Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Autumn holidays and festivals beckon, the grape harvesting is getting underway and towns in the region are making pre-winter road repairs, so plan on traffic jams if you’re heading out in your car in the next two weeks.
The weather is expected to turn colder and mostly rainy throughout Switzerland 24-26 September, but most events will go ahead, with the exception of the VTT mountain bike championships in Leysin, canton Vaud, cancelled due to the forecast for rain and snow down to 1700 metres.
Scarecrows not afraid of the rain
One group that won’t be frightened off by rain is the scarecrows in Denens, near Morges. The hugely popular and colourful Nuit des Epouvantails takes place Saturday 25 September, featuring the extraordinary scarecrows for which the village of Denens has become famous, and parade with fireworks near the chateau in Morges.
Check out the GenevaLunch events pages for a region-wide selection.
Regional and national roadworks causing slowdowns
Gland and Saint Prex in canton Vaud both have roadworks in the next two weeks that will involve blocking part of the cantonal highway (lake road). In Gland, repairs on the Promenthouse bridge continue until November. The new roundabout between Allaman and Rolle should be finished by next week. Note that a map of all roadworks in Vaud, with dates for scheduled work, is kept current by the canton.
The Federal Highway Department also publishes a current national roadworks map, useful for travel planning. The department has just issued travel delay warnings from 26 September to 1 November, due to roadworks plus European autumn school vacations. Main areas affected, going south (reverse traffic also afffected):
- A1 autoroute St Margrethen – Geneva: Wangen to Aare and the Wiggertal exit, between Chavornay and the Villars-Sainte-Croix exit
- A2/E35 Basel–Chiasso–Milan: Basel/Weil am Rhein customs post, between the Belchen tunnel and the Haerkingen exit, between Wassen and the north end of the Saint-Gotthard tunnel, customs post at Chiasso/Brogeda, Como/Grandate toll booth
- A3 Basel–Sargans: between Basel/Saint-Louis customs and the Wiese exit, between Reichenburg and Muehlehorn (roadworks)
- A9 Lausanne–Vevey: between Lausanne-Vennes and the la Veyre exit (roadworks)
- A13 Sargans–Bellinzone: north end of San Bernardino tunnel
- Bern bypass (A1/A6), from Lausanne (A1/A9) and from Zurich (A1/A3).
Good wine grape harvest, so expect tractors on the roads
The 2010 grape harvest is underway in Geneva, and begins in most of Vaud the week of 27 September, with Valais, the country’s largest wine-producing canton starting 1 October. The cold snap last spring afffected the flowering of the vines and the quantity of grapes is down by 30 percent in some areas, but the quality is expected to be very good, say cantonal agriculture departments.
Expect to find tractors on the roads, hauling large trailers of grapes. If they slow you down too much the best solution is to get out and take a walk through Switzerland’s beautiful vineyards, crisscrossed with hiking paths.
Hermance in canton Geneva offers the option 26 September to join in the fun as an old wine press is put back into action, and you can buy moût, the usually-unfiltered, freshly pressed grape juice.