Rough Guides - Rough Guides Snapshots Switzerland: Lausanne & Lake Geneva

You can find the whole of Switzerland on the shores of Lake Geneva: snowy mountains, bucolic wine-villages, city nightlife, the sound of cowbells in rolling pastureland, castles, cathedrals and the beautiful blue lake itself (Lac Lman in French). The southern shore of the lake is in France, taking in the Savoy Alps as well as Mont Blanc a little further south. The northern shore forms the economic and cultural focus of French Switzerland, centred around Lausanne, an energetic, endearing city thats too often skimmed over.

Much of the northern shore of Lake Geneva and its mountainous hinterland forms part of Canton Vaud (pronounced voh ; lake-geneva-region.ch), economically and politically the strongest of the French-speaking cantons. It has a turbulent past: in 1798 a revolution backed by France returned control of the canton to the Vaudois after two centuries of rule by Bernese bailiffs, a struggle commemorated by Napoleon, who formally created a new canton out of the territory. Vaud duly joined the Swiss Confederation in 1803 under a green-and-white flag which still flies in towns and villages to this day and bears the words Libert et Patrie. The ambience of the region is thoroughly Gallic: historical animosity towards Catholic France has given way to a yearning on the part of most urban francophone Swiss to abandon their heel-dragging compatriots in the more stolid east and embrace the EU. The short train ride from the Swiss-German cities of the Mittelland crosses more than just a linguistic boundary: it seems to span a whole continent of attitude.

Charlie Chaplin statue, Vevey

Graceful centrepiece of Lausanne and Switzerlands finest Gothic building.

Lausannes moving and highly memorable gallery of convention-free outsider art, often created by loners or the mentally ill.

Lakeside catwalk for rollerbladers and old-fashioned promenaders taking the air in Lausanne.

Medieval hilltop castle-village in the heart of cheese-, chocolate- and wine-making country.

The most refined and alluring of lakeside towns, with a new museum devoted to former resident Charlie Chaplin.

Lake Genevas most upmarket destination a new exhibition recalls the days when Queen recorded their albums here.

One of the best-preserved medieval castles in Europe, once an inspiration for the poet Byron.

Superbly scenic train journey from Montreux into the surrounding mountains.

For details on getting to Lausanne and Lake Geneva, and travelling across the rest of Switzerland, as well as information on entry requirements and currency, plus travelling with children, national holidays and sport, turn to the section.

LAUSANNE tends to inspire hyperbole. In a country of spectacular natural beauty it is the most beautiful of cities Switzerlands San Francisco a place of incredibly steep hills, tiered above the lake on a succession of compact, south-facing terraces. Vistas of blue water, glittering sunlight and the purple and grey of the white-capped Savoy Alps peep through between gaps in buildings or at the ends of steeply dropping alleys. Much of the city is still wooded and the lakefront promenades spill over with beds of vibrantly colourful flowers. Attractive, interesting, worldly, and well aware of how to have a good time, its simply Switzerlands sexiest city.

The comparisons with San Francisco dont stop at the gorgeous setting. If Switzerland has a counterculture, it lives in the clubs and cafs of Lausanne, a fact which lies broadly within the citys long tradition of fostering intellectual and cultural innovation . For decades the municipality has subsidized art and culture of all shades, resulting in a range of festivals, live music, clubs, theatre, opera and dance to rival a metropolis ten times bigger.