I’ve got tickets to see Pulp at the Montreux Jazz Festival in July. I´ve never been to the festival before and am struggling to work out the best way to to/from the festival on a tightish timescale.
The background:
- I live and work in Basel.
- The gig is on a Monday night.
- I need to be at work in Basel at 9am the day after (Tuesday). Unfortunately, there is something I need to be present for so I can’t simply take the day/morning off.
- I understand that parking in Montreux is limited and that use of public transportation is strongly encouraged.
- I need to be at least somewhat functional on Tuesday, so I need to try and get as much sleep as possible.
- Hotels in Montreux are very expensive and it´s a 3h train journey from Montreux into Basel SBB, followed by about 30 mins to get to work, so this would be an expensive and time-consuming option that I’d prefer to avoid.
- It’s a circa 2h drive.
My questions:
- how bad is the parking situation, really? If I get there Monday afternoon and don’t mind walking a fair bit, will I find somewhere?
- If parking anywhere near the festival is really a no go, what are the best alternatives?
- Is there any kind of park and ride I could use?
- Is there a somewhere half an hour or so towards Basel I could get to / stay at, to shorten the journey the following day?
In my ideal world I’d park within walking distance of the festival, drive out to hotel somewhere on the motorway, and have a quick getaway first thing in the morning.
Thanks very much for any experiences or suggestions!
Hello and welcome!
I’ve never been to any gig at the Montreux Festival, but I’ve been to the Christmas Market and the Prix de Lausanne while they made the event there.
Some hotels have underground parking, you just reserve it. 20 francs or so per night. But, I guess it’s a bit late by now. Availability should be low and prices high.
Other option is parking in Vevey, there’s P+R and also a big parking area named Grande Place/Place du Marché. This parking works well for the Christmas market, Vevey is 10mins by train from Montreux.
It appears the last train connection that day to Basel has a 21:55 departure from Montreux. The concert is due to start at 20:00 and last 90 minutes at least. Recent experiences suggest it will last at least until 22:00 and with the departing mob I would guess you’d need at least 30 minutes to get to Montreux station.
If you arrive in the afternoon you should be able to park and ride in Vevey (Tour-de-Peilz) or Villneuve but following a concert it is a nightmare to get one of the buses back to the parking areas. It is certainly do-able but don’t get expect the advertised 6 minute journey. Traffic from anywhere in the area will be difficult.
Perhaps a hotel near Lausanne station? There is a connecting service via Bern departing at 06:17 getting you to Basel at 08:32.
We frankly have stopped going to Montreux because it has become so difficult to get out of there after 22h00
Maybe they’ll have special night trains for the event.
An alternative is taxi back. That way you can sleep on the way back.
The “special “ trains are already shown in the SBb app and on-line.
Thanks very much all for the info and suggestions. I‘m not trying to get back to Basel the same night. Just hoping I can get a bit away from the madness to have a cheaper hotel and a shorter/easier journey early in the morning.
Would it be possible to park in Vevey without staying there do you think? Wondering about using it as a park n ride.
Hi, Vevey as pakring is doable.
About the hotel, have you checked the Ibis hotels along the motorway to Bern? Bulle, Fribourg? Cheap (at least for Switzerland) and close to the motorway.