Active Pursuits

The Lausanne tourist office can tell you the best places to jog in and around the city. Vita parcours (that is, jogging) trails, broken up by various stops for exercising, are found at Vidy, at Chalet-à-Gobet, and above Pully, the last lying between Lausanne and Montreux. The tourist office will also advise about the best transportation connections to reach starting points, and provide maps showing their various locations.

You can go hiking -- some call it strolling -- through vineyard and château country along the north shore of Lake Geneva. The Lausanne tourist office, as well as various town and village offices, will advise you of the best itineraries and supply detailed maps to guide you on your way. If you enjoy planning this sort of thing even before your arrival in the Vaud, consider contacting the Association Vaudoise de Tourisme Pédestre (Vaudois Association of Trekkers and Hill Climbers), 23, Grand St-Jean, CH-1003 Lausanne (tel. 021/323-10-84; www.avtp.ch).

For more vertiginous and higher-altitude adventures, you can take mountain wilderness trails cutting into the Alps Vaudoises. You can explore the canyons and heavily wooded areas around Château-d'Oex, or the alpine meadows above Villars.