Charming apartment in a unique location in Chateau d'Oex

Peace and tranquillity, surrounded by stunning mountain scenery
A charming apartment in an authentic Swiss chalet

Picturesque, characterful, and surrounded by incredibly beautiful Alpine scenery. That’s Château-d’Œx in a nutshell. This French-speaking mountain village (altitude 958 metres) located in the Swiss canton of Vaud is full of culture and heritage. Château-d’Œx is a village of over 3,000 inhabitants midway between Gstaadt and Lake Geneva. But don’t expect bustling nightlife and rowdy après-ski parties – people come to Château-d’Œx for its tranquillity and natural beauty.

Welcome to Switzerland
Looking for more anonymity and a slightly more relaxed lifestyle, a couple from the Netherlands settled here in 1983. Château-d’Œx became their new home, but these busy bees just had to find themselves a challenge. So, over the years, they developed a few chalets on the edge of the village – always observing the architectural style that is so characteristic of Switzerland, of course. The outer walls are plastered in white on the first floor, while the rest of the chalet is clad in simple wood, decorated here and there with traditional subtle carvings. The doors and windows all have wooden shutters. The chalets have always been rented out, and the same applies to Residence La Sarine, which this charming apartment is part of. Previous visitors have told us what fantastic holiday memories they have of staying here.

THE APARTMENT

Entrance & hallway
The apartment, which is one of seven in the building, is located on the second floor of this four-storey chalet. The gallery is shared with the neighbours. As you enter the apartment through the front door, you will find an entrance area including plenty of built-in cupboard space. From here, a hallway takes you to the bedrooms and also provides access to one of the bathrooms. But first let’s take a look at the living room and the adjoining open kitchen.

Living room & balcony
The interior walls of this attractive living room are plastered in white. This makes for a beautiful combination with the wooden ceiling and wooden window frames. There is also an open fireplace with a wood fire – maybe you can picture yourself next to a roaring fire with a good glass of wine? The double doors provide access to a large private balcony on the sunny side of the chalet. Your view is a breath-taking mountain panorama: alpine meadows with their fragrant herbs and grasses, leading upwards into pine forests and the rugged mountain peaks towering high above.

Open kitchen
Adjacent to the living room there is an open kitchen. The imposing wooden beams that support the roof are a prominent feature. Rustic and warm, this is a traditional alpine kitchen, combining timeless light colours with the latest induction technology.

Bedrooms and bathroom
Returning to the hallway, we can access both bedrooms. The master bedroom is generously proportioned and has an ensuite bathroom. Again, the colours are light and timeless, and there is a whirlpool bathtub, wash basin and wall-mounted toilet. The second bedroom is also spacious. Both the bedrooms have the same distinctive wooden ceiling and sturdy beams. From the windows you enjoy another stunning view over green mountain slopes. The second bathroom is also adjacent to the corridor, and features the same timeless pale tones. This bathroom has a shower cabin (with massage jets), a wash basin and a wall-mounted toilet.

Parking, storage & laundry room
The chalet has a basement that spans the full footprint of the building and includes underground parking. There is one parking space that belongs to this apartment as well as a private storage room. There is also a shared laundry room with a washing machine and a dryer for the seven apartments in Residence La Sarine, as well as a utility sink.

THE VILLAGE AND LOCAL AREA

It is difficult to imagine anywhere more peaceful than Château-d’Œx. But don’t be deceived – this is no ‘sleepy village’. There are several bakeries (a good breakfast is guaranteed…), an excellent supermarket, shops selling local produce as well as a hotel and a restaurant. Château-d’Œx also has its own train station.

Nature reserve
Château-d’Œx is located within the Gruyère Pays-d’Enhaut nature reserve, which offers a combination of unspoiled nature and farmland. Certain areas, such as La Pierreuse and the valley of Etivaz, have been designated as protected nature reserves. Anyone walking or cycling through the area can immediately see why: the park is home to an abundance of unique flora and fauna.

The ballooning capital of the Alps
This is an area that invites you to be active, no matter what season it is. The Festival International de Ballons – an annual hot air balloon festival held at the end of January – has put Château-d’Œx firmly on the map worldwide. For the past forty years, an international group of about seventy pilots has been meeting in the ‘ballooning capital of the Alps’. The valley’s unrivalled thermals make Château-d’Œx the perfect place to set off from. You’ll see hot air balloons in all sorts of different shapes and sizes – some highly extravagant – gliding gracefully through the air. There are dozens of them during festival week. But there is plenty of ballooning all year round. It’s an unforgettable experience, floating through the mountains of Switzerland with a spectacular backdrop that includes Mont Blanc, the Matterhorn, Jungfrau and the Jura. Anybody interested in learning more about the history and technology of ballooning can treat themselves to a visit to the Espace Ballon visitor centre.

Things to do in and around Château-d’Œx
Château-d’Œx’s events calendar spans the whole year. We have already mentioned the hot air balloon week. The programme also includes an international dance festival, a gastronomical walking tour, a music festival (‘Le Bois qui Chante’) and, for sporty types, a super trail and a snowshoe hike. Château-d’Œx and the local area have plenty of options for keeping younger children entertained, too. There’s a bowling alley and a mini-golf course in the village. In Rougemont, there’s a museum of minerals and fossils. And in La Braye there’s a theme trail about the life of ants. But anybody looking for rowdy parties or crowded shopping malls – you won’t find that here. Château-d’Œx really is far removed from the tourist trail.

Skiing
The regional ski season usually begins in mid-December and continues until the end of March. Château-d’Œx itself is not known as a ski paradise, but the surrounding area is. If you are a keen skier, you can head for the nearby mountain village of Rougemont, which is easily accessible (by car or train). A ski lift will take you up to the higher slopes, with a direct connection to the extensive ski area of Gstaadt (179 kilometres of skiing fun) and Saanen. The sunny plateau of Les Mosses-La Lécherette is also very popular among winter sports enthusiasts, and is a fantastic place for cross-country skiing, tobogganing and winter hiking.

Summer sports
Well sign-posted hiking trails invite you to explore the natural beauty of the area around Château-d’Œx. The village makes a perfect base for hikes, which range from ‘easy’ to ‘very challenging’. How about a stroll through the vineyards? Or the route along the Cascade Ramaclé, with its stunning waterfall and suspension bridge?
Cycling is another way to get active, and this mountain landscape offers plenty of steep climbs and thrilling descents. For mountain bikers, the area around Château-d’Œx offers many sporting challenges. There is a network of exciting mountain bike trails in Pays-d’Enhaut, some of which were used in the 1997 World Cup. Riding down the mountain on your mountain bike is such an exhilarating experience...!
You will also find plenty of climbing, rafting, white-water canoeing, hydrospeed, canyoning and skydiving in this area. There are several golf courses for those who prefer the quieter life – the mountain backdrop will certainly give your round of golf an added dimension.

The local area
The region around Château-d’Œx, le Pays-d’Enhaut, produces a variety of tangy cheese known as Etivaz, similar to Gruyère but less famous. It’s the ultimate Swiss cheese, prepared locally using milk from the cows that graze the local mountain pastures. The farmers do this in a cauldron over an open wood fire, just as they have for generations. You’re welcome to watch!
There are plenty of great excursions from Château-d’Œx. You can take a trip through the Col des Mosses towards Lake Geneva. There you can visit the fashionable lakeside resort of Montreux, which is world-famous for its music festival. Lausanne, the capital of the canton of Vaud is also located on the lake, and is a global sports centre. And fifteen minutes by car to the east of Château-d’Œx is the famous Alpine village of Gstaadt, where the local beautiful people like to show off.

Getting there
It’s 885 kilometres by car from Utrecht to Château-d’Œx, and the journey can be made almost entirely by motorway: only the last 35 kilometres are on national roads. So it’s a relatively simple journey. Château-d’Œx is also accessible by rail. Bern Airport is an hour and a half away, Geneva airport is one hour and forty minutes away, and Gstaadt also has a small airport for private jets only.