La Maison du Gruyère

Great cheese experience involving all 5 senses! Sight: see real Gruyère cheese being made right in front of you! Hearing: guided tour narrated by Cherry the cow. Kids love being guided by a cow with a cute name. Smell: smell the various types plants commonly found in the pasture and eaten by cows. Touch and taste: enjoy Gruyère cheese samples during the tour! The Gruyère dishes at the restaurant is not bad either. My whole family including kids of 8 and 4 years old loved it! The only thing I would complain is that the indoor was a bit warm and stuffy, especially during Summer when we went.

La Maison du Gruyère is a charming stop if you’re visiting the Gruyères region. The self-guided tour is short but informative, giving a nice overview of how the famous Gruyère cheese is made. You can see the production process through glass windows (especially interesting if you go in the morning when cheese is being made), and the free audio guide adds good context in multiple languages. You’re given cheese samples at different stages of aging, which is a nice touch. The interactive parts are kid-friendly and engaging, and the gift shop offers a wide range of local cheeses and souvenirs at reasonable prices. However, the experience is more educational than hands-on, so don’t expect to make your own cheese or interact with the cheesemakers. Still, it’s a great stop for an hour or so, especially if combined with the nearby Gruyères Castle or the chocolate factory in Broc. Worth a visit if you’re in the area!

A shorter but excellent experience to see how this traditional and famous Swiss cheese is made! It is quite short but as part of a bigger itinerary in the day this is perfect, best suited in combination with a trip to the castle, and well worth it! Their cafe is also really nice and the people are lovely, usually also very accommodating, and speak very good English, for those who have trouble with French.

Love their cheese! Kids had a great time in the park next to their restaurant's outdoor seating. We ordered ice cream and it was delicious! Very cute items in their shopping area. Great wine, too!

Wonderful museum that I enjoyed more than anticipated! The metal canisters contain the different elements that cows eat and you can smell them! The aromas range from flowers, to grass, to herbs... Amazing! After smelling them I was able to identify a few in the samples of cheese given on entry!

Simple but good self-guided tour of the cheese factory. The kids enjoyed the scents and games, and the audio guide was fine for them too. Very friendly staff. We enjoyed our meal at the restaurant, salad plate and rosti with cheese.

La Maison du Gruyère in Gruyères is a quick, fun stop if you’re curious about how those big wheels of cheese come to life. You’ll see vats bubbling with curds and racks of aging cheese that fill the air with warm, nutty smells. It does get busy with tours, so swing by early if you want space to wander. A touristy stop, but a good one if you’re nearby and hungry for a bit of cheese history.

We visited the La Maison du Gruyère cheese shop on our own and not part of a tour. The cost of the tour is $7 per adult. Note: They give each guest a small three-pack of cheese with admission. I said a comment that the tournis not worth it for the price (It's only 7 Swiss Francs and you get cheese. So you're out what, 3 Swiss Francs)? Self-guided audio tour, told from a cow's perspective. Note: cows did not actually talk. We liked seeing them process the cheese. If you haven't seen it done, it is interesting and well narrated...by the cow. We enjoyed visiting the cheese shop at the end of the tour. Also had a fun lunch right on site. This DEFINITELY worth it. Pair it with a visit to three Gruyères Castle and the Maison Callier chocolate factory. Note: You absolutely cannot walk to the chocolate factory from the cheese store! Too far and too dangerous.

This is the first stop when you exit the train to visit Gruyère. It's CHF 7 to go in. They give you three cheese samples. The tour is self guided and runs about 5-10min. If you're running short on time, walk to the village instead. They do have a cute gift shop and they sell fresh cheese.

Nice cheese factory tour. They give you a few pieces of cheese to try of various ages. Really interesting to learn of the history and process of cheese making.

You can tour the museum to see, smell, and hear (with English phones) how Gruyère cheese is made, along with some sample cheese! It was a fun little experience. There is also a souvenir shop you visit as well. We ate at the restaurant afterwards, and we were able to enjoy the wonderful views of Switzerland through the large windows. For food, we ordered the Risotto, Fondue moitié-moitié, Macaronis de chalet, and Meringues et crème double de la Gruyère for dessert. We tried a little bit of everything, and we took the rest in boxes to go. Our server was sweet, helpful, and patient with us, recommending their most popular dishes. The food tasted authentic, and I liked their wooden bowls and utensils. Overall, it was a pretty good experience!

It's ok. Nothing spectacular. I guess we were expecting a bit more instructions on how the cheese was made but didn't get much on that. The factory seems a bit boring. Overall it felt more like a tourist trap.

We enjoyed this tour, because we had small children especially. Even as an adult, I learned a lot about cheese that I didn't know before. As others have referenced, the tour is geared more for children, but I found the process of cheese making pretty fascinating myself. They have a family rate for entrance, so this makes it more affordable to visit. One thing for sure: I will remember this tour everytime I eat cheese now :)

A highly educational museum right outside of the main bus stop of town where you'll learn how Gruyère cheese is made. If you hear all the cowbells in the area and wonder what's up with that, you might want to come to this museum and learn how it all leads to Gruyère cheese. Oh, and they give you a sample to try. My favorite part of the museum is the beginning where you get to smell all the different herbs that the cows eat which contribute to the unique taste of Gruyère cheese. The museum tour was a little short though it's still a must see if you have a Swiss Travel Pass active that day since you'll get in FREE.

Fun place to visit. It was unfortunate that we missed the actual tour. The wait for the fondue was a little excessive, BUT the wait was worth it for the experience and the food was delish!!

La Maison du Gruyere was a stop that was included in the Golden Pass Chocolate train tour. I have a feeling no one really comes here, aside from tour groups, because it's kind of terrible. It was way too crowded. I'm not sure if it was because they didn't anticipate that many tour groups coming in that day, but there was very little room to walk. Plus, the place is small. It felt like we were being herded like cattle - especially since you basically just walk along a wall with illustrations/pictures, while listening to an audio guide. And you should definitely take the audio guide. Otherwise, you will have absolutely no idea what is going on. The only two things I liked about this was the pack of cheese (three different ages of Gruyere) they give you at the beginning of the tour, and the cheese room, where you get to get a glimpse of the rooms where they store the cheese wheels.

Got free cheese at the start of the tour which was real cool. Definitely enjoyed the older aged cheese the most, never really knew the difference to that level. The museum/tour was okay. Bought fresh cheese for fondue which was RIVETING.

On our way out, we decided to stop by here before our trip to the Cailler factory. The tour was more pricey than anticipated so we just took a few photos of the hall of cheese and walked around the gift store. Otherwise, nothing too impressive except for the awesome smells of cheese :)

It's a good place to stop by to take a photo and have the Gryere double cream dessert but for Fondue, I think it wasn't the best ... It was OK and the price was good. we ordered one (about 25 CHF) for 2 people and it was enough. Bread was very good though. My friend got Rosti but it wasn't any special so just stick to the fondue if you are going to eat something. You can see the cheese storage area where all cheese were being aged next to the restaurant.

Is anyone *really* interested in how cheese is made? Even if you are, do you *really* want to learn from the pre-recorded voice of Cherry the Cow? I found it difficult to gauge the target demography of this museum. The rather ridiculous cow-guide and the little cheese quiz made me feel like it must have been designed at least in part with children in mind. On the other hand, the place was so darn uninteresting that it is difficult to imagine someone would have thought a child would enjoy it. But then again, maybe that's why it's so small--the entire museum was comprised basically of a cheese celler, a wall of information about what cows eat, an atrium-style cheese factory where you can look down on people making cheese and a restaurant/souvenir shop. There are plenty of gift shops and restaurants inside of the village, so I wouldn't waste too much time or stomach-space here. The entrance fee is CHF6.50 for adults, but you can pair it with the Chateau de Gruyeres entrance fee (separately CHF9.50) for CHF14.50.

I loved the small village of Gruyere. After we walked through the small village we stopped in the cafe to try the Gruyere Fondue. The waitress said it was a portion for 1 person- so glad we only ordered 1 because it was plenty for 2 people. We also ordered a quiche. It was the best quiche I've ever had partly because I haven't had much quiche and I was hungry. Don't miss taking a photo of the cheese behind the glass wall before you enter the cafe. We had a lovely local white wine and we enjoyed our experience. It was so Swiss! There is a nice shop with lots of cheese, meats and wine if you prefer to do a picnic. It was the fondue we were after though.

Total tourist trap. Yeah, I said it. Sorry, cheeseheads. If you were to call La Maison Du Gruyere a glorified gift shop, I wouldn't argue with you. Even if all you purchase is a tour ticket, you'll still go home with a souvenir. What else, but three blocks of various aged Gruyere cheese? Doesn't sound all that bad, right? Well, about that tour. Using a walkie-talkie-style audio guide, you literally walk around a single wall-like structure with photos and different pasture scents, listening to house mascot Cherry the Cow tell you all about the bovine life and the history of Gruyere. Is this for kids? Or adults? I still couldn't tell you, to be completely honest, but if it's for kids, there's a good chance they will be bored out of their skulls. I nearly was, but calling myself an adult is probably unfair anyway. That said, there are some interesting facts, sure, but none that warrant a stroll around a half-assed exhibit like this. That's what Wikipedia is for. If you're "lucky" (I was), you might spot some action in the second leg of this very short, very self-guided tour and see how Gruyere is made, from second-flood windows overlooking a cheese kitchen that looks more like the super meth lab from Breaking Bad. That's the coolest part of this place. And it's only kind of cool for a few minutes or so. And I use the term "cool" very loosely. In every sense of the word, La Maison Du Gruyere is super cheesy. Skip this pit stop at the bottom of the hill and make your way up to the region's real attraction, the medieval town of Gruyères.

The cafe here is really tasty, I would recommend stopping by there for some coffee, tea, croissants, and obviously Gryuere cheese! This place is made for tourists, of course, and it was not the best tour ever, but if you are in the area it won't kill you to stop by and check it out. It is a self-tour, which is nice because you can skip ahead if you get really bored with whatever section you are on. You also get a glimpse into the factory, seeing the cheese experts choose when to add stuff and when the cheese is ready to move into storage. You get a sample pack of cheese w/ tour purchase, it was 3 slices of cheese, aged different times.

We were in the little town of Gruyere, we had to stop for some fondue, roti and beer. This place is cheesy, huge wheels of gruyere cheese being manufactured and a huge window for you to see the thousands of wheels of cheese being brined and rotated. Cute wait staff in costumes serving us salads, huge hot fondue pots of molten cheese, cold beer and chilled salads...mmmmmmm, and the roti, yum yum!

Really interesting. $12 for a family of 4 and you each get three cheese samples. We thought it was interesting and we enjoyed walking up to the town of Gruyère afterwards.

It's a total tourist trap. Paid chf 7 per person for the entrance and an audio guide. What a rip off, you can find or read those information on Internet as well. Small area.. I guess the highlight is the shop and restaurant. Skip this and go directly to Maison Cailler and Gruyere town.

I love Gruyere cheese, and I have been on other cheese factory tours, but this one was disappointing. For the price, you only get a prepackaged sample pack of 4 slices of cheese. What is interesting, is that each slice is a different age, so you can taste the difference in the cheese dependent on how long it has been aged. The tour itself is VERY short. There is only one viewing platform, and you are lucky if you will catch them doing anything. I went during the posted time in the morning for them to be working, and it was one guy walking around, just checking the knobs on some of the machines, nothing amazing. They have an audio guide that you should definitely get that walks you through the cheese making process from the viewpoint of a cow. They have some TV monitors on the viewing platform to show you what it might look like if you were one of the lucky few to ever see them do anything. Your tour is done within a quick blink of your eyes, unless you have the patience to listen to every single audio guide channel. It gets a bit boring to listen to the story of the cow after awhile. The cheese factory is directly across the street from the train station. There is a large tourist shop here, that is a good way to kill time if you are waiting for your train. Don't spend time eating anything in the cafe here, walk up to the old town of Gruyere, and eat a cheesy dish from one of the many restaurants there.

I was told that this is "cheesy" the American slang term for kind of tacky. You get an audio tape told by Cherry the cow, they tell you how the cheese is made, show you videos and if you are lucky the "cheese man" will come out and stir the copper vat. I think the timing is everything. If you are lucky you get to see an interesting part of the process...Plus you get three slices of cheese, aged differently , for you to taste...My friends really wanted to go. We actually ate in the restaurant as well. The fondue there, the moitie moitie is quite good though. We were 5 people and we ordered fondue for three, plus extra potatoes and bread and it was more than enough for us all. The waitress, Suzie Personality who refused to speak a word of anything but French to us and very fast so we couldn't really understand her...love that. Based on the tour and nasty waitress was how they got the poor score...good fondue is found in many places en Suisse :)