La Maison du Gruyère

La Maison du Gruyère is where Gruyère AOP is made in front of visitors, watched from a gallery above the dairy; by the house's count, up to 48 wheels a day come out of 4 vats of 4,800 litres. It counted 191,363 exhibition visitors in 2024, third among the canton of Fribourg's museums and tourist sites. The car-free castle town of Gruyères sits on the hill above, and from Gstaad the visit is stop 4 of this trail.

A headset and a cow called Cerise lead the visit through sound, smell and touch displays to a gallery above the dairy floor. Below, cheesemakers work 4 vats of 4,800 litres; the house says a batch takes 2 hours 30 from renneting to moulding. The house points visitors to the cutting of the curd and the filling of the moulds. The house's cellar ripens up to 7,000 wheels, and the visit ends with a tasting of three ages.

Come in the morning: cheese is made two to four times a day, only between 9:00 and 12:30, and the dairy floor is about 20 minutes into the visit. The dairy opens every day, until 18:30 from June to September and 18:00 from October to May. The walk to the Moléson alpine dairy suits summer only, because that dairy makes cheese just in the summer season.

Entry is CHF 8 for adults, CHF 6 for students from 12 and retirees, and CHF 12 for a family with children up to 12; tickets are sold on site only. A combined ticket with Gruyères castle costs CHF 17. The audio guide speaks 13 languages, the visit takes 30 to 45 minutes and ends with Gruyère AOP to taste at 6, 8 and 10 months. From 5 to 30 January, weekday closing is 17:00, with a break from 12:30 to 13:15.

From Gstaad, take the train to Montbovon and change to the S50 for Gruyères: 58 minutes to 1 hour 31 minutes with one change. The dairy faces Gruyères station. By car it is 39 km via Montbovon, about 43 minutes without traffic. The castle town is closed to cars; walk about 20 minutes uphill from the station to the castle, or take the bus to Gruyères-Ville.

La Maison du Gruyère is the show dairy of Gruyère AOP cheese at Pringy, opposite Gruyères station in the canton of Fribourg. The house says milk from 22 farmers becomes cheese there behind glass, an exhibition explains how, and a 250-seat restaurant and a regional shop share the building. From Gstaad, 39 km away, it makes a day trip; the Gstaad to Gruyère cheese day builds it into a route.

The house says Switzerland's first demonstration cheese dairy opened here on 24 June 1969; the present Maison du Gruyère replaced it in May 2000, and the Interprofession du Gruyère, the cheese's trade body, is based in Pringy. The cheese is far older: a charter of 1115 by the first count of Gruyères mentions cheesemaking in the Gruyère mountains, and the name 'Gruière' appears in 1655. Under Fribourg's bailiffs, wheels went to Vevey and by boat to Lyon.

The wine poured here is Fribourg's own: the restaurant's group menus come with a glass of 'vin fribourgeois'. The canton's main vineyard is the Vully, 152 hectares where Chasselas covers 41% of the vines. Fondue moitié-moitié, half Gruyère AOP and half Vacherin Fribourgeois AOP, is made with white wine. In 2013 the State of Vaud launched a joint promotion of Terravin Chasselas and Gruyère AOP.

The Sentier des fromageries links this dairy with the alpine dairy at Moléson-sur-Gruyères: two routes, via Les Reybes or La Provêta, about two hours each way, or a 13 km loop with 656 m of climbing. Ask for the walking sheet at the start; the other dairy hands out a diploma. The Moléson dairy, in a chalet dating from 1686, makes cheese over a wood fire only in the summer season.