Orange cinema has been around for years and I always thought about going, but never made the time. Often the weather in Switzerland was too cold and rainy in the summer the last several years to really think about going to an outdoor cinema. I was also turned off by the idea of people smoking in their seats near me.

Orange had to change its name to Salt earlier this year for legal reasons, but they are still operating their annual summer outdoor cinema and I decided to finally give it a try and tick this off my Swiss “to-do” list.Some friends and I decided to go for the Annabelle ladies night showing of Dirty Dancing, a special evening with some free goodies like a glass of prosecco, free ice cream (not for me, it was a gluteny cone), a bag with some beauty samples at the end, and free makeovers at the entrance.

I was actually really impressed by the cinema. You buy a ticket and then get there early to stand in line so that you can grab a good seat. Normally in Switzerland, all the cinemas automatically have pre-purchased seats, so open seating is a bit strange to go back to. In the end, you arrive around an hour or two early to see the movie, but no fear… there is food and drink!I’m sure this is where Salt makes all the money. With a couple hours to kill, people are more than likely to eat dinner at one of the many pop-up versions of local restaurants in the cinema grounds and imbibe on some adult beverages.

Assuming there would be nothing for me, I ate at work beforehand and brought some GF snacks in my bag, but I did buy a cider and some of the girls did not want their free proseccos, so I ended up having a couple of those as well. I might have been able to eat at some of the places

The movie was also GREAT. I am not as crazy of a Dirty Dancing fan as many women, but it is a great oldie and it was so fun to watch the movie in an open crowd. There was a great atmosphere and audible reactions to all the best parts of the movie. The weather was also fantastic that evening! No rain and the heat from the day persisted so that we never needed the jackets we brought with us. It was the perfect summer evening!

The only hard part was that because it was during the week and connections are not that late, I had to book it to catch one of the last trains home.

Would you believe it that Kay has still never been to this cinema? It’s always me trying the trendy things to do in Switzerland. Maybe some day I will drag him out for a movie while it lasts.