The tulip and slow tourism in Morges

10 April 2024

In 2016, the city of Morges (canton Vaud) started the process of becoming Switzerland’s first slow tourist destination.

Slow Tourism is a movement that counters the stress of daily life and hectic tourism, offering a way to travel quietly and connect with local populations while enjoying nature and adopting eco-responsible behaviours.

The city, the region, and nature on the shores of Lake Geneva are ideally suited to slow tourism. The Parc “de I’indépendance” symbolises this bond between the city, nature, and tourism.

The tulip is a beautiful flower. The annual Tulip Festival welcomes many visitors. It is slow tourism par excellence. People walk, speak, and enjoy themselves without haste, relying on modern means of transport, although they still use smartphones.

For the 50th edition of the Tulip Festival, the Association Morges Fleur du Léman commissioned 2020 a creative project in the public space. This mandate resulted in the sculpture by Leo Orta (1993), representing an almost five-metre-high tulip.

Parc de l’Indépendance

This sculpture provides the Festival with a permanent residence in Independence Park and offers the city an eternal springtime, thereby sustaining tourism forever.

(Source and further information: www.morges-tourisme.ch)

Impressions from Morges

Le musée Forel

François-Alphonse Forel (1841-1912)