Secret Swiss Hideaway.

Auberge Du Raisin, Cully, Switzerland

My husband seems to simply have a nose for sniffing out somewhere to stay in, whenever we are visiting a new city or area. He can also sniff out the best restaurant for the two of us, since we share a love of mouth-watering, lovingly cooked and well-presented food.  We also suffer the fairly widespread affliction of Champagne taste and Beer money. So his skill is such a boon to us when travelling. Of course, this year there hasn’t been any real travelling. I was reminded whilst looking over some pictures from this time last year that sometimes, a special little place will grab Steve by the throat forcing him to make the booking at once.

The most recent example of Stephen’s skill for finding the real gem, was our stay in Cully just five miles out of Lausanne. The ideal choice when going to a major triathlon event is for us to not be right on top of the event venue, in the team hotel, where it seems to me that the team whip each other up into state of nervous exhaustion by the time race day comes. I have been known to get in a bit of a twitch myself in the past. My husband/coach and I both know that I don’t need any help at getting excited, I can do that on my own. What I need is to be kept calm and comfortable in a nice quiet hotel or apartment with a good restaurant in house, so that we don’t have to walk or drive anywhere, or worse still wander around looking for somewhere to eat. Stephen found a small hotel that was be perfect for our needs.

Auberge du Raisin in Cully, near Lausanne. Even on first sight, as we stopped outside this small hotel, we looked at each other and knew we would be happy there. The hotel staff are all very friendly and helpful and when we were taken to the room, our feelings were confirmed. We had booked for our stay of four nights. It was a large stylish attic room with windows on both sides. Spacious, comfortably furnished, quiet and funky as could be.  

We just had to walk a few steps around a small block to be on the lake side for a breath-taking view across Lake Geneva/Lac Leman, toward France, a perfect spot for a stroll after dinner. The restaurant was quite charming in every way and the food was exactly to our taste. Every time we have caught a glimpse of one of the photo’s we took during our stay, one or the other of us will say “We must go back there for a few days again sometime soon it was so lovely”. We will, that’s carved in stone.