Introduction

Lausanne, the capital of the canton of Vaud, is superbly located 40 minutes from the big city of Geneva (well, big for Switzerland) and 20 minutes from the lakeside resort towns of Montreux and Vevey. Lausanne is a small city of only 125,000 people. If you travel a kilometer or two in any direction you wind up in vineyards or villages or by the lake. It is truly a city with an extremely high quality of life.

Ouchy

There are only two distinct neighborhoods in Lausanne: the beach and the city. Like most lake or seaside cities, the beach is where the city people head as often as possible. Lausanne's closest beach is in a district called Ouchy. It is where you will find open-air movie theaters, rollerbladers, ice skaters, cyclists, walkers (Self-guided tours), swimmers (Bellerive), visitors to the Olympic museum, long stretches of boardwalk, sunsets over Lake Geneva, French tourists, and sailors (Ciels Bleus).

The activities on the largest freshwater lake in Europe are practically endless. You can sail, fish, swim, water-ski, wakeboard, windsurf, or all of the above. Summer is short in Switzerland, so once the temperatures warm up, the inhibitions come off: this is playtime and the Swiss and tourists alike take to the water in droves. But don't worry, there is plenty to go around, literally: The lake is 72.3 kilometers (45 miles) long.

Although it sounds pretty unbelievable, spending time along this lake in the summer beats hanging out in the more famous places like Nice. No faux glamor, no polluted noisy streets nearby, no pretentiousness.

Vidy

In towns like Ouchy and Lutry, a few kilometers east, there are easy-going folks swimming, fishing and dining, small pedestrian paths to walk along, beautiful turquoise water, quaint cafes with lake views, and all this without the ridiculous drunken crowds that race to the traditional beaches of France and Italy. And while you are less likely to come across a topless beach in Switzerland - there is some nakedness on Vidy beach.

Center

The city is where you will find upscale stores Bang & Olufsen, A L'Emeraude, tourist attractions, excellent restaurants, cafes, parks, and all the best of the big cities without the crime and the grime. Most tourists head to the Place St. Francois where you will find the church of the same name (St-François Church), hip cafe-restaurants like Le Cafe Romand and Nyff Nyffenegger. Keep the hip places on your left and you will wind up on rue de Bourg, the main ritzy shopping street in Lausanne. Turn left at the Banque Cantonale Vaudoise, which has a logo that conveniently points the way, and you will walk right to Place de la Palud.

Old Town

Lausanne's Old Town has its own attractions, such as the Madeleine Statue and the Town Hall but it is also a main hub of Lausanne. This is car-free, bus-free territory, where the pedestrian rules. From here, you can walk to the grand Place Riponne and its many museums, rue Saint-Laurent, the Old Town, the Cathedral and just about everywhere else.

Flon

Lausanne is hilly, walkable and entirely livable. There are a few nightclubs in the alternative neighborhood of Flon, most notably MAD, which plays host to some pretty good live shows. But mostly, this is a city worth visiting because it is accessible and clean with a long history and a joie de vivre that rivals its Latin neighbors.