Montreux photoshoot guide: the Riviera, Chillon and Lavaux

Each setting on the Riviera photographs differently, and the strongest choice often depends on what you are celebrating.

A 60-minute session usually covers one of the three well. Combining two — quay and Chillon, or Chillon and Lavaux — works better as a 90-minute or multi-location booking, since travel between them takes 15 to 45 minutes depending on which two you choose.

The quay and Chillon exterior need no ticket and no advance planning beyond checking the light. Lavaux needs a little more: most of its strongest viewpoints are a short walk from a station rather than at the station itself, so build in 15–30 minutes of walking time on top of the train journey.

If your stay allows a full day across all three settings, this is the route that uses the light and the timetables efficiently, from June to September.

If a full day is too much, the simplest strong combination is the quay and Chillon in one 90-minute session, linked by bus 201; Lavaux is worth treating as its own outing, either before or after, since the terraces reward unhurried time rather than a quick stop.

Montreux to Chillon is the easiest connection: bus 201 runs along the shore from central Montreux every 10–20 minutes and takes about 15 minutes, or you can walk the lakeside path in around 45 minutes if you want the approach itself as part of the session. Hourly regional trains also stop at Veytaux-Chillon, six minutes on foot from the castle.

Montreux to Lavaux is best done by train rather than road: regional trains on the lakeside line reach Saint-Saphorin, Rivaz, Epesses, Cully and Lutry in a few minutes each, and the Train des Vignes climbs hourly from Vevey up to Chexbres through the vineyards themselves. In summer, CGN boats also call at Vevey, Cully and Lutry, so a return leg by water is a genuine option rather than a novelty.

Chillon to Lavaux has no direct link; the practical route is back through Montreux or Vevey by bus and train. For this reason, most sessions treat Chillon and Lavaux as separate halves of a day rather than a single continuous walk, with Montreux as the hinge between them.

Chillon rewards planning because the outside and the inside are effectively two different shoots. The lakeside paths around the castle are public, and the classic view — towers, water and the Dents du Midi behind — can be photographed at any hour without any paperwork, which is why most couple and proposal sessions here stay entirely outside.

Anything professional inside the walls is different. The castle's own rules require written authorisation from its management, requested at least two months ahead, and set a fee of 250 francs for wedding photography inside, which includes entry for the couple and one photographer; shoots outside normal opening hours cost more again. Private, non-professional photos by ordinary visitors are allowed inside without flash, but a booked photography session is treated as professional use regardless of how casual it feels.

Given the famous exterior view is free, public and available at any hour, most sessions on this page simply do not need the interior at all — worth knowing before you assume a Chillon session automatically means a fee. Our Chillon Castle guide covers the interior rules and courtyards in full if the inside genuinely matters to your plan.

The Lavaux terraces are UNESCO-listed but not public parkland — they are working vineyards, tended daily by the growers who own them. Stay on the paved lanes and marked paths, do not walk into the rows or climb the stone walls, and never pick grapes, which matters most from late September into October, when tractors and small rack railways use the same narrow lanes you are walking on.

That harvest period is also, by some distance, the most photogenic stretch of the year here: the vines turn gold in late October and early November, and the light through the terraces in the last two hours before sunset is the single strongest reason people travel to Lavaux specifically rather than staying on the Montreux quay. May and June are the gentler alternative, with fresh green growth and long evenings but none of the golden colour.

A short list of practical points: there are few toilets or cafés between the villages, so bring water, especially in summer when the stone walls hold heat well into the evening; and during the harvest, give way to working crews on the lanes rather than expecting them to work around a photoshoot.

The Riviera has three named local winds worth knowing about. The bise, cold and dry from the north-east, can blow for days, clearing the air but roughening the lake. The vaudaire, a warm south-easterly out of the Rhône valley, hits this end of the lake specifically. The joran falls suddenly off the Jura, often just ahead of a summer thunderstorm — orange flashing lights along the shore are the boat operators' warning sign for exactly this.

None of these need to end a session. The Marché Couvert, the open cast-iron market hall on Montreux's Place du Marché, gives dry, evenly lit shelter with the lake visible through its columns — a natural fallback for the quay in rain. Lavaux's terraces have no shelter at all, so a forecast storm there is worth taking seriously and rescheduling around, while Chillon's covered entrance bridge and courtyards offer some cover if you already have interior authorisation.

From late November to February, a layer of low cloud can sit over the lake for days while Glion and the Rochers-de-Naye above Montreux stay in sunshine — worth knowing if a winter date coincides with grey weather at lake level.

• The quay. Lake blue, white, sand and soft greens sit well against the water and the flowerbeds; avoid the exact turquoise of the lake itself.
• Chillon. Soft neutrals, deep blue or burgundy stand out clearly against the pale stone walls and the lake behind.
• Lavaux. White, cream, blue or burgundy contrast well with the green of the vines; flat shoes with grip matter here more than anywhere else on this list, since the lanes are steep and can be slippery after rain.
• Layers. Bring one even in summer for Glion or an evening on the quay — it cools quickly once the sun drops behind the hills above Vevey.

Our guide to what to wear for a photoshoot goes further into colours and fabrics by season.

Montreux, Chillon's exterior and Lavaux are all priced the same way: a couple session starts from CHF 390, proposal photography from CHF 650 and a honeymoon session from CHF 650, each for about an hour at one setting. Combining two of the three, such as the quay and Chillon, is usually booked as a multi-location session from CHF 850 because of the travel time involved. Photographing inside Chillon adds the castle's own 250-franc fee for wedding photography on top of your photographer's price.

What else moves the price: the photographer, the date and day of the week, a sunset start, and extras such as video. Everything is listed in the proposal you receive before you confirm anything. Our guide to what a photographer costs in Switzerland covers the wider structure, and Lake Geneva photoshoot planning is worth reading if you want to extend the trip further along the shore towards Lausanne or Geneva.

When you send an availability request, tell us which of the three settings you have in mind, or whether you would like to combine them, and we will reply personally with a suitable photographer and a clear price.