All Aboard the Chocolate (and Cheese) Train

One of my favorite things we did during our trip to Switzerland was our Chocolate Train experience. It was literally a train (and then a bus) to chocolate and cheese land. Is there anything better than chocolate...or cheese? I don't think so.

Cheesin' it up next to the Big Cheese. And then one of the sampling platters of chocolate.

Let's start at the beginning. We left Lausanne back to Montreux for a literal Chocolate Train. Or Train du Chocolat. I was excited to be in the French-speaking part of Switzerland since I know literally zero German  (Swiss German or otherwise) but I can speak at least a little French.

We boarded the Chocolate Train, which was decorated like something from the early 1900s and they served us some breakfast. Husband got hot tea -- I got chocolate milk -- and we both got the most delicious hazelnut chocolate croissant-like pastry.

Then spoiler alert: we took the train to some town where we then got on a bus. So really it ended up being a Chocolate Bus. But whatever...it still was named Train du Chocolat.

The bus drove us to Gruyeres first. Yes, there is a literal place called Guyeres and they make gruyere cheese. We visited La Maison du Gruyere.

We were able to see all the steps of making the gruyere cheese.

I loved seeing the room where all the cheese is aged.

They even gave us a sample pack of the various aged gruyere cheese. No lie, my favorite was the 10 month. It was so delicious. We learned that if you want authentic Gruyere cheese you have to buy a product with the AOP seal.

After enjoying our sample cheese we were driven to the little medieval town where we could walk around, have lunch, and visit the Chateau du Gruyeres.

I do love exploring medieval chateaus!

There's something so cool about the history. I probably have said this before but I always try to envision what life would have been like as we walk through places like this.

I wish I had a view like this outside my house!

We also got to walk around the grounds which were spectacular. We had such good weather and the gardens were so beautiful.

I could imagine living here way back during medieval times. Pfft, I wish!

After that we went to the Maison Cailler in Broc, Switzerland. This is basically the Hershey's Chocolate World of the Swiss Cailler brand. 

It was similar to the cheese factory where we could tour production.

Mmmm all good things come from mixing cocoa butter, hazelnuts, and almonds.

My favorite part of the tour was the tasting room. You could walk through and taste test sooo many of the chocolates. 

Mmmm lifesize chocolate, lol.

As if we didn't snack enough during our Chocolate (and Cheese) Train we had dinner at the restaurant associated with our hotel. I loved every bite.