4 Best Sights in Fribourg and Neuchâtel, Switzerland

Crowning the storybook village of Gruyères is the town's famed château. Between 1080 and 1554, 19 counts held political power over this region, and they built and expanded this medieval castle. Little is known about them except for the last one, Michel. A lover of luxury and big spending, he expanded the estates and then fled his creditors in 1555. In 1849, a wealthy Geneva family bought the castle and encouraged painter friends to decorate a room now known as Corot's Room, because it features four of Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot's landscapes. Also worth seeing is the Knights' Room with its impressive 19th-century fresco cycle depicting local legends, and the aptly named Fantastic Art Room, hung with contemporary work. An 18-minute multimedia show called Gruyères, which brings to life the history of the castle in animated form (available in eight languages), shown daily in the old caretaker's lodge, is worth your time.

When the Burgundian Wars broke out in the late 15th century, the Château de Grandson, built in the 11th century and much rebuilt during the 13th and 15th centuries, was in the hands of Charles the Bold of Burgundy. In 1475, the Swiss won it by siege, but early the next year their garrison was surprised by Charles, and 418 of their men were captured and hanged from the apple trees in the castle orchard. A few days later the Swiss returned to Grandson and, after crushing the Burgundians, retaliated by stringing up their prisoners from the same apple trees. After being used for three centuries as a residence by the Bernese bailiffs, the castle was bought in 1875 by the de Blonay family, who restored it to its current impressive state, with high, massive walls and five cone turrets. Inside, you can see reproductions of Charles the Bold's Burgundian war tent and two jousting knights astride their horses—in full armor. There are also oubliettes (dungeon pits), torture chambers, and a model of the Battle of Grandson, complete with a 20-minute slide show (in English if you get in quickly enough to push the right button). The dungeons now house an extensive vintage-car museum, displaying the prized beauties of Greta Garbo and Winston Churchill. Currently under renovation until 2025, the castle can be still be visited by making a reservation in advance.

Perched on a rocky hill at the center of the city, the relatively modest château is one of a cluster of historic buildings that made up the ancient royal court of Neuchâtel, including the Collegiale and Tour des Prisons. Until the canton joined the Swiss Confederation in 1848—uniquely, the only monarchy to do so—it was inhabited by various branches of Prussian royalty. Today, it serves as the main administrative offices of the canton, but a selection of the castle's rooms and fittings can be viewed on a guided tour, which is offered four times daily on days that the château is open to visitors. Taking the tour is the only way to visit the fascinating Roman-built Tour des Prisons,where visitors may enter the original wooden prison cells and take in stunning views from its panoramic terrace.

In the center of the Old Town sits the turreted, mid-13th-century Château de Yverdon-les-Bains. Most of the castle is now a museum, with exhibits on locally discovered prehistoric and Roman artifacts, Egyptian art, natural history, and, of course, local history. A special room is dedicated to the famous Swiss educator Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi (1746–1827), who spent 20 years here. His influential ideas on education led to school reforms at home and in Germany and England.