Lake Geneva (VD) · One way
Lavaux vineyard terraces
Terrasses de Lavaux
St-Saphorin to Lutry, above Lake Geneva
There is no last lift to catch here. Trains run all day from every village on the route, so you can stop where you like and take the next one home — which is what makes this the easy answer in bad weather or short daylight.
Eleven kilometres through the vineyard terraces that UNESCO listed in 2007: stone walls, the lake below, the Savoy Alps opposite, and a railway station in every village you pass. It is the Swiss day hike that needs no lift, no season and no car, and the one to keep for a day when the mountains are white.
Getting there and back
The lifts and stops this walk depends on
Trains along the lake
Railway, a station in each village · SBB and RER Vaud
- Season
- All year
St-Saphorin, Rivaz and Epesses have an hourly service; Cully and Lutry are served every 15 minutes. You can cut the walk short at any of them.
Switzerland Tourism, route pageRead 20 September 2026
CGN boat, Lausanne to St-Gingolph
Lake steamer, calling at Lutry, Cully and Rivaz–St-Saphorin · CGN
- Season
- Summer timetable 1 June – 21 September 2026; autumn to 11 October; in the winter timetable Rivaz–St-Saphorin is not served
One eastbound sailing a day in summer (Lausanne 10:50, Rivaz–St-Saphorin 11:40) and two back in the afternoon. A fine way to arrive; not a fallback if you are late.
CGN general timetable 2026Read 20 September 2026
At the start
- Saint-Saphorin station, 8 m away
- Saint-Saphorin bus stop, 10 m away
At the finish
- Lutry, gare bus stop, 11 m away
- Lutry station, 15 m away
- Lutry bus stop, 23 m away
Stops and stations come from OpenStreetMap, measured from the ends of our line. Times and seasons come from each operator's own page, on the date shown. Check them for your date.
On the way
Where you can stop
Caveau des Vignerons de Cully
Village wine cellar
- Open
- Thursday to Sunday, 17:00–21:00, May to October
- Phone
- +41 79 767 72 66
Read 20 September 2026
Caveau des Vignerons de St-Saphorin
Village wine cellar, at the start
- Open
- Friday to Sunday, 16:00–19:00, May to October; the growers take turns from 1 April to 31 October
- Phone
- +41 21 921 75 67
Read 20 September 2026
How hard it is
Grade, and how long it takes
“A sun-exposed site. Take a hat and sun cream.” — SchweizMobil route 113
| The operator's time | 3 h 15 | SchweizMobil route 113 |
|---|---|---|
| Swiss signpost time | 3 h 24 | The official hiking-time method, on our line |
| At a running pace | 1 h 52 | Our estimate; the grade does not change because you run |
SchweizMobil gives 11 km with 440 m of climb; Montreux Riviera gives 369 m for the same walk. Our line measures 11.4 km and 358 m — the terraces rise and fall in short steps, and a 30 m terrain model smooths some of that away. Take the official climb as the honest one.
Conditions
What it is like right now, and month by month
Weather this week
Loading the forecast for low point (376 m) and high point (540 m)…
Weather this week
Loading the forecast for low point (376 m) and high point (540 m)…
Weather by month
Typical weather Lavaux vineyard terraces: at the lowest point (376 m) and the highest point (540 m). Select a month to see why it is rated as it is.
| Month | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weather | Mixed | Mixed | Good | Good | Good | Good | Mixed | Mixed | Good | Good | Good | Mixed |
| High point, day / night | 5°/0° | 6°/0° | 11°/2° | 15°/6° | 19°/10° | 22°/13° | 25°/15° | 24°/15° | 20°/12° | 14°/8° | 9°/3° | 6°/1° |
| Low point, day / night | 7°/0° | 8°/0° | 12°/3° | 16°/6° | 20°/11° | 24°/14° | 26°/16° | 26°/16° | 21°/12° | 16°/8° | 11°/4° | 8°/1° |
| Rain, mm | 90 | 81 | 78 | 81 | 115 | 123 | 122 | 117 | 111 | 99 | 100 | 106 |
| Snow at high point | Possible | Possible | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | Possible |
| Daylight | 8 h 58 | 10 h 18 | 11 h 49 | 13 h 31 | 14 h 58 | 15 h 48 | 15 h 29 | 14 h 15 | 12 h 38 | 11 h | 9 h 28 | 8 h 37 |
Source: TerraClimate 1991–2020 monthly averages. Averages for the area at each point’s elevation (4 km grid, corrected for height). Not a forecast or a report of current trail conditions. Snow at the high point is estimated with a simple snowpack model from these temperatures and precipitation, not observed; steep islands and high summits can hold more snow than it shows. Daylight is for the 15th of each month. Hut, transport and park seasons are separate: check them for your dates.
Before you go
What could stop you
Harvest time is busy, and the paths are working roads
From the beginning of September the growers are bringing the crop in, and SchweizMobil warns of more traffic on these paths. Give way to tractors, and keep out of the rows.
SchweizMobil route 113Read 20 September 2026
No shade
The terraces face south and hold the heat; the operator says plainly to bring a hat and sun cream. On a hot day, walk it early or late.
Season: March to November by Switzerland Tourism, and walkable in most weather: it is low, south-facing and never far from a station. SchweizMobil warns that the paths get busier once the grape harvest starts at the beginning of September.
Make it your day
Shorter, longer, or at a run
Half of it: Cully to Lutry, or St-Saphorin to Cully
Every village has a station, so the walk divides anywhere. Cully is the natural halfway point at about 90 minutes from either end.
Arrive by boat
In summer the CGN steamer from Lausanne calls at Rivaz–St-Saphorin around 11:40, which makes the approach part of the day.
In winter
There is no closed season here. On a clear cold day the terraces are empty and the Alps across the lake are at their best.
For runners
Runnable almost throughout, on vineyard roads, paths and a lot of steps. The Xtratrail Lavaux starts and finishes in Lutry at the end of May and uses the same terraces, though it climbs far higher than this walk.
Races on this ground: Xtratrail Lavaux.
Keep it on your phone
Offline maps
Keep your route and maps on your phone for places without a signal. For multi-day trips, prepare them in the installed TrailSplits app.
- Open this trail in the app. Install TrailSplits, then open this trail there. On iPhone, downloads in a browser may not be available in the installed app.
- Choose your route or stages. Choose Prepare offline above. Wait for the route and maps to finish downloading.
- Try it before leaving coverage. Switch offline, close and reopen the app, then use My Hikes to start navigation. Repeat for every part you will need.
Saving a bookmark is not a map download. Storage can be cleared by your device; keep a backup map for remote trips.
Route and sources
What we checked, and when
This walk is an official Swiss hiking route: Terrasses de Lavaux (St-Saphorin - Lutry) (SchweizMobil route 113). We publish our own line on OpenStreetMap, matched onto the official one and checked against it.
- Official line 11.46 km · ours 11.38 km (-0.7%)
- 95% of the official line is within 2 m of ours; the furthest point is 19.2 m
- Climb read from a 30 m terrain model along our line, smoothed; an operator's figure will differ
- Built on 2026-09-20
- SchweizMobil route 113, the official line read 20 September 2026
- Switzerland Tourism: the Lavaux vineyard terraces read 20 September 2026
- CGN: the 2026 lake timetable read 20 September 2026
- Lavaux Patrimoine mondial read 20 September 2026
- OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) the paths our line follows
- Bundesamt für Strassen, Kanton, Stiftung SchweizMobilthe official route line