Aubonne brings together two distinct travel themes: the town’s history and the nature of the Vallon de l'Aubonne. The Château, a 14-stop tour, a longer route between Bière and Aubonne, and the Arboretum offer different focal points for planning. If you find both cultural history and landscapes appealing, you can decide what should shape your stay based on the route lengths and themes.

Aubonne’s Château and History

The Château d'Aubonne was built before 1197 and is a Swiss cultural heritage site of national importance. It stands on a hill overlooking both the town and the Aubonne Gorge. The lordship of Aubonne was held by the Counts of Gruyère from 1397 to 1554; its rights then passed to the Bernese authorities.

Henri Duquesne acquired the lordship and the Château in 1670. In place of the original keep, he had a white tower built in an oriental style, with a bulbous roof. On 1 February 1701, Bern purchased the lordship and established the bailiwick of Aubonne. Seventeen bailiffs served there in succession until the Vaud Revolution on 24 January 1798. Another trace of this history can be found in the Temple d'Aubonne: it houses the heart of Henri Duquesne’s father.

The Visites d'Aubonne tour has 14 stops along a 1,800-metre route. You can experience it with a guide or independently using a free leaflet. Guided tours of Aubonne can be booked and offer additional details and anecdotes. Almost the entire route is accessible to people with reduced mobility; confirm access conditions before your trip.

Treasure Hunt and Trails

Another way to explore Aubonne is the Barbet le Farfadet treasure hunt. The municipality developed it together with Morges Région Tourisme. Participants follow clues, decipher riddles and a Cryptex, interpret maps and solve the mystery. As operational details may change, check them before making plans.

The Sentier au Fil de l'Aubonne connects Bière with Aubonne. This easy trail is 8.2 kilometres long and takes two and a half hours. Information panels along the way explain the local nature and history. The route therefore brings together two themes that also shape visits to Aubonne, but its length and duration suggest a different time commitment from the 1,800-metre Visites d'Aubonne tour.

The Arboretum and Nature in the Vallon

The Arboretum du Vallon de l'Aubonne covers 200 hectares of forests and meadows. Its collection includes more than 90 different genera, as well as over 3,000 species and varieties of trees and shrubs. The breadth of this collection gives the nature theme a different dimension from the information panels along the Sentier: the Arboretum focuses on the diversity of trees and shrubs and the forest-and-meadow landscape.

The Vallon de l'Aubonne is a wildlife reserve where almost 100 bird species can be observed. A beaver colony also lives around the reservoir in the Vallon. The historic old town of Aubonne and the entire agricultural and forest area above the vineyards are partly included in the Parc naturel régional Jura vaudois. The town’s history thus connects Aubonne’s built-up area with the landscape above the vineyards, while the Vallon offers its own opportunities for nature observation.

Those primarily interested in history can focus on the Château and the tour; those who prioritise landscapes and wildlife observation will find dedicated themes in the Vallon de l'Aubonne.

Discover more destinations: Montricher, Cuarnens, Saint-Livres, Aclens, Echichens, Saint-Prex, Lavigny, Bière.

For the broader travel overview: Morges.