieces of advice…there is only one return train so if you are thinking of doing the smaller walk you might want to get the later outgoing train so you don’t have too much waiting around in the cold when we had finished the meal. The train from Blonay station is quicker and not much further by car from Vevey if you are planning to drive to a station.
The trip from Blonay on the train was 20-30 minutes whereas it was about hour from Vevey. It makes quite a difference at the end of the evening if you have sleepy children.
We spoke to some of the people organizing the walks and they told us that Pléades is a great place to ski and very friendly to learners so its worth bearing in mind if you are looking for somewhere to practice.
Information
Parking : Yes
Toilets : Yes (restaurant & train station)
Baby Change Facilities : Yes (restaurant only)
Accessibility : Not suitable for pushchairs - accessible to everyone with snowshoes or walking boots.
http://www.goldenpass.ch/en/goldenpass/offer/view?id=30
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