In Lausanne and beyond, a roaming fox has turned the city itself into a riddle. Foxtrail invites participants to follow cryptic clues through streets, onto buses, and past overlooked corners of urban life — not to win, but to truly see. It is, at its heart, an old idea made new: that the best way to understand a place is to be made curious about it.
Foxtrail: Lausanne's clever puzzle hunt turns the city into a playable game board
The city itself becomes the game board.
Mark
What makes this different from just walking around a city with a guidebook?
Mimi
A guidebook tells you where to go. This makes you figure it out yourself. You're not being led; you're being teased. The clues are deliberately cryptic—a barometer with a thieving alligator doesn't point you anywhere obvious. You have to think, look, sometimes ask locals. You become a detective in your own city.
Mark
So it's frustrating by design?
Mimi
Yes, but in a good way. Frustration is part of the pleasure. When you finally understand what a clue means and find the right spot, there's real satisfaction. It's not handed to you.
Mark
How much time should someone actually budget?
Mimi
The official time is a suggestion. We were told two and a half hours and took much longer. But we weren't lost—we were choosing to stop, to eat, to look around. That's the beauty of it. There's no timer. You move at your own pace.
Mark
Who's this actually for?
Mimi
Active people who like puzzles. People who want to explore their city but need a reason to do it. Couples looking for something more interesting than a museum. Friend groups who want to do something together that requires actual thinking. Not for people who want passive entertainment.
Mark
What happens if you get genuinely stuck?
Mimi
You call the helpline. There's someone there who speaks multiple languages and will help you without spoiling the answer. It's a safety net, not a cheat.
Mark
And the cost?
Mimi
Between twenty-six and forty-two francs depending on which trail you choose. Discounts for kids and families. It's not expensive for what you get—a guided tour of your city that you have to solve yourself.
Le Pouls
- A fox that cannot be caught sets the pace — each solved riddle only deepens the chase, pulling players further into the city's hidden geography.
- The game disrupts the passive tourist experience, demanding that participants walk, think, argue, and occasionally doubt themselves in public.
- Dead ends and wrong turns are built into the design, softened by a multilingual helpline that nudges without spoiling.
- With no time limit and public transport folded into the ticket, the trail quietly rewards those who linger — at a market stall, beside a lake, in the shade of a sculpture.
- From twelve Swiss cities to Helsinki, Rome, and London, the model is spreading: turn any city into a puzzle, and people will finally look at it.
In Lausanne and beyond, a roaming fox has turned the city itself into a riddle. Foxtrail invites participants to follow cryptic clues through streets, onto buses, and past overlooked corners of urban life — not to win, but to truly see. It is, at its heart, an old idea made new: that the best way to understand a place is to be made curious about it.
The game begins before you expect it — on a metro car, scanning walls and ceilings for a green paw print. From that first lurch forward, Foxtrail has you.
The premise is simple enough: book online, choose a route — urban or nature-focused — and receive a set of cryptic clues by email. Then step outside and let the city become your game board. A barometer. A sewer pipe. A bronze sculpture. A specific street lamp. Each answer unlocks the next question, and the fox stays perpetually one step ahead.
The Lausanne trail is designed to take around two and a half hours, though time moves differently when you're genuinely curious. Our group took longer — pausing at an outdoor market, riding a bus to a neighborhood we'd never have visited otherwise, resting by the lake beside a sculpture that turned out to be a clue. Public transport is included in the ticket price, which ranges from CHF 26 to 42 depending on trail length.
When the trail goes cold, a multilingual helpline offers gentle nudges without giving anything away. The experience suits active minds more than restless feet — young children may tire, and those allergic to ambiguity will struggle. But for couples, friend groups, or colleagues willing to be slightly lost together, it offers something rare: a familiar city seen as if for the first time.
Foxtrail has now spread to over fifty locations across Switzerland and into Helsinki, Rome, Berlin, and London, with Paris and Dubai on the way. The fox was never really the point. What you find along the way — the corners, the details, the city you thought you already knew — that's the prize.
The metro car lurches forward and you're already hunting. Your first clue arrives with the motion itself: somewhere on this rail line, a fox has left a green paw print. You scan the tracks, the walls, the ceiling. The game has begun.
What follows is a half-day spent chasing an animal that may or may not exist, armed with a series of riddles that seem designed to make you question your own sanity. A barometer depicting a thieving alligator. A specific sewer pipe. A horse with a taste for sugar. A bronze sculpture of a naked man. An eternal flame. Each clue pulls you deeper into Lausanne's streets, each answer a small victory that sends you scrambling toward the next puzzle. The fox stays one step ahead, always.
Foxtrail Lausanne is part scavenger hunt, part city tour, and entirely dependent on your willingness to walk and think simultaneously. The concept is straightforward: you book online, choose your date and preferred route—urban or pastoral—and receive an email containing every clue you'll need. Then you step into the city and let the puzzles guide you. Sometimes you're hunting for a particular street lamp. Sometimes a sign. Sometimes a numeric keypad. The city itself becomes the game board.
The operation has expanded well beyond Lausanne. Over fifty Foxtrail adventures now exist across twelve Swiss locations, with international trails in Helsinki, Rome, Berlin, Nuremberg, and London. Paris and Dubai are coming. Each one follows the same principle: turn a city into a puzzle, and let people discover it on their own terms.
There's no clock ticking. The Lausanne urban route is supposed to take about two and a half hours. Ours took considerably longer, though not because we were stuck. We lingered at Place de la Riponne's outdoor market, eating tartelettes and watching the crowd. We paused to admire corners of the city we might never have otherwise seen. We took a bus to another neighborhood because a clue demanded it—and public transport is included with your ticket. The game rewards wandering.
Missteps happen. Dead ends happen. When they do, there's a multilingual voice on the helpline ready to nudge you back onto the trail without spoiling anything. By afternoon, we found ourselves by the lake, staring at another bronze sculpture—a woman this time—who was the subject of yet another clue. She was striking, but she wasn't the fox. We rested in the shade and kept going.
The appeal is real, though it's not for everyone. This is designed for people who enjoy thinking while moving, who don't mind being slightly lost, who can parse lateral clues without taking them literally. Young children will find the walking exhausting. Couch potatoes need not apply. But for couples, families, friend groups, coworkers, or anyone with an active mind and decent shoes, it's a way to see your own city as something new.
Did we ever catch the fox? No. And that's the point. The fox is still out there, still one step ahead, still daring you to follow. The real prize isn't solving the final riddle. It's the parts of Lausanne you discover along the way—the ones you'd have walked past a thousand times without ever really seeing. Tickets run from twenty-six to forty-two Swiss francs depending on the trail length, with discounts for children and families. The fox is waiting.
Citations marquantes
Solving clues while exploring the city is the whole point of Foxtrail Lausanne, an adventure game that's part scavenger hunt and part city tour, requiring sharp thinking and good walking shoes.— From the experience description
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