Bilingual Adventure Summer Camp by Lake Geneva in Switzerland

Course Description: Bilingual Adventure Summer Camp by Lake Geneva in Switzerland

🎓 Course Overview

This bilingual adventure camp by Lake Geneva offers children and teenagers aged 8–15 an action-packed week of outdoor activities, cultural discovery and life-skills development on the Swiss Riviera. Run in both English and French by a bilingual team, the camp mixes campers from many countries and helps them build language skills, cultural awareness and independence in a natural, hands-on way.

Days combine lake and mountain adventures with excursions to some of Switzerland's best-known cities and sights. Stays run by the week from Sunday to Saturday, and campers can join for one week or several. With up to 30 residential campers, the group is small enough for everyone to receive individual attention.

📚 Academic Content

Bilingual Approach

All camp life runs in English and French, so campers hear and use both languages every day during activities, meals and evenings. The approach is designed to build language confidence, cultural awareness and adaptability in a relaxed setting rather than a classroom.

Morning Programme

Each morning from 09:00 to 12:00, campers choose a focus for their week:

• Adventure activities: rafting, paddleboarding, karting, city explorations and more.

• Tennis: skill training and games with the experts at a tennis club in Vevey.

• Golf: professional coaching at Golf Lavaux and on a golf simulator.

• Basketball: drills and matches led by American university-level coaches.

• Languages: 15 hours a week of English or French in small groups with native-speaking teachers, using practical, interactive methods such as live dialogues, making video adverts and nature hunts (optional extra).

Life Skills & Teamwork

Evening team-building games, such as ice-breakers and mission-style challenges, help campers settle in quickly, cooperate with new friends and grow in confidence away from home.

📍 Campus & Location

The camp is based on the Swiss Riviera above Lake Geneva, between Vevey and Montreux. Residential campers live in the school's boarding house, a few minutes' walk from the Praz-Dagoud school campus, where the sports hall, art rooms, music room and other teaching spaces are used during the day. The school campus offers an international competition-standard sports hall, creative art rooms and a fully equipped music room.

The location is ideal for a summer that combines lake and mountains: the Montreux lakeside is about a 10-minute drive away, the nearest mountains are about 30 minutes away, and Geneva Airport is roughly an hour's drive. Vevey railway station is close by, and the camp uses minibuses from its own fleet for local outings.

🏫 Accommodation & Meals

Campers stay in a modern boarding house on the Swiss Riviera. Each camper shares a twin room with a private en-suite bathroom and an enclosed balcony, and rooms are cleaned daily. The house has a games room, a common room used for karaoke nights and a large outdoor terrace with views over Lake Geneva, where campfires are held. Unlimited Wi-Fi allows campers to keep in touch with home.

Three meals a day are prepared in-house by the school caterer, with snacks and drinks provided between meals.

🚌 Excursions & Activities

Afternoons and weekends are packed with outdoor adventures and cultural trips, so campers discover both Lake Geneva and the Swiss Alps. Alpine hikes are led by experienced guides, and watersports on the lake are run by local professionals. Activities across the summer include:

• On the water: water-skiing, stand-up paddleboarding, kayaking and pedal boats, banana boating, an aquapark and a boat trip to Evian.

• In the mountains: mountain hikes, mountain or outdoor karting, an adventure park, a torchlight gorge walk, a glacier visit and a trip to Verbier.

• Action and sport: laser game, indoor surfing, a trampoline park, indoor climbing, bowling, frisbee golf, mini-golf, badminton, football, basketball, volleyball, table tennis, handball, lacrosse, ultimate frisbee, dodgeball and the camp's own Olympics.

• Cultural excursions: Geneva, Montreux, Lausanne, Bern, Lucerne, the Gruyère region (including chocolate tasting) and Château de Chillon.

• Evenings: team-building games, karaoke, campfires, a talent show, BBQ or disco nights, movie nights, a photo scavenger hunt and jewellery-making.

⏰ A Day in the Life

A typical day at camp:

• 08:00 — Breakfast

• 09:00 — Morning programme: adventure activities, sport or language lessons

• 12:00 — Lunch

• 13:00 — Afternoon activities: watersports, hikes or cultural trips

• 16:00 — Free time

• 17:00 — Team games and workshops

• 18:00 — Dinner

• 19:00 — Evening programme, such as a campfire or talent show

• 21:00 — Lights out

Some days are given over to full-day excursions, so the exact timetable varies from week to week.

2027 Dates & Fees 📅

This is a residential camp with five one-week sessions in summer 2027. Stays run from Sunday arrival to Saturday departure, and campers can book one or more weeks. Fees are quoted in Swiss francs (CHF).

• Sunday 27 June – Saturday 3 July — Length: 1 week — Residential: CHF 1,650

• Sunday 4 July – Saturday 10 July — Length: 1 week — Residential: CHF 1,650

• Sunday 11 July – Saturday 17 July — Length: 1 week — Residential: CHF 1,650

• Sunday 18 July – Saturday 24 July — Length: 1 week — Residential: CHF 1,650

• Sunday 25 July – Saturday 31 July — Length: 1 week — Residential: CHF 1,650

Optional extra: morning language lessons in English or French (15 hours a week) can be added for CHF 350.

✔️ What's Included

The weekly fee is all-inclusive and covers:

• Accommodation: a twin room with en-suite bathroom in the boarding house, with daily room cleaning and unlimited Wi-Fi.

• Meals: three meals a day plus snacks and drinks.

• Programme: daily activities and excursions throughout the week.

• Care: 24-hour supervision and personalised care.

• Travel: transfers to and from Geneva Airport.

• Insurance: accident insurance.

Not included: optional morning language lessons (CHF 350), personal spending money and travel to and from Switzerland.

🛡️ Safety & Welfare

The residential camp is deliberately small, with up to 30 campers, so every child receives individual attention. Campers are supervised around the clock by an experienced boarding house team, including full-time boarding house supervisors, and all staff are qualified and bilingual in English and French. The camps have been led by the same founding directors since 1994, giving more than 30 years of experience in running summer programmes on the Swiss Riviera.

Adventure activities are run with specialist partners: Alpine hikes are led by experienced guides and watersports by local professionals. Accident insurance and transfers from Geneva Airport are included in the weekly fee.

💡 Who This Programme Is For

This camp is ideal for active, curious 8–15-year-olds who want a summer full of outdoor adventure, new friendships and cultural discovery. It suits children who speak English, French or both, and those keen to improve either language naturally, as well as first-time campers who will benefit from a small group and close supervision. Families looking for a varied Swiss summer that mixes lake, mountains and city trips will find it a good fit.

Haut-Lac International Bilingual School — Google Maps ↗

Chem. de Pangires 26, 1806 Saint-Légier-La Chiésaz, Switzerland Google Maps ↗