Visiting Lausanne
Visiting Maison du Lac
Parents, family, and other associates of current Pepperdine Lausanne students are welcome to visit our program facilities, Maison du Lac, and enjoy our campus. While planning your visit, we encourage you to reference this page as well as our local pages for information about places to see, eat, watch, and do in and around Lausanne.
When to Visit
Please remember our participants are full time students and are balancing a strenuous academic schedule with traveling the world, and we encourage you to plan your visit in a time that will not place undue stress on them. We highly discourage visits during the following times:
- Orientations (first week of each semester)
- Midterm Exams (check with your student for their exact schedule)
- Educational Field Trip (no students will be in Lausanne)
- Final Exams (last two weeks of each semester)
- Final Banquet
For questions on the ideal time to visit, please contact Assistant Director Mark Barneche.
IP Visitors Weekend Reservation
Welcome, fellow Pepperdine IP students! We're so glad you are thinking about visiting our beautiful city along the lake. Please fill out this form in order to request overnight housing in Pepperdine's house in Lausanne - Maison du Lac. Housing and Residence Life is limited (8 beds), so it is recommended that you have an alternative plan in place in case we cannot secure housing for you.
While you can submit this form as far in advance as you would like, the deadline to submit this form is the Tuesday prior to your intended travel weekend at 5:00 PM. You will be contacted by Assistant Director Mark Barneche via email (mark.barneche@pepperdine.edu) regarding whether your request has been accepted or declined.
Directions to Pepperdine Lausanne
These directions will guide you from Geneva Airport (GVA), the closest international airport, to our local train station, and onward to our program facility.
Download these directions HERE.
Instructional video HERE.
- In the GVA baggage claim, check the SBB (Swiss National Railways) departure board for the next train departing to Lausanne
- After exiting the baggage claim doors, turn left and continue down the hallway and exit the airport through the glass doors on your right.
- Buy a direct, one-way ticket to Lausanne for the appropriate number of adults and children in your group. Kiosk machines can be navigated in English and most accept credit cards.
- Continue toward the main departure board to check which platform your train is on. Look for "Lausanne" as one of the destinations, and make a note of which "voie" (or platform) your train will be leaving from
- Board the train and enjoy your first views of Switzerland. The trains take 45 minutes to an hour. Be sure to listen for the conductor to announce Lausanne as the next stop.
- Exit at the Lausanne station and walk toward the front of train station. You may need to use the tunnel under the track for some platforms. After exiting the train station, turn left, cross the street by Asia Express, and follow the road up the hill toward the stop light
- At the first major intersection, turn left onto Marc-Dufour). Continue down the hill. Maison du Lac will be on your left hand side, identified by a large "Pepperdine University" sign.
Accommodations
Are you visiting Lausanne? Here are some local accommodations that will help you stay well rested during your stay here in Lausanne!
Hotels
Lausanne Guesthouse ($) - Chemin des Epinettes 4, 1007 Lausanne
W: http://www.lausanne-guesthouse.ch
T: 021 601 80 00
Hôtel Alpha-Palmiers ($$$) - Rue du Petit Chêne 34, 1003 Lausanne
W: http://byfassbind.com
T: 021 555 59 99
Lausanne Palace & Spa ($$$$) - Rue du Grand Chêne 7, 1003 Lausanne
W: http://www.lausanne-palace.com/uk/index.php
T: 021 331 31 31
Restaurants
Reservations are often required in Switzerland regardless of the time of day or price of the restaurant. If you are interested in making a reservation, please inform us and we will assist you.
Looking for somewhere open Sunday?
Art & Culture
As a European crossroads, Lausanne has won a reputation as a city that is demanding, open and dynamic in the field of the arts. Every year there are numerous cultural events: the Béjart Ballet Lausanne, concerts by the Orchestre de chambre de Lausanne (Lausanne Chamber Orchestra), the musical drama productions put on by the Opéra de Lausanne (Lausanne Opera House) and finally plays at the Théâtre de Vidy-Lausanne E.T.E., which enjoys Europe-wide prestige. The presence of the Cinémathèque Suisse (Swiss Film Archive), one of the richest anywhere on the continent, adds to the originality of a city whose productions or artists often tour abroad.
But Lausanne also has many artists from the surrounding region who offer public creative work in all sorts of fields. There are many different venues for these events as well. Theater at the Arsenic, Kléber-Méleau, Boulimie, at the Grange de Dorigny and at the 2.21, classical music in Paderewski, dance at Sévelin 36, and finally jazz at Chorus and Pianissimo. The magnificent Métropole hall hosts the Béjart Ballet and the Orchestre de chambre de Lausanne, the Théâtre de Beaulieu touring shows (dance, classical, variety shows). Also, there are innumerable small venues and clubs offering contemporary music.
And that's not all: the capital of the Vaud region also has a large range of museums just waiting to be explored. To name but a few, the Collection de l'Art Brut (Collection of Raw Art), (the only museum of its kind in the whole world), the Musée de Design et d'Arts Appliqués Contemporains (mu.dac – Museum Of Contemporary Design And Applied Arts) with its exceptional collection of glass-based art, the Fondation de l'Hermitage, the Musée de l'Elysée (devoted to photography) and the Musée Olympique (Olympic Museum).
Finally, throughout the season a wide audience is invited to attend numerous lively festive events (Festival of Music, Festival of Cinema, Bach Festival, Festival of the City, Museums' Night, etc.).
Spiritual Life
The Pepperdine Lausanne faculty family help operate a weekly House Church every Sunday evening, where all students are invited to listen to a student speaker and our worship team, take communion, and partake in building a church community within the walls of Maison du Lac. Additional spiritual life opportunities within the program include men and women's weekly bible studies and events from the Convocation Series.