Fribourg, Switzerland
THE LOWDOWN
Château de Gruyères sits up on a hill above the world’s cutest cheese town (yes, that Gruyère), and it’s been lording it over the valley since about 1270-1282, when it was built by the Counts of Gruyère in a tidy square design the Savoy family basically patented. Nineteen counts lived here over the centuries, so it’s basically been a very posh, very long-running family holiday home.
ROUND THE CASTLE
Now here’s the thing about Gruyères that I love: it’s not just a pile of old stone, it’s had a proper glow-up over the years. In the 15th century Count Louis knocked the fortress vibe on the head and turned it into a proper stately residence, all wide windows and elegant galleries, because apparently even 15th-century nobility got sick of living in a draughty box. Then in the 1800s a bunch of artists rocked up, fell in love with the place, and the Bovy and Balland families from Geneva bought it as a summer pad in 1849, running an actual artists’ colony out of it. You can still see paintings by Corot hanging around inside. Since 1938 it’s belonged to the Canton of Fribourg and it’s open as a museum, taking you through eight centuries of stained glass, tapestries and knightly nonsense.
THE LITTLE TITBIT
The very last Count of Gruyère, Michel, tried to solve his massive debt problem by literally minting his own coins. Bold move. Didn’t work. He went bankrupt in 1554, his creditors Bern and Fribourg carved up his lands, and he died in exile. And if that’s not weird enough for you, right next door to this romantic medieval castle sits the H.R. Giger Museum, dedicated to the guy who designed Alien — complete with a bar made of vertebrae. So you can do knights and dragons, then wander next door for full-on nightmare fuel. Only in Switzerland.
HR GIGER MUSEUM
A surreal plunge into the dark imagination of Swiss artist H.R. Giger, the visionary behind the iconic creature from Alien. Housed inside a medieval château in Gruyères, the museum is packed with his eerie biomechanical paintings, sculptures, furniture and film designs, blending human anatomy with machines in a style that is disturbing, hypnotic and completely unmistakable. It’s a striking contrast to the postcard-perfect village outside—and even if you’re not an Alien fan, it’s one of Switzerland’s most unusual museums.
The Bar Restaurant across from the Museum is a must.
