Tour du Vallon des Vaux at Lac de Neuchâtel in Western Switzerland.

Friday September 11, 2026 -- It was not the best hiking week for us, once again, but on this Friday there was some better weather in the western part of Switzerland (nearer to the French Border), so instead of going into the mountains where we were risking low cloud, we headed out to Lac de Neuchâtel, where we don't often go.

On our hiking map we had seen a suggestion for an easy 14-km round tour walk starting in Yvonand (in Canton Vaud) on the east side of the lake, and passing first through a gorge (nature reserve) to an old fortress ruins, as well as an unusual and original Protestant church in a village called "Chêne-Pâquier" on the circuit, and we figured that might be an easy walk for this day. Unfortunately there was a lot of walking on paved roads, and only a short stretch through the forest, but we did see a few villages typical of the region, which is somewhat different than what we are used to. The best part was the view of the lake on the way back into the town of Yvonand, as we were higher up at the end. 

Travel time for a hike in this region is over three hours each way, so we don't do this often. It was a long way to travel for a bit of a country walk, and we probably won't do many excursions like this. .

Our train ride from home via Luzern and Bern then takes us through the lovely landscape of Canton Fribourg, heading toward Lac de Neuchâtel with views of the Jura Range (this is close to the border with France). 

More views of the Jura mountains and typical villages of this region in Western Switzerland as our train heads from Fribourg toward the lake. 

For a short stretch after reaching Estavayer-le-Lac, the train heads south along Lake Neuchatel. But we didn't actually see the lake, but only these marshes between the train and lakeside. This is called Les Grèves. 

Having left home at 8:15 a.m., we got to the Yvonand train station at 11:15, a three-hour trip. (We left late on purpose because the weather forecast had cloudy skies till about noon. We lucked out that the weather was nice by the time we got here). Yvonand is in Canton Vaud, but very close to the border of Canton Fribourg. This is the French-speaking part of Switzerland. 

We are mostly following local themed trail no.129: "Tour du Vallon des Vaux", heading first to the ruins of the St.Martin fortress, then the unusual church at Chêne-Pâquier, which is then the mid-point of the loop. 

First interesting building we got to was the "Hotel de la Gare" (Train Station Hotel). The trail officially heads to the right from here, but we decided to take a detour to that building with the bell-tower, surely a church of some kind!

One of the main roads in town. 

To our left, some typical farm houses in this region. 

This building was indeed a church, the town's Catholic Parish Church (Saint-Ours!), first mentioned in documents of 1010! The original church was replaced in 1748 by this building, made from stones rescued from a Romanesque Villa from a village called Mordagne. 

As I was photographing the front of the church, this cool car passed by!

We have now made it to the river called La Menthue (which flows into the lake) at noon, and are now headed into the ravine called "Vallon des Vaux"). We are mostly following local themed trail no.129: "Tour du Vallon des Vaux", heading first to the ruins of the St.Martin fortress, then to the unusual church at Chêne-Pâquier, which is then the mid-point of the loop. 

Description of the themed trail which we have chosen to follow this day, a 14-km trail through and around the gorge called "Vallon des Vaux" (a nature reserve) with highlights afterwards such as the ruins of a 1240 fortress, and an unusual circular church building in Chêne-Pâquier. 

This was a long hike, almost four hours and 14 km, starting with a long paved section, passing under an impressive free-way bridge, then along the canyon to the fortress ruins, and after that through agricultural lands with a couple of small typical villages of the Fribourg/Vaud region, and then back to Yvonand. (This is very close to the border with Canton Fribourg). 

Up ahead is the impressive freeway bridge! (Unfortunately there was quite a bit of paved road that we had to walk before getting to the canyon on the other side of the bridge). 

The supports of the Autobahn are apparently 100 meters tall! This is so amazing. 

Now we are following the brook called "Ruisseau des Vaux", which gives its name to the gorge: "Vallon des Vaux".

It was a very lovely, albeit too short, stretch through the Vallon des Vaux. 

A long set of steps leads us out of the gorge to the upper pastoral landscape. 

This huge field of sunflowers must have been impressive when the flowers were in full bloom!

We reached the ruins of the St.Martin Tower at 1 p.m. A little detour was required, and then we climbed up to the viewing platform along a circular staircase inside the tower. The fortress was built in 1240 and renovated in the 20th Century. 

Views to the southeast over that field of sunflowers from the top of the fortress tower. 

An even better view of the field of sunflowers!

And this view is to the Jura Mountains to the southwest. Unfortunately you cannot see the lake from here. 

Heading back down now. We didn't stay long as there wasn't really that much to see from up here. 

Another 10 minutes to the village of Chêne-Pâquier as we pass a llama farm. The one passed out is adorable! 

At 1:30 p.m. we reached the little church at the south end of the village of Chêne-Pâquier. This is a very unusual structure: An elliptical-shaped church. It was built in 1667 and is one of the first (and only remaining) churches in Switzerland built purely as an Protestant Church. (At the time of the Reformation, most of the Protestant churches were established in existing Catholic church buildings). 

Interior of the Protestant church in Chêne-Pâquier 

Next to the little church is a beautiful large farmhouse. A placard nearby informs us that it was built in 1821. 

Continuing on now past the main part of the village of Chêne-Pâquier, which we did not detour into.  

Another short stretch of forest takes us to an arched stone bridge over the "Ruisseau des Vaux" river, and to a site of an old mill.

This is the site of an old mill, at the stone bridge called "Pont de Covet". (I was not able to photograph the bridge properly, too many branches and leaves in the way!)

Now our trail loops back toward the lake, with a detour to the next village called Chavannes-le-Chêne, where the church building looks more like an abandoned old building! 

When we got to the main road, we first saw this interesting building called "Hotel de Ville", which translates to "City Hall", but this also once was a restaurant!

We then detoured to that building I had seen from below, which looks much better from this side! It is a medieval (Romanesque) building, first mentioned in 1320. The bells in the interesting arch are from 1674. 

Interior of the Romanesque church, with a lovely wood-paneled ceiling. The stained-glass window is very attractive; it dates from 1950. 

Someone obviously takes care of the flower boxes here! A last look at the very old facade before we return to the official walking trail. 

A view of the clock tower at the "Hotel de Ville" in Chavannes-le-Chêne  

After another long stretch through the forest right next to the gorge (which we could not look down into because of the lush vegetation) we see the next village we are headed to, called Rovray. 

A nice view to the Jura Mountains to the southwest, across some attractive farmland. 

A typical farmhouse in this region. 

Then as we walked along the main road through Rovray, we came across another unusual-looking church building. This one is called St.Blaise, originally built 1448. 

As the church was starting to deteriorate, it was totally rebuilt in 1753-1754, then restored in 1935 and 1947. 

This old farmhouse also had a little shop which we looked into, but there wasn't anything we wanted to buy. 

This was maybe the nicest part of our hike, where we had views of Lake Neuchatel as we headed back down to the town of Yvonand. 

Here we had to do a detour along paved roads until we got to the underpass of the Autobahn. But there were no cars on the detour road. (Along the yellow field to the right, then back to the left parallel to the forest and autobahn). 

Finally, a stretch off the paved road!

Always happy to find a fountain where we can fill up our water bottles with fresh, cold water!

Arriving back in the town of Yvonand at just after 4 p.m. From here we had to walk for about one kilometer through the town to the train station. 

Back at the Yvonand train station at 4:30 p.m. We had enough time to by a half-liter of ice cream at the grocery store, and eat it while waiting for the 16:40 train (same trip back home, 3 hours). 

What our loop hike looks like on Google Satellite Maps, starting in Yvonand, heading through the Vallon des Vaux to the fortress ruins of St.Martin, then to the very unusual church building in Chêne-Pâquier, and looping back via Chavannes-le-Chêne and Rovray.  

Views nearer to back home now. The clouds are still low on the mountains. 

Location of Yvonand on Lac de Neuchâtel in Switzerland

This is the kind of weather we would have expected in the mountains this day.