Morges

Morges was laid out in the thirteenth century by Savoy as a planned lake port and kept its grid and arcaded main street. Its best-known event is horticultural: the Fete de la Tulipe fills the Parc de l'Independance beside the lake each spring with well over a hundred thousand tulips in several hundred varieties, running from late March through April and free to walk. The castle on the waterfront, a square Savoyard fortress of about 1286, holds military museums. Audrey Hepburn lived at Tolochenaz just outside Morges for the last thirty years of her life and is buried there; Paderewski, the pianist and Polish prime minister, also lived nearby and left material to the town.

What to look for

• Over a hundred thousand tulips - the spring festival in the lakeside park.
• A Savoyard castle of about 1286 - square-planned on the waterfront.
• An arcaded planned town - the thirteenth-century grid still legible.
• Hepburn and Paderewski connections - both settled just outside the town.

When to go

April for the tulips; May to September otherwise. Half a day.

Practical notes

The tulip display is seasonal and weather-dependent - a cold or hot spring shifts it. The park is busy at weekends in April. The castle museums are military and specialised. The Hepburn connection is a grave at a neighbouring village, not a museum.

Nearby

Lausanne is east; Nyon and Coppet are west along the lake.

Key facts