Lausanne is built on a hillside that drops from around 670 metres at the top of the city to 372 at the lake, and that gradient is the first thing to plan for. The old town and the cathedral are at the top, the Olympic Museum and the waterfront at Ouchy are at the bottom, and between them the streets climb hard. The city runs the only metro in Switzerland partly because of it, and the m2 line is effectively a funicular. Pack shoes for hills, and a layering system for a lakeside climate that is mild but genuinely four seasoned.
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The second thing to understand is that this is French speaking Switzerland, the Suisse romande, and it has a different register from Zurich or Lucerne: a little more relaxed, a lot more wine, and a student population from the university and the federal technology institute that keeps the city younger than its reputation. Lausanne is also the headquarters of the International Olympic Committee, which is why the Olympic Museum is here and why the city calls itself the Olympic Capital.
What Makes Lausanne Different to Pack For
Four seasons on a lake
Lake Geneva moderates the climate, so Lausanne is milder than the Swiss average: summers of 22°C to 27°C, winters of 0°C to 6°C with occasional snow that rarely lasts in the city. Spring and autumn are changeable and wet. The lake generates its own fog in winter, and the bise, a cold northeasterly, can drop the effective temperature sharply.
A merino wool base layer for women under a fleece mid layer covers October through April, and a packable rain jacket is a year round item here, since the rain is spread across the calendar rather than concentrated.
The gradient is the daily workout
Walking from Ouchy up to the cathedral is a climb of nearly 300 metres, on streets, staircases and the covered passages that thread between them. Most people use the m2 metro for the vertical and walk the horizontal, which is the sensible arrangement.
Comfortable shoes with grip matter, and a pair of waterproof hiking shoes is not excessive in winter, when the steep streets and the Escaliers du Marché wooden staircase get slick. They also cover the Lavaux vineyard walk, which is the best day out from the city.
Switzerland is expensive, which shapes packing
Forgetting something in Lausanne is costly to replace. Bring what you need, including any specific toiletries and medication, and note that supermarket food is far cheaper than eating out, which is how residents manage. A refillable bottle is worth carrying, since Swiss tap water is excellent and the city has public fountains.
Recommended Tours and Experiences
The Lausanne Packing List
Clothing
Base layer, fleece and shell for the colder half of the year; light clothing and one evening layer in summer. Two merino tops cover a week. Lausanne dresses well without being formal, in a French Swiss register: a good coat and decent shoes read better here than anything showy.
Covered shoulders and knees for the cathedral, which is a working Protestant church and one of the finest Gothic buildings in Switzerland.
Footwear
Covered above and the decision that matters. Grippy, supportive, comfortable for a day of hills. Leave heels for the cobbles and the staircases.
For the lake and the vineyards
Swimming in Lake Geneva is normal in summer, with public beaches and lidos along the shore and water reaching around 22°C in August. Bring swimwear and a quick drying towel. For the Lavaux terraces, a wide brim sun hat and sunscreen, since the vineyard paths are entirely exposed and the slopes reflect heat off the lake.
What to Wear at Key Sites
The old town and the cathedral
The thirteenth century cathedral is the high point of the city in both senses, with a tower climb of over two hundred steps and a night watchman who has called the hours from it since 1405, a tradition still kept every night from ten until two. The old town below it is compact, steep and full of covered stairways.
Practically: the tower stair is narrow and spiral, the cathedral interior is cold, and the surrounding streets are cobbled. Place de la Palud has the market on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
Ouchy and the Olympic Museum
The waterfront at Ouchy is where the city relaxes: a long promenade, plane trees, swans and boats across to Evian on the French shore. The Olympic Museum sits in a park above it and is genuinely good even for people with no interest in sport.
The lakeside is exposed to wind off the water and is several degrees cooler than the upper town on a hot day, which is precisely why everyone goes down there in July. Take a layer for the evening.
The Lavaux terraces
East of the city, the Lavaux vineyard terraces run for thirty kilometres along the lake in steep stone walled steps, UNESCO listed and worked since the eleventh century. The walk between Lutry and Saint Saphorin through the villages is one of the great European walks and takes a few hours.
Practically: it is entirely exposed with no shade, on steep paved and gravel paths, so hat, water and proper shoes. Trains stop at several villages along the route, so you can walk as much or as little as you want and ride back. The caveaux, the village tasting cellars, keep limited hours, usually afternoons and often only at weekends.
The Flon and the Art Brut collection
The Flon was a warehouse district in a ravine below the old town and is now the nightlife and cinema quarter, reached by the metro or by a footbridge from the Grand Pont. North of the centre, the Collection de l'Art Brut holds the outsider art that Jean Dubuffet assembled from asylums and prisons, and it is the most unusual museum in Switzerland.
Practically: the Flon is flat, which is a relief after the old town, and it is where the late trains and the last metros are worth knowing. The Art Brut galleries are deliberately dim and cool, so a layer helps.
Across the lake and up the mountain
Boats cross to Evian and Thonon in France in under an hour, which needs a passport. The Alps rise directly behind the French shore and are visible from the whole city on a clear day. Behind Lausanne, the Jorat forest and the Jura beyond give walking without the expense of the high Alps.
What Not to Bring
Leave heels, which the gradient and the cobbles will punish. Leave the assumption that Switzerland means mountains: Lausanne is a lakeside city and the high Alps are a train ride away rather than outside the window. Leave things you can do without, given Swiss replacement prices.
Leave a wheeled suitcase expectation if your accommodation is in the old town, where the streets are stepped in places.
Essential Resources for Women in Lausanne
Emergency numbers in Switzerland: Police 117, ambulance 144, fire 118, and the European number 112 also works. Mountain rescue is Rega on 1414. All operators speak English.
Tourist support: Switzerland has no tourist police as such, since the ordinary police are efficient and English speaking. Lausanne Tourisme has offices at the station and at Ouchy. For emergencies, 117 or 112.
US Embassy in Bern: Sulgeneckstrasse 19, CH-3007 Bern, telephone +41 31 357 70 11, at ch.usembassy.gov. Bern is about seventy minutes away by train, and the US Mission in Geneva is closer still. Enrol in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program at step.state.gov before you travel.
Main hospital or clinic: the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois, CHUV, is the university hospital for the region with a 24 hour emergency department and an international reputation. Swiss healthcare is excellent and expensive, and there is no free emergency treatment for visitors, so travel insurance is not optional here.
Official health authority: the Federal Office of Public Health at bag.admin.ch.
US State Department travel advisory for Switzerland: current advisory level and detail, consistently Level 1. Read it directly rather than relying on this page.
UK FCDO travel advice for Switzerland: entry requirements, safety and health guidance.
Official tourism authority: Switzerland Tourism at myswitzerland.com, with Lausanne Tourisme at lausanne-tourisme.ch for the Lavaux walking routes, boat timetables and the Lausanne Transport Card, which most accommodation provides free and which covers the metro and buses.
Solo women safety assessment: Lausanne is a very safe city for a woman travelling alone. Switzerland has low crime by any measure, the city is prosperous and well lit, public transport runs late and is clean and safe, and a woman alone in a cafe, on the Ouchy promenade or walking the old town in the evening is completely unremarkable. Street harassment is uncommon. The realistic risks are ordinary and minor: pickpocketing around the station and at the Friday and Saturday markets, handled by a bag worn in front, and the nightlife district around Flon at weekends, where the usual precautions about drinks apply in a city with a large student population. The physical hazards are the gradient and the weather: steep cobbled streets and stairways are genuinely slippery in rain and ice, and falls are the likeliest way to get hurt here. The lake deserves a mention, since it looks benign and is deep and cold, with sudden squalls that catch small boats and paddleboards; swim from the supervised lidos rather than striking out from the shore. The Lavaux paths are exposed with steep drops to the terraces below, so proper shoes and attention. Taxis are expensive, the metro runs until around midnight and later at weekends, and the city is compact enough that most journeys are short.
Reading On
Lausanne is the main city of the Suisse romande and an easy base for Lake Geneva. The Switzerland travel guide for women is the parent for the whole country and covers the regions, the seasons and the transport passes in more detail, and the Switzerland packing list for women covers a multi region trip rather than this one city. For the rest of the country, the Geneva travel guide for women covers the other end of the lake, the Bern packing list for women covers the capital, and the Grindelwald packing list for women and Zermatt packing list for women cover the high Alps. The travel packing guide for women is the parent for all destinations. For why merino handles a damp lakeside winter better than cotton, the best merino wool base layers for women explains the fibre, and the Roman Trail collection is where the tops themselves live.
If the outer journey is calling you, the inner one usually is too. Explore SoulMap at romantrail.com/blogs/soulmap.
