Towns & landscapes
Leysin
- Type
- Mountain resort
- Address
- 1854 Leysin, Alpes vaudoises
An hour’s drive from Montreux, on a sunny terrace of the Vaud Alps, Leysin was first a health resort before becoming a holiday and winter sports destination. It is here that Michael Jackson’s Swiss story begins, in February 1979: on the 14th and 15th, The Jacksons filmed segments for two television shows and presented their album “Destiny” against a backdrop of snow and chalets. On the evening of the 15th the group came down to play at Geneva’s Victoria Hall. Leysin would later host its own rock festival, in the 1980s and 1990s.
Leysin, from sanatorium to stage
February 1979: the Jacksons in the snow
The Swiss story of Michael Jackson begins in Leysin. On 14 and 15 February 1979, The Jacksons filmed sequences for television there and presented their album “Destiny” in a setting of snow and chalets. On the evening of the 15th, the group went back down to play at the Victoria Hall in Geneva.
The Leysin rock festival
In the 1980s and 1990s, Leysin held an open-air rock festival that drew major names of the international scene to its plateau. For the length of a summer, the mountain resort turned into a land of guitars, far from the cures of old.
From the cure to the summit
Before music, Leysin was a great cure resort, whose sun-facing sanatoriums made its name in the early 20th century. Today the village lives on skiing and hiking: from the Berneuse, the revolving Kuklos restaurant unfurls a 360-degree panorama over the Alps and Lake Geneva, and families enjoy the toboggan park all year round.
In pictures
Related artists :Michael JacksonJohnny HallydayABBA