A new guidebook helps you discover more than 40 cafés and restaurants in Lausanne with architectural and historical significance. Published by Favre with support from the Ville de Lausanne, this book coincides with the launch of a new label. To qualify, these cafés and restaurants must be in operation for at least 50 years and have historic architectural or design elements. Establishments meeting these requirements have received a blue plaque declaring them as a “Café historique de Lausanne.”

Written by Martine Jaquet and Isabelle Falconnier, Cafés et restaurants historiques de Lausanne profiles these historic eateries. This beautiful book, replete with photos from Florian Cella, also tells you what to look for during your visit. For locals and tourists alike, it highlights some iconic local eateries as well as some hidden gems.

This new program from the Ville de Lausanne, and the accompanying guidebook, showcases the architectural heritage of these historic cafés. Pinte Besson, for example, the oldest restaurant in Lausanne opened in 1781. Its name comes from its founders (Besson), and a unit of measurement used for liquids. The pinte (0.93 liters) was used in Switzerland and France before the introduction of the metric system.

You can find the majority of these cafés and restaurants in Lausanne’s city center. Some are also scattered around its various neighborhoods and others are further afield. Two restaurants in particular, Auberge du Chalet-des-Enfants and the Auberge de l’Abbaye de Montheron, lie above the city in the pastoral landscapes of the Parc Naturel du Jorat.

For more information:

Cafés et restaurants historiques de Lausanne. Martine Jaquet, Isabelle Falconnier (textes), Florian Cella (photos), Grégoire Junod (préface), CHF 27 via Éditions Favre.