As you might expect, when it comes to accommodation Montreux favours its high-rollers more than its backpackers. Adding insult to injury, prices rise across the board in summer. If you’re arriving in late April (during the Golden Rose TV festival) or in early July (the Jazz Festival) you’re likely to find the town booked solid.

Dorm space costs from Fr.29 at the sole hostel, an HI place 1.5km east of Montreux on Passage de l’Auberge in Territet (021/963 49 34, fax 963 27 29; a) – beside Territet train station (slow trains only), or near the L’Eaudine stop on bus #1. There are a couple of pensions within Montreux, the best of which is the welcoming Pension Wilhelm, 13 Rue du Marché (021/963 14 31, fax 963 32 85); otherwise you’re looking at inflated prices for distinctly ordinary rooms. The least expensive hotels are La Rouvenaz, 1 Rue du Marché (021/963 27 36, fax 963 43 94; b), six comfy enough rooms in a central but quiet family-run place with Italian restaurant, and Elite, 25 Avenue du Casino (021/966 03 03, fax 966 03 10, hotel.elite@vtx.ch; b), small and generic but slap in the heart of town. Fin-de-siècle Villa Germaine, 3 Avenue Collonge in Territet (021/963 1528; b) is considerably more characterful and well out of the hubbub. There are any number of pricier, sterile business-class options and run-of-the-mill holiday hotels; shunting round the lake to Vevey or up to Glion or Caux in the hills, will turn up better value.

It’s when you break through the Fr.300-a-night barrier that things get interesting again. L’Ermitage, 75 Rue du Lac in Clarens (021/964 44 11, fax 964 70 02; f) a waterside villa set in its own grounds, has only seven rooms, all fresh and attractive, accompanied by spectacular gastronomic delights from the resident chef. Villa Toscane, 2 Rue du Lac (021/963 84 21, fax 963 84 26, villatoscane@bluewin.ch; f; closed Jan) is a fabulous white, Art Nouveau creation on the Montreux waterfront, with balconies, meticulous service et al; it’s a “garni” place (without restaurant), so prices are lower than they might otherwise be. For the full works, the only place to go is the legendary Montreux Palace, 100 Grand-Rue (021/962 12 12, fax 962 17 17, www.montreux-palace.com; i), a gigantic Belle Epoque folly opened in 1906 that was home to Vladimir Nabokov for thirteen years and that still effortlessly draws in the platinum-card classes.