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ex-PS Wilhelm Tell (Lake Luzern)  
 photos: Hans Eichenberger The former paddle steamer "sails" acoss the lake from the SGV Dock to the Schweizerhofquai Pier No.9 to return to her normal static restaurant duties Look on the port side and it is essy to see how she did it without her engine !!! | |||||||||||||
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MPV Vevey (Lake Geneva)  picture: Vevey webcam MPV Vevey sets off from Vevey on her weekly winter Sunday Lunch Cruise sailing 534 round the "Upper Lake" | |||||||||||||
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MPV Italie (Lake Geneva)  photo: Robert Monch  photo: Jean Vernet The MPV Italie arrives at Nyon on her weekly sailing 330 from Geneva whilst at the other end of the lake MPV Vevey arrives at Montreux on her weekly "Upper Lake Circle Lunch Cruise" sailing 534 from Le Bouveret and Vevey | |||||||||||||
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SIX Paddle Steamers (Lake Luzern)  
 photos: Daniel Eichenberger Memories of 1970 SIX paddle steamers (count the funnels to be sure !) stand at Luzern dock on a wet and windy, winter Friday The former SGV ship PS Wilhelm, Tell had made a rare visit to the floating dock for under-water hull repairs and was waiting for the wind to drop so she could sail across the to the Schweizerhofquai | |||||||||||||
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MPV Vevey (Lake Geneva)  picture: Montreux webcam MPV Vevey glides towards Montreux pier as she heads for home (Le Bouveret) on the final sailing 538 of the day Despite the poor weather and no catering - due to a change of caterer - it was good to see the motor paddle vessel operating the Winter "Upper Lake" service | |||||||||||||
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MPV Italie (Lake Geneva) 
 pictures: Geneva webcam The motor paddle vessel swings round to Geneva Mont Blanc pier as she returns to Geneva at the end of her second short afternoon cruise sailing 740 The large MPV Helvétie can be seen behind - moored at Jardin Anglais pier adjacent to the bridge and the small former ex-CGN MPV Genève can also be seen | |||||||||||||
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PS Rhône (Lake Geneva) Last Day of "Winter Sunday steam"  photo: Alain Vuistiner 
 photos: Robert Horlacher 
 pictures: Vevey and Nyon webcams The paddle steamer raises steam at Lausanne prior to the first sailing 1107 of the day to Evian-les-Bains.......... ..........then later approaching Cully on her final winter sailing 931 from Villenue back to Lausanne To add to the interest on the day both MPV Vevey and MPV Italie were also in service operating the Le Bouveret and Geneva based rosters respectively | |||||||||||||
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PS Rhône (Lake Geneva)  
 photos: Daniel Funk The paddle steamer unusually covered the weekly Friday evening Fondue Cruise sailings 491-492-493-404 from Lausanne and Morges vice the regular motor vessel | |||||||||||||
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PS Rhône (Lake Geneva)  picture: La Tour de Peilz webcam The paddle steamer has just departed Vevey and heads across the bay on her pen-ultimate weekly winter sailings 930 from Lausanne to Villeneuve In the distance mv Henry-Dunant has followed her into the pier whilst operating the Uppere Lake Circle cruises | |||||||||||||
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MPV Italie (Lake Geneva)  picture: Nyon webcam Following her breakdown after completing her booked sailings on Christmas Day the motor paddle vessel returned to service on Sunday 29th January and operated the delayed first public sailing from Geneva of 2023 She is seen arriving at Nyon at the end of her first sailing 330 from Geneva | |||||||||||||
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PS Rhône (Lake Geneva)  photo: Alain Vuistiner After missing the previous week due to gales, the paddle steamer was back in action and is seen approaching the end of the lake at Villeneuve on her outward lunchtime sailing 930 from Lausanne | |||||||||||||
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A "wet and windy Winter Sunday" (Lake Geneva) What's missing ? --- sorry no prize for guessing 
 Take you pick - no paddle steamer or no mountains peaks The weekly lunchtime sailings 930-931 advertised for PS Rhône were cancelled It is understood a motor vessel covered her first two ferry round trips from Lausanne to Evian-les-Bains Can you confirm and if so, say which one ? | |||||||||||||
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PS Rhône (Lake Geneva)  photo: Alain Vuistiner The paddle steamer stands at Lausanne pier between her weekly winter 'Sundays only' sailings to Evian-les-Bains and Villeneuve | |||||||||||||
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PS Rhône (Lake Geneva)  picture: Vevey webcam The only paddle steamer currently in service on any Swiss or Italian lake arrives at Vevey Marché pier on return sailing 931 from Villeneuve back to Lausanne on a very wet and windy winter Sunday afternoon | |||||||||||||
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PS Blümlisalp (Lake Thun)  picture: Oberhofen webcam The paddle steamer approaches Oberhofen for the final time during her special "Nine Days of Christmas" mid-winter outings on her return sailing 16 from Interlaken back to Thun | |||||||||||||
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PS Rhône (Lake Geneva)  picture: Vevey webcam The paddle steamer approaches Vevey on return sailing 931 from Villeneuve back to Lausanne on her first visit of 2023 to the Upper Lake | |||||||||||||
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PS Blümlisalp (Lake Thun)  photo: Ernst Mischler The paddle steamer approaches Oberhofen for the final time in 2022 on her return sailing 16 from Interlaken back to Thun | |||||||||||||
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PS Blümlisalp (Lake Thun)  photo: Alain Vuistiner The paddle steamer approaches Interlaken with her mast lowered at the end of her outward sailing 15 from Thun having passed under the bridge on the aproach | |||||||||||||
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MPV Italie (Lake Geneva)  picture: Nyon webcam The paddle steamer calls at Nyon pier on her return Christmas Day sailing 331 back to Geneva After completing her day's sailing a technical fault was discovered which subsequently resulted in all her sailings up to Sunday 8th January 2023 (INCLUSIVE) at least being CANCELLED (alternative weekend sailings are available from Lausanne) | |||||||||||||
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PS Rhône (Lake Geneva)  picture: Montreux webcam The paddle steamer calls at Montreux pier on her return Christmas Day sailing 931 from Villeneuve back to Lausanne | |||||||||||||
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PS Blümlisalp (Lake Thun)  picture: Oberhofen webcam The paddle steamer returned to service on Christmas Day and is seen with her lights on at Oberhofen whilst operating her return sailing 16 from Interlaken back to Thun as the light fades | |||||||||||||
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PS Rhône (Lake Geneva) 
  photos: Nicolas Lars Carrel  photo: Alain Vuistiner The paddle steamer stands at Lausanne pier prior to her first ferry sailing 1107 to Evian, then calling at the French port before leaving the harbour on her way back to Switzerland on sailing 1108 She is later seen arriving at Villeneuve at the end of sailing 930 | |||||||||||||
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PS Uri (Lake Luzern)  picture: Luzern webcam The paddle steamer returns to Luzern at the end of her final brunch cruise of 2022 | |||||||||||||
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PS Concordia (Lake Como)  photo: Jacopo Memeo Some passengers alight off the paddle steamer at Bellagio on her outward winter special sailing from Como to Lecco | |||||||||||||
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PS Rhône (Lake Geneva)   photo: Jean Vernet The paddle steamer returns to Lausanne from Evian-les-Bains at the end of her first international ferry sailing 1108 of the day On arrival she was taken out of service due to a technical problem which was quickly repaired enabling her to later operate her booked lunchtime sailing 930 to Villeneuve | |||||||||||||
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PS Concordia (Lake Como) 
 
 photos: Andreas Hofer
| PS Rhône (Lake Geneva)  photo: Robert Horlacher The paddle steamer approaches Montreux on her retuen afternoon sailing 931 from Villenuve to Lausanne on a freeezing cold winter Sunday
| PS Uri (Lake Luzern)  
pictures: Luzern webcam The paddle steamer operated her first Advent Brunch Cruise from Luzern on Sunday 27th November 2022 was a change, as during previous year a later "lunch" cruise was operated instead
| PS Rhône (Lake Geneva) FURTHER MID-WINTER INTERNATIONAL "STEAM" OPERATED 'CROSS-LAKE' FERRY SAILINGS BETWEEN SWITZERLAND AND FRANCE 
  photos: Alain Vuistiner The paddle steamer continued in service and covered two afternoon ferry sailings 1217 and 1223 from Lausanne to Thonon-les-Bains She is seen initially standing at Lausanne before her first crossing of the day then on arrival at Thonon-les-Bains finally on board returning to Switzerland on sailing 1218
| PS Rhône (Lake Geneva) MID-WINTER INTERNATIONAL "STEAM" OPERATED 'CROSS-LAKE' FERRY SAILINGS BETWEEN SWITZERLAND AND FRANCE 
  photos: Alain Vuistiner The paddle steamer was pressed into service at short notice to cover the afternoon ferry sailings 1213-1214 from Lausanne to Thonon-les-Bains followed by two "relief" sailings from Lausanne to Evian-les-Bains
| PS Stadt Rapperswil (Lake Zurich) 
 pictures: Zurich webcam Following missing the 2022 season whilst she had a major rebuild........... the paddle steamer sailed to Zurich along with sister PS Stadt Zurich and several motor vessels to take part in the annual static floating "wine 'Expovina' exhibition" - seen both in the daytime and at night
| MPV Helvétie (Lake Geneva)  photo: Robert Monch In order to free up spare capacity at Ouchy Harbour the motor paddle vessel was towed to Geneva by mv Léman She will spend the winter (at least) moored at Jardin Anglais pier - hopefully helping to fuel enthusiam for her eventual 'return to service'
| PS Rhône (Lake Geneva)  photo: Jean Vernet The paddle steamer sails stern first out of from Ouchy harbour to Lausanne pier prior to operating the first ferry run if the day to Evian-les-Bains in France
| MPV Vevey (Lake Geneva)  photo: Robert Monch The motor paddle vessel stands at Geneva Mont Blanc pier prior to operating her weekly evening Fondue Cruise sailing 390 to Coppet
| Can you help to identify this old Italian paddle steamer ? click here to look is expected to do on a Then click here to find out (information is being added/updated as and when advised to me) Please e-mail me if you are aware of any errors or updates so they can be corrected for the benefit of other visitors to this website | ||||
or select a page from the contents on the left | |
(normally updated most days) |
to this website (after the old counter "expired" and had to be re-set on Swiss National Day 1st August 2019 ) Thank you for your visit |
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Advance Information for the proposed 2023 sailings on the Swiss and Italian Lakes can be found by clicking here (further information - including the Italian lakes when available - will be added as and when advised to me !!) |
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BEWARE.......... ! already been planned they will be replaced by a motor vessel on specific dates (eg for private charters or special events or breakdowns) or there is a breakdown, etc | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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27th March 2023
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(c)1999-2023
John B Bird