Discover Aubonne

Aubonne combines a historic town center with Château d’Aubonne and the natural areas of the Vallon de l’Aubonne. There are routes of different lengths and with different themes to choose from for your stay: a 1,800-meter tour of Aubonne, an 8.2-kilometer trail between Bière and Aubonne, and an extensive arboretum. You can decide how to balance local history, nature and exercise according to your interests.

The castle and local history

Château d’Aubonne was built before 1197 and stands on a hill overlooking the town and the Aubonne gorge. It is a Swiss cultural property of national significance. The history of the Lordship of Aubonne can also be traced through various dates: from 1397 to 1554, it was held by the Counts of Gruyère; afterward, its rights passed to the Bernese authorities.

In 1670, Henri Duquesne acquired the Lordship and Château d’Aubonne. He then had a white tower with an oriental design and an onion-shaped roof built in place of the original keep. On February 1, 1701, Bern bought the Lordship and established the Bailiwick of Aubonne. Seventeen bailiffs served there in succession until the Vaud Revolution on January 24, 1798. Another historical curiosity can be found in the Temple d’Aubonne: it holds the heart of Henri Duquesne’s father.

Two routes of different lengths

The Visites d’Aubonne tour covers 14 stops and a distance of 1,800 meters. You can take it with a guide or explore on your own using a free leaflet. Almost the entire route is accessible to people with reduced mobility; confirm accessibility conditions before your trip. Guided tours of Aubonne, with additional details and anecdotes, can also be booked.

The Sentier au Fil de l’Aubonne, which connects Bière and Aubonne, is considerably longer. The trail is 8.2 kilometers long, rated easy and listed as taking two and a half hours. Information boards along the way explain the local nature and history. By comparison, Visites d’Aubonne is much shorter and focuses on several stops in the town.

The arboretum and nature in the valley

The Arboretum du Vallon de l’Aubonne covers 200 hectares of woodland and meadows. Its collection includes more than 90 different genera, as well as over 3,000 different species and varieties of trees and shrubs. 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 valley.

The landscape above the vineyards is also part of the wider regional setting: 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. Alongside architectural history, nature and landscape are therefore also at the heart of a stay here.

A treasure hunt with puzzles

The municipality of Aubonne developed the Barbet le Farfadet treasure hunt together with Morges Région Tourisme. Participants follow clues by deciphering puzzles and a cryptex, interpreting maps and solving the riddle. This offers a different way to explore Aubonne from a tour focused on the town’s history. As the treasure hunt’s arrangements may change, check the latest information before planning.

Discover more destinations: Lavigny, Saint-Livres, Ecublens Vd, Saint-Saphorin-sur-Morges, Echichens, Etoy, Cuarnens, Allaman.

See the regional travel overview: Morges.