Fondue cruises on Swiss lakes and the Rhine

Festival des Fondues on Lake Geneva. www.cgn.ch runs fondue cruises on Lac Leman twice weekly until June 11, 2010. Chinese fondue is served on Thursday nights, and cheese fondue on Friday. Departures are from Geneva, and Morges and Lausanne in Canton Vaud, between 7 and 8 p.m., returning between 10 and 11 p.m.

Fondue cruises in Bern and the Zurich area. The Bernese lakes of Brienz and Thun both have cruise options, leaving from Interlaken at 7:30 p.m. and Thun at 6:50, and returning after nine, check out the dates at www.bls.ch/e/schifffahrt/events.php.

Fondue cruises leave from Bürkliplatz in Zurich City at 7 p.m., returning at 9:30 p.m., from October 6 through December 22, 2009 and then again from January 5 through April 27, 2010 - more at www.zsg.ch/index.php?chaesfondueschiff.

In the neighboring canton of Zug, fondue cruises on the lake leave from the town of Zug at 7:45 every Friday night except November 20 and December 25, returning at 10:15 p.m. www.zugersee-schifffahrt.ch/angebote-n73-i1305-sD.html has more information.

Cruises on the Rhine and Lake Constance. For Basel options, log on to www.baslerpersonenschifffahrt.ch/site/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=57&Itemid=198: they have ‘’Fondue mit Musik” evenings, with departures from Basel Rheinhafen at 6:45 p.m. returning at 10:30. They also have  ‘’Fondue und Weindegustation” (winetasting) cruises leaving from the same place at 6:15 and returning at 11 p.m.

North of Zurich, www.stoll-schifffahrten.ch/seiten/frameinhalt.html runs fondue cruises on the Rhine river, leaving from the city of Schaffhausen. In 2009, there is a dinner cruise on October 23 from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Cruises on November 8 and 22 fill lunch slots from noon to 3 p.m.

Another company, www.hunziker-schiffsbetrieb.ch, has scheduled fondue cruises on October 25, November 22  and December 6, 2009, from noon to 3 p.m. These leave from Stein am Rhein (canton Schaffhausen). To check the 2010 schedule for these cruises on the company website, look under ‘’Jahresprogramm”.

On nearby Lake Constance, fondue cruises leaving from Romanshorn (canton Thurgau) at 7:40 p.m. and returning at 9:25 p.m. are run by www.sbsag.ch/fondueschiff and are regularly scheduled from October 31, 2009 through February 27, 2010.

Combine fondue and ‘’Klausjagen” in December. On Lake Lucerne, the ‘’fondue and raclette boat” runs on Fridays from October 23, 2009 through March 26, 2010, departing Lucerne at 7:21 p.m. and returning at 9:25 p.m. On December 4, a steamboat does the run in honor of ‘’Klausjagen” in Küssnacht am Rigi. Cruise diners can get off the boat to attend this fascinating event, then catch the boat later for the return.  www.klausjagen.ch and www.lakelucerne.ch/de/angebote/winter-191009-010410/fondue-und-raclette-schiff.html.