No, reverse gear is not forbidden when the VW Coccinelle Club Lemania organizes the largest Swiss VW meeting every two years in the Pays d'Enhaut, this area from Bulle up towards Saanenland, with Gstaad as the best-known location. But, keyword "backwards driver": In order to participate, three criteria must be met: 1. it is a VW, 2. the engine is at the rear and 3. if it is installed elsewhere, then it must be from VW and air-cooled. In general, however, the engine should be located at the rear. So, according to the VW community, if you are driving a car of conventional design - with the engine at the front - you are permanently driving the wrong way round.
These minimum requirements resulted in a mixture of around 1220 vehicles with their crews, which met on the meadow just below the village, around the buildings of the agricultural cooperative, from August 22 to 24, 2025. It was easy to see that the mix was now around 50/50 between VW Beetles and their derivatives such as Karmann, Typ3 and some buggies and special models on the one hand and VW Transporters in all versions on the other. In between, there were exotic vehicles such as tractors, snow blowers and a single Porsche 356 to complete the colorful picture.
The meeting has always resembled a large campsite, which is in the nature of things, but fortunately the organizers are now a little less strict when caravans and the like are in tow with the participating vehicles.
Because accessories are important, starting with a roof rack and ending with the entire catalog of camping accessories that were available for a T1 Transporter in the 1960s, for example.
Look more, cruise less
Cruising seems to have gone a bit out of fashion: a pick-up, a few armchairs on it, some fun company and off you go for a spin through the countryside. Only a VW-engined Meili tractor with a kind of bar trailer made for a recurring visitor in the long rows of parked cars this year.
After a downpour on Thursday, the weather remained dry throughout the weekend, which clearly helped the meadow from immediately turning into a field. Le Pâturage, the meadow, was already full to the brim on Saturday morning, and the author only had the choice of three places at the very end of the site. However, just like at a music festival, this is rarely a bad place to be if you want to get some peace and quiet at night.
It is clear that there was partying, but it is also clear that the meeting in Château d'Oex is always extremely family-friendly. For the youngest VW fans, there was a large play and craft corner in a prime location right by the entrance to the main hall, a Haribo stand with kilo prizes and other temptations of all kinds, not just VW-related.
A striking feature this year was the market row with parts dealers. The offers were interesting and varied, and the mobile key service, which was able to equip one or two VWs with an authentic set instead of an ugly replacement key, is always welcome. In keeping with the nature of things - as already mentioned, around half of the vehicles present already had the name "Transporter" in their name - larger items also changed hands, from NOW bumpers to semi-synchronous gearboxes as used in early Beetles and Transporters.
Two or three missing and some trends
What is increasingly noticeable is the fact that it is apparently becoming easier and easier to significantly modify VWs and still get them approved. The number of lowered Beetles and Transporters has risen significantly over the past 15 years. What was somewhat lacking, according to the author's taste, was the wide variety of different vans in original condition, such as a beautiful flatbed of a T3 without too many frills. The Hebmüller Beetles were also conspicuous by their absence. Switzerland was once one of the main sales markets for the beautifully designed two-seater convertible, of which only around , until the fire at the factory, some of them - still with the chrome CH on the boot lid - are now in foreign hands.
But we shouldn't complain, the last Hebmüller was recovered after years of burning out in a bush in a side valley in Valais by the well-known Grundmann family of collectors, after no one in this country had apparently made a serious effort to salvage the rare piece. The number of Swiss bodywork conversions was also very modest. At least one Beetle pick-up was spotted. If you compare the market value of individual vehicles of this kind with their number in Château d'Oex (for our German readers, the place is pronounced Schato-döö), then their increasing absence becomes clear.
What is pleasing in Château d'Oex, in the French-speaking part of Switzerland, is the presence of many teams from neighboring countries - or a little further afield, such as Belgium. The language, French throughout, including the loudspeaker information, is no obstacle to this.
What also remains more than remarkable for a meeting of this size and variety is the fact that registration is still not required. This is a drive-in event and, as such, the crew from the Coccinelle Club Lemania have an excellent handle on the speedy check-in process. Only a few people, especially when the last free places started to fill up, complained that no one was allocating free places. In addition, some visitors are not very ruthless in laying out red ribbons or even nolan cones to keep spaces free for expected friends and colleagues. For a van with a canopy, that's two parking spaces.
Party atmosphere
The organizers regularly know how to walk the line between non-organization and a clear line that hardly needs explaining. Some things in Château d'Oex seem crude and somewhat wildly chaotic. On the other hand, there are no obstacles: There is space, food, sanitary facilities - even if this year once again the toilet facilities couldn't cope with the rush, but shone with great showers, including hot water - and the freedom to simply throw yourself into the hustle and bustle.
The prices at the club's own bar were reasonable and the OC reported on the following Monday that no less than 3500 liters of beer had been served, i.e. probably one for every visitor. However, many a camper van has its own built-in fridge and the empties collection points on Sunday evening spoke for themselves. One thing is certain: The VW community needs heartily little to be able to celebrate properly and this doesn't need to be particularly curated.
One thing is equally clear: the VW meeting in Château d'Oex is like no other car meeting in Switzerland. The mixture of tuning meeting, classic car event, open-air festival and single-brand campsite is unique.
Speaking of open air, a significant difference to these is the way VW fans deal with what they leave behind: 99.9 percent of the garbage was disposed of correctly, the meadow and wider surroundings remained green and all the tents and other material were loaded back into their cars by the VW fans before they drove off. Many will now attend numerous other meetings, some of them throughout Europe, before meeting again in Château d'Oex in two years' time.
