Day Trip to Gruyères Medieval Village & Chocolate Factory from Geneva

Viator has to do better. We have booked several trips from Viator and this is the first time we felt like second class citizens. There were options other participants were able to select that were never available. Imagine a tour of 50 people and only 5 of us were unable to participate in the cheese tastings. With the cost of the trip I would think it might be included. Additionally everyone but the same 5 were booked on a train trip. We were given the opportunity to add this at a cost of 28.4 Swiss francs. This is not the guide’s fault or company by Viator. Needless to say for $300 I expected better service. The cheese was experience was less than optimal and we felt so rushed we did not even enjoy it. Everyone was rushing to the cheese tastings and we were left with lack of direction on what to do

This was a wonderful tour and experience. Our guide and driver were both excellent. The guide was very knowledgeable and enthusiastic in his interactions with the guest. Scenery was breath taking. Highlights were the chocolate factory and the medieval castle. I definitely recommend this tour and guide.

Journey to Gruyère took far longer than planned as we had to divert to Lausanne to pick up two extra passengers. Chocolate factory a great disappointment as no humans seen working at any stage of the manufacture. Gruyère cheese factory even more of a disappointment as the only process seen was on a film loop. No time to see the castle or take the train trip…all because we had to leave early to drop off the two Lausanne passengers. No water on board the coach so a very dehydrating trip. All together not worth the money and not to be recommended to anyone.

There was enough time to see and do what you wanted on your own. The Cailler Chocolate Factory was fun with ample samples. The city of Guyeres and cheese factory was nice . Time for a good fondue lunch and then train ride to Montreux .

Normally, I take the train instead of an organized tour. However, these things were a bit far and I didn't have much time so I booked a tour. The chocolate tour at the Cailler factory was fabulous. You go through "rooms" but..."rooms" are an understatement. This was like a miniature Disney ride without the "cars"...each "room" had a scene that lit up and had animated items popping up with mood music. You could listen to the dialog in your chosen language. At the end, it was more museum like, where you could learn more about the people/roles of folks who make the raw ingredients and then the chocolate. Note that we were alotted 1 hr at this place. I think by the time we got into the rooms etc 40 mins had passed. So I didn't get to enjoy the "museum" part more than 10 mins and grabbed some tasting chocolate along the way. Note that the first chocolates were individually wrapped. the others were on a tray and some folks may not be comfortable with the unwrapped ones. Though, there was a lady supervising to minimize people touching, but not taking. I normally would have skipped the gift shop, but in this case, I needed to buy some for gifts. So that's where the last moments were spent...grab chocolates, grab insulated bag (yeah, you need this in the summer so that your chocolate won't melt!), luckily no lines at the register and ran to the bus. We needed at least 15 more mins there. Then, we went to the cheese factory and it was "museum like", less impressive compared to the chocolate factory. Ideally, I would have gone to the cheese factory first because I think I would have been more impressed seeing it before I saw the chocolate factory. They gave you a prepacked sampler of Gruyere cheese with different ages...I think it was 4 mos, 6 mos and 8 mos. Something like that. The older cheese was firmer and stronger tasting than the younger cheese. It was good none the less. Note that I'm glad I ate it there vs taking it back to the USA because I forgot that dairy might be restricted. Then, I was glad I didn't do the tour with the Golden Pass train. We had 3 hrs in the village of Gruyeres (an uphill walk from the cheese factory). The tour guide told me to have Raclette at the Hotel de Ville. It was great. Note that the Golden Pass train route is much longer than the section you will take on this tour. Not worth it...go on the scenic train when you can do the entire length.

Staff has to pay more attention to the customers should try to help, Smile and eye contact was missing.

I enjoyed this tour, the guide was very good. It was a rainy day, all day and yet it gave me a chance to explore Swiss areas and the impressive Gruyère. Chocolate factory & cheese factory visit were also interesting.

We upgraded our trip once we were on it so that we could have the fondue luncheon and the panoramic train. Glad we did! Our tour guide, Yolanda, was a lot of fun and very knowledgeable about all things Switzerland. Gruyere is a beautiful village.

Excellent tour. Our guide, Yolanda, was very knowledgeable and friendly. We learned a lot about Switzerland. We upgraded...well worth it.

Great trip overall. The tour description was a bit off and we were told we bought the basic package but could upgrade if we wanted to. It was the 2nd trip we took with this company, in 2 days, where we had to buy up. The basic package had a tour of the chocolate factory with tastings, a tour of a cheese factory, with tastings, a drop off in Gruyeres, a bus ride back to Montreaux. The additions included a tour of a dairy with more cheese tastings along with meat and bread, wine and finally we got to make fondue. We were glad for that experience as we'd had not so great fondue the night before and this fondue was so much better. The addition also included a ride on the Golden Pass. As said, the additions were well worth it but were a bit unexpected. A lot was done this day and it was a great experience.