Geneva travel guide

Long considered the urban gem in Switzerland’s Alp-spiked crown, Geneva rightly enjoys a reputation for being cosmopolitan, super organised, and yes, pretty damn attractive to boot. It’s hardly the cheapest European city you’ll encounter, but while its day-to-day costs might be high, so too is its quality of life.

Geneva plays home to the UN’s European Office, the International Red Cross, the World Health Organisation and a hatful of other governmental and non-governmental bodies – the majority of them drawn by Switzerland’s famed neutrality. The babble of different cultures converging makes for a vibrant atmosphere. Such is its overall status, in fact, that it’s often wrongly assumed to be the national capital.

And that setting? The city’s strung around the southern edges of Lake Geneva (also known as Lac Léman) and boasts a magnificent belt of mountains as an accessory, so as postcard material goes, it takes some beating.