Montreux is a small town with an unusually deep international-school market. Within half an hour of the lakefront you can reach a Swiss-curriculum boarding school in Blonay, a bilingual IB school in St-Légier, a girls’ boarding school above the lake in Montreux itself, and two of Switzerland’s best-known institutions in Rolle and Lausanne. Canton Vaud alone has 56 private schools registered with the AVDEP association[9], and a striking share of them sit in the Riviera.
Private schools around Montreux at a glance
- Closest international school
- St. George’s International School, Chemin de Saint-Georges 19, Montreux (Clarens) — about 2 km from the centre[1]
- Ages covered
- 18 months to 18 years at St. George’s, with boarding available from age 10[1]; 3–18 at Haut-Lac[6]
- Girls-only boarding
- Surval Montreux, ages 12–19[2]
- Swiss-curriculum option
- Chantemerle, Blonay & Vevey: Swiss pathway to the Matura, plus a Cambridge International pathway[3]
- Furthest of the group
- Institut Le Rosey, Rolle (about 45 minutes by road)[7] and Brillantmont, Lausanne (about 30 minutes)[8]
Short answer: the international schools closest to Montreux are St. George’s International School (Montreux/Clarens, IB, day and boarding), Surval Montreux (girls’ boarding, 12–19), Chantemerle (Blonay, Swiss Matura and Cambridge pathways), Eastwood Montreux (opening in Territet in 2026) and Haut-Lac International Bilingual School (St-Légier, bilingual English–French IB). Institut Le Rosey in Rolle and Brillantmont in Lausanne are within a 30–45 minute drive.
In this guide
The schools compared
| School | Where | Ages | Curriculum | Boarding | From Montreux |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| St. George’s International School | Montreux (Clarens) | 18 months–18 | IB, English | Day & boarding (from 10) | ~2 km, 5 min |
| Surval Montreux | Montreux | 12–19 (girls) | US High School Diploma, gap year, camps | Boarding | In town |
| Chantemerle | Blonay & Vevey | 6–18 | Swiss Matura, Cambridge (IGCSE/A-Level) | Day & boarding | ~15 km, 30 min |
| Eastwood Montreux | Territet (Montreux) | n/a (new school) | IB & American diploma, Cambridge via Eastwood Global | Day & boarding | ~1.5 km, 5 min |
| Haut-Lac International Bilingual School | St-Légier-La Chiésaz | 3–18 | IB (MYP/DP/CP), Swiss option, US diploma, bilingual EN/FR | Day & boarding | ~9 km, 15 min |
| Institut Le Rosey | Rolle (+ Gstaad in winter) | 8–18 | IB & French Baccalaureate, English/French | 100% boarding | ~59 km, 45 min |
| Brillantmont International School | Lausanne | 13–18 | British & American programmes, IGCSE/A-Level | Day & boarding | ~31 km, 30 min |
Drive times are free-flow road estimates from Montreux centre (OpenStreetMap/OSRM); trains from Montreux station connect Clarens, Territet, Vevey, Lausanne and Rolle.
St. George’s International School, Montreux
The only international school actually inside Montreux, St. George’s has been teaching on the same hillside for nearly a century[1]. It takes pupils from 18 months to 18 years, with boarding available from age 10[1], and it is best known for its International Baccalaureate results: for the 2026 IB Diploma the school reports an average score of 35.5 out of 45, a 100% pass rate and 47% of students earning a bilingual diploma.[1]
Programmes run from kindergarten through primary and secondary, and the campus sits on Chemin de Saint-Georges in Clarens — about five minutes from the Montreux lakefront by car, or two or three stops by train.[1] For families who want an English-language education without leaving the Riviera, this is usually the first visit on the list.
Surval Montreux
Surval is a girls-only boarding school for ages 12–19, set high above Lake Geneva with views across the Alps.[2] It is deliberately small, and that shapes the offer: the American High School Diploma, a Swiss gap-year experience, university preparation, and summer and winter camps.[2] Families choose it for the boarding experience and the individual attention rather than for scale — and it is the only girls’ boarding school in the immediate Montreux area.
Chantemerle, Blonay — the Swiss-curriculum route
Founded in 1966 and still run by the same family, Chantemerle welcomes boys and girls aged 6 to 18 on two campuses in Blonay and Vevey, a few minutes above Montreux and Lausanne.[3] Its distinctive point is that it teaches both tracks: a Swiss pathway in French leading to the Matura — which opens Swiss universities without an entrance exam — and a Cambridge International pathway (IGCSE, A-Levels), alongside language-immersion and summer programmes.[3]
If your goal is integration into the Swiss system, or a French-language education with an international fallback, Chantemerle is the school on this list that most clearly offers both. It is about 15 km up the hill from Montreux — roughly 30 minutes by road.
Eastwood Montreux, Territet — opening 2026
In Territet, the Belle-Époque campus on Avenue de Chillon that housed Institut Monte Rosa for more than 150 years is being relaunched as Eastwood Montreux, a new international day-and-boarding school opening in September 2026.[4][5] The historic building — the one in the photograph at the top of this guide — is being restored as the campus, with a boarding house, studios, dining hall and sports areas.[4]
Academically it is being built around IB and American programmes, with Cambridge programmes delivered online through Eastwood Global, and the school positions itself around entrepreneurship, technology and impact as well as grades.[4] For families arriving in 2026–27 it is worth an enquiry even if you also visit the established schools, simply because a new school competes on class size and on places. It is 1.5 km from Montreux centre, in the same lakeside strip as the Territet properties.
Haut-Lac International Bilingual School, St-Légier
Haut-Lac is the largest school within a quarter of an hour of Montreux: more than 600 students aged 3 to 18 from over 64 countries, on campuses in St-Légier-La Chiésaz, with a nursery in Vevey for children from 18 months.[6] Teaching is bilingual English–French, and the school runs the full IB continuum — the Middle Years Programme for 11–15s, the IB Diploma and the IB Career-related Programme for 16–18s — alongside a Swiss option for local 11–14 year-olds and a US High School Diploma track.[6]
It also takes boarders (“boutique boarding”, in the school’s own words) and runs holiday camps, which makes it a practical option for families who want an international school with a genuine local mix rather than a purely expatriate cohort.
Institut Le Rosey & Brillantmont — further along the lake
Institut Le Rosey in Rolle, founded in 1880 and 100% boarding, is one of the most widely known boarding schools in the world, with a winter campus in Gstaad.[7] It is about 45 minutes from Montreux by road — far enough that a boarder lives at school, close enough for weekend visits and for parents based in Montreux.
Brillantmont in Lausanne, founded in 1882, is the oldest Swiss boarding school still owned and run by the same family, now in its fifth generation.[8] It takes Grades 8–12 (usually aged 13–18) for day and boarding places on British and American programmes, and the Good Schools Guide described it in June 2025 as a “family-run gem with deep roots”.[8]
The Swiss public option
Not every international family needs a private school. Public school in canton Vaud is free and compulsory and taught in French, and the canton’s education department publishes how compulsory schooling works, together with holiday dates.[10] Many families in Montreux send younger children to the local school for the language and the friendships, then move to an international secondary school later — or the other way round. The two systems are not mutually exclusive, and the admissions offices at the schools above are used to transfers.
How to choose & when to apply
Four questions decide most of it:
- Language of instruction. English-first (St. George’s, Surval, Haut-Lac, Eastwood, Brillantmont), or French/Swiss-first with international qualifications alongside (Chantemerle).
- Day or boarding. Boarding becomes realistic from around age 10–12: St. George’s takes boarders from 10[1], Surval from 12[2], and Le Rosey is boarding-only.[7]
- Which diploma. IB (St. George’s, Haut-Lac, Le Rosey, Eastwood), Swiss Matura (Chantemerle’s Swiss pathway, Haut-Lac’s Swiss option), or British/American (Brillantmont, Eastwood’s US track).
- Commute. From a Montreux apartment, everything in the table above is between 5 and 45 minutes by car, and every lakefront town in it is on the train line.
On timing: for a September start, families here typically visit between autumn and spring, with applications a year ahead and places confirmed in the first half of the year. Open days are the fastest way to see a school in normal operation — St. George’s, for example, publishes its open-day dates on its site.[1] If you are coming from abroad, book two or three visits in the same week and stay in one apartment rather than moving hotels between them.
Visiting Montreux for school visits?
RivieraHost keeps furnished apartments in Montreux, Clarens and Territet with kitchens and room for a family — a better base than a hotel for a week of campus visits, and available for longer stays too.
See our apartmentsRelated reading: Where to live in Montreux: neighbourhood guide · Montreux, Vevey or Lausanne? · Monthly and extended stays in Montreux
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Frequently asked questions
Which international school is closest to Montreux?
St. George’s International School, on Chemin de Saint-Georges in Clarens — about 2 km from Montreux centre, with day and boarding places from 18 months to 18 years. Surval Montreux (girls, 12–19) and Eastwood Montreux in Territet (opening September 2026) are also inside the town.
Can my child attend school in Montreux without speaking French?
Yes. St. George’s, Surval, Haut-Lac, Eastwood and Brillantmont all teach in English, and Haut-Lac runs a dual English–French programme. If you want the Swiss system, Chantemerle teaches a French-language pathway to the Matura as well as a Cambridge International pathway, and the public schools in Vaud teach in French.
How much do private schools in Montreux cost?
Fees are set by each school and vary by year group, day or boarding, and sometimes by nationality, so the only reliable figure is the school’s current fee sheet — every school listed here publishes fees or sends them on request. Ask for the fee sheet for your child’s exact year group and add boarding, lunches, activities, transport and the one-off registration deposit before you compare schools.
Is boarding available near Montreux?
Yes, at every level of the market: St. George’s takes boarders from age 10, Surval is a girls’ boarding school for 12–19, Haut-Lac offers boarding in St-Légier, Eastwood Montreux is building a boarding house in Territet, and Institut Le Rosey in Rolle — about 45 minutes away — is 100% boarding.
When should we apply for a September start?
Visit between autumn and spring and apply around a year ahead. Places at the smaller schools are limited and the international schools fill year groups rather than individual seats, so an early enquiry also gets you a realistic answer about language support and waiting lists. Open days are published on each school’s site and are the quickest way to see the school in normal operation.
Are there summer camps and short language courses?
Several. Surval runs summer and winter camps and a gap-year programme, Chantemerle offers language-immersion and summer programmes, and Haut-Lac runs holiday camps. They are a low-commitment way to test a school — and for a family staying in Montreux over the summer, a useful way to combine a holiday with a trial week.
Sources
- St. George’s International School, Montreux — official site, “About” (ages, boarding, IB results) — www.stgeorges.ch/about
- Surval Montreux — official site (girls’ boarding, programmes, camps) — surval.ch/
- Chantemerle, Blonay & Vevey — official site, English (Swiss and Cambridge pathways) — chantemerle.ch/en/
- Eastwood Montreux — official site (Territet campus, opening September 2026) — www.eastwoodmontreux.ch/
- Institut Monte Rosa — official site (campus transition to Eastwood Montreux) — www.monterosa.ch/
- Haut-Lac International Bilingual School — “Discover Haut-Lac” (programmes, students, campuses) — haut-lac.ch/school/
- Institut Le Rosey, Rolle — official site (founded 1880, 100% boarding, Gstaad winter campus) — www.rosey.ch/
- Brillantmont International School, Lausanne — official site (founded 1882, family ownership) — brillantmont.ch/
- AVDEP — Association Vaudoise des Écoles Privées, member school list — avdep.ch/en/schools
- État de Vaud — Formation (cantonal education department, compulsory schooling and school holidays) — www.vd.ch/formation
Base yourself in Montreux
RivieraHost’s apartments sit steps from the lake — with kitchens, more space and better value than a hotel for families and groups. Every one is right on this guide’s doorstep.