Facilities in Chateau d Oex

Château-d'Oex has the facilities you would expect of a small village with limited exposure to mass tourism. There is an outdoor natural ice rink and a teenager's cafe with games room. However, with the lift pass, it's easy to jump on the train and access the large indoor swimming pool complex in Gstaad (free to lift pass holders) or the excellent sports centre there. Really you get the best of both worlds, a friendly, picturesque and unspoilt village with reasonable prices, but 'free' access to one of the world's top international resorts and its attractions thrown in. Worth a visit in Château-d'Oex is a small but good museum which charts the history of the region and, in particular, its cheese production, as well as the opportunity to try ballooning, for which the resort is famous, or parascending. Day trips beyond Gstaad to Montreux, Lausanne or even Geneva are all easy on the train. The highlight of the year in Château-d'Oex is the international ballooning festival, the largest in the Alps, with over 80 participants, staged every January.