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13 miles, 13 wine tastings. It’s the perfect half marathon. This year I had the pleasure to tackle my third wine race (previously having run the Beaujolais Half and Marathon du Medoc), and I have to admit, this may be my favorite of all three races. The small size, variety of wines, and jaw-dropping views easily brought this race to my top position, but the lack of costumes? I suppose nothing is perfect.

Registering for the Côtes de l’Orbe Half Marathon

Registering for this race was much easier than the other wine marathons I’ve done. For starters, this one didn’t require me to visit my doctor and get a medical certificate. The only issue my group ran into was making sure we had no special characters in the registration form on the website. It kept giving us error messages with no reasons, until we finally figured out that it was the accents over their street names.

When registering you have a few options to choose from, two running and two walking. The walking groups cover 21k or 11k and start earlier in the morning. Walkers had dogs and baby strollers that they brought with them. The running option also had the same distances, but a later start. Officially the finish line closed four hours after the start of the half marathon, but the last sweeper bikes came through a bit after that four hour mark.

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Travel to Switzerland

One of my favorite things about running in Switzerland is how extensive their train system is. We flew into Geneva for this race, but we also easily could’ve flown into Zurich if the flight had been cheaper. Make sure you book your train tickets on the SBB website in advance, and make sure you have the right dates on your ticket! Not every train will check your ticket, but if they catch you without a ticket you have to pay the price of a day of ticket, plus 90 CHF.

Where to Stay for Race Day

For this race, I recommend staying in the nearby city of Lausanne. It was an easy train ride to our destination and they have lots of hotel options in the city. The race itself takes place in the small village of Arnex which doesn’t have any close hotel options. There’s an easy 30 minute train ride that you can take from Lausanne Station (marked below) to Arnex.

What To Do in Switzerland

If you’re traveling in for this wine marathon, you’re going to want to spend some time exploring the nearby region. I’ve put together a list of some of my favorite free and low budget things to see.

Geneva

Geneva has a lot of interesting things to see, I would recommend visiting the Cathedral and climbing to the top for some amazing views, visiting the botanical gardens, taking a stop at the CERN Science Gateway (free entry, you just need to register in advance)! I also suggest simply exploring the historic old town. The architecture is lovely and you’ll definitely want to allocate some time to sit and enjoy all the tiny details.

Lausanne

While in Lausanne I really enjoyed exploring the small street markets that were set up in various neighborhoods. You can also visit the Cathedral and walk by the water or up the hill in the old town. Lausanne is set on a giant hill, so you’ll always be going up or down. 

Lausanne is also home to the Olympic museum, which isn’t free to see but it is quite interesting and covers the history of the modern Olympics. You can also take a ferry for a low cost trip out onto the water and to a neighboring town, or book a private paddle boat for a more relaxed (but expensive) experience.

Zurich

If you’re visiting Zurich I highly recommend the Archeological Windows. These are free exhibits spread across the city that go into the history of Zurich, from early settlers to the Romans, to the first sewer system in Zurich. You can visit City Hall and pick up a free set of keys in exchange for a form of valid ID. The keys will grant you access to a series of locked off areas where you’ll be able to both learn and feel superior to everyone else who doesn’t have keys to unlock secret doors.

Race Day

Okay, now back to the wine marathon. Bib pick-up for the Côtes de l’Orbe Half Marathon takes place on race day, starting two hours before the half marathon. My group decided to get there for the start of the pick-up window so we could really enjoy the pre-race atmosphere. There were food trucks and vendors set-up along with picnic tables to relax at. 

Unfortunately, this was also our first hurdle. None of us had cash, and all of these vendors exclusively took cash or a Swiss version of Venmo that we couldn’t sign up for. Luckily a very kind local was able to drive us to a nearby ATM one village over, but don’t plan for that. BRING CASH!!!

Côtes de l’Orbe Half Marathon Course

Once it was go time we donned our costumes and hit the road. The half marathon was a very small group, maybe a couple hundred runners, so everyone just went at once. You’ll quickly realize while running this race that it is not flat. In fact, no wine marathon I’ve ever done has been flat since they aren’t typically designed for speed, but this one was extra hilly. The crowd also spread out quickly, and by the time we left the first wine stop people were very spread out. 

The course is a mixture of roads, trails, grass, mud, and everything in between. There were a few sections at the start that were slightly technical trails, especially after three wine stops. The views made up for all of the chaos of the steep hills and trails. Every time I turned around there was something amazing to look at. The Alps rising in the distance, the cows mooing right next to us, crystal clear streams with the prettiest blue green water. It was one of the prettiest races I’ve ever done (and I’ve done a lot of beautiful races). 

We also had some unlucky weather, with a nice downpour near the end. Repeat runners told us they normally get amazing weather during the race, so maybe my group wearing towels cursed the race.

The Costumes

I always love the culture of wearing costumes at other wine races I’ve done, but I will say at this one it seemed like only 20% of the runners were in costume (although almost all of the walkers were dressed up). I still proudly wore my Eurovision background dancer outfit and we met some other people in great fits, but overall, they were a bit low on the fancy dress.

The Wine Stops

Honestly, this race had the best wine stops of any race I’ve done. And maybe that’s my fault for repeatedly running wine marathons that only serve red wine when I don’t really like red wine, but I loved this race for more than just the variety. 

Each of the 13 stops had white, red, and rosé options to taste from (some even had multiple different reds and whites), but they also were incredibly fast. I’ve run many wine races where half the race is slowly moving to get to the table for wine. Not here. In addition, all of the wine was served in real glasses, which is such a nice touch instead of plastic. 

I also loved the atmosphere at each of the stops because we kept seeing the same groups. Since the race was so small it really felt like we were running with the same people and we were able to have multiple conversations and even hang out at the finish line together. A good chunk of the wine stops had great food options for us to sample. There was beef and chicken stew, a salmon spread on some crackers, puff pastry balls that I thought would have a light cream filling but actually were filled with a very good but heavy Swiss cheese, raw salmon, and Swiss Chocolate to name a few of the things we sampled during the race.

Post-Race Party

After the race there was also a post-race party where runners could hang around. Every finisher got a glass and their own bottle of wine, but I would highly recommend not opening your bottle immediately after you get it. Give your body a chance to process the alcohol. The food vendors from earlier were still set up, so it was a great area to just sit and keep chatting while you eat. 

Overall, I really enjoyed this race, and would absolutely run it again. I loved the atmosphere and the size of the race, along with the variety of wines to fit everyone’s taste buds. If you want to register for next year’s race, you can do so here.