Le Baron Tavernier

A balcony over Lavaux

Le Baron Tavernier is on the Route de la Corniche, the road that crosses the upper part of the vineyards, at the entrance to Chexbres. From here you see the terraced vineyard falling away to Lake Geneva and, across the water, the Savoy Alps. It is a hotel for a treat: rooms with a balcony over the lake, a spa with a pool and a fine-dining restaurant with a glass-walled terrace.

It has 25 rooms and suites in two buildings. The main one, the Baron Tavernier, faces the lake and the Alps; the spa building, behind, looks onto the woods.

The rooms

• Standard Lake, 20 m², with a private balcony and lake views.
• Deluxe Lake, 24 m², with a private balcony over the lake.
• Junior Lake Suite, 40 m², with a private terrace over the lake.
• Single, 10 m², in the main building.
• Deluxe Spa, 22 m², with a private terrace towards the woods.
• Junior Spa Suite, 40 m², with a terrace towards the woods.

If you come for the views, choose one in the main building: the spa rooms are quieter but do not see the lake. The website does not publish the rate for each room, although it does list all-inclusive offers: Lovers' Night Out, CHF 350, with one night in a Deluxe Lake, breakfast, two hours of spa and 10% off the chef's menu; and Romantic Getaway, CHF 497, with one night in a Deluxe Spa, breakfast, one hour of spa and a massage for two.

The spa and the table

The spa, the Clinique Eden, has a saltwater pool, hammam, sauna, gym and Zen garden, and a menu of more than twenty massages and treatments. Hotel guests get in for CHF 15 for one hour or CHF 25 for two hours; it holds ten people at a time, so it is best to book. Each treatment includes one hour of spa.

Downstairs is Le Deck, chef Lionel Rodriguez's restaurant, open every day at lunchtime and in the evening, with menus that change every month. Next to it, the bar-terrace serves sharing plates; in winter it opens Thursday to Sunday and serves fondue in gondola cabins and igloos.

Getting there

The hotel estimates 10 minutes by car to Vevey (15 by train), 20 to Lausanne (30 by train) and 55 to Geneva (75 by train). The nearest station is Chexbres-Village, on the Vevey to Puidoux train, the so-called vineyard train. From Chexbres you walk down through the vineyards to Rivaz, where the Lavaux Vinorama is, or to Saint-Saphorin.