Guided tour “Between Fortress and Castle”: Chillon reveals eight centuries of defense
From medieval rock to World War II bunkers, Chillon Castle and Fort Chillon unveil a new guided tour dedicated to defense. Entitled “Between Fort and Castle,” this unique exploration highlights eight centuries of strategic continuity at one of Lake Geneva's key defensive points.
A strategic lock to the east of Lake Geneva
An iconic landmark in the Lake Geneva region, Chillon Castle is set in a landscape shaped by trade and defense. Today, the new guided tour, “Between Fort and Castle,” invites visitors on a unique exploration of the theme of defense, linking the medieval castle to the Fort of Chillon, a 20th-century military structure carved into the mountain.
Located at the narrowest point between the lake and the mountains, the Chillon lock is a major strategic passageway on the east-west and north-south axes. From controlling medieval trade routes to monitoring railways and roads, Chillon illustrates a unique historical continuity in the art of fortifying the terrain.
From the Middle Ages to the National Redoubt: an exemplary defensive continuity
The tour highlights the reasons why the castle was built on its rock, its close relationship with the roads and the lake, and the defensive layout designed in the 12th century. Towers facing the road, residential rooms on the lake side, the Savoyard military fleet: each element reminds us that Chillon was an instrument of control and deterrence.
Centuries later, this defensive logic continued with the construction of Fort Chillon between 1941 and 1942, which was part of the National Redoubt strategy. Unique in Switzerland along with Airolo, Fort Chillon provided simultaneous defense of the railway, road, and later highway routes. At this precise location, the strip of land between the mountain and the lake is no more than forty meters wide: a bottleneck that history has continually reinforced.
An exclusive tour, between secret places and different perspectives
Offered in partnership with Fort de Chillon, this guided tour is aimed at visitors aged 12 and over and provides exclusive access to areas that are rarely open to the public. Participants will discover a casemate, usually closed to the public, with its ammunition elevator, as well as a carrier pigeon loft, evidence of 20th-century military communication systems. At the castle, the tour passes through the garden, evoking its strategic role at the beginning of World War II, when soldiers, machine guns, and sandbags turned the monument into an active defense post for the territory.
Between fortress and castle, Chillon stands out as one of the most striking examples of historical continuity in Swiss fortification, waiting to be discovered in a new light.
Guided tours in French on Sundays March 15, May 17, July 19, September 13, and November 15, from 10:30 a.m. to 11:50 a.m.
Price: $30 for adults (aged 16 and over) / $22 for children (aged 12-15) / $24 for members of the Association des Amis de Chillon and members of the Association des Amis du Musée du Fort de Chillon.