La Maison du Gruyère

The easiest place in Europe to watch a great mountain cheese being made from start to finish. From the gallery above the production floor you look straight down into copper vats as the milk is curdled, cut, cooked and pressed into molds, and the cheesemakers work two to four times each morning, depending on the season, between 9am and 12:30pm. An interactive exhibition covers the aromas and production stages of Gruyère AOP, which fills in the steps if you arrive between batches. It sits opposite the station below the hilltop town of Gruyères, so the castle makes an easy pairing for the rest of the day.