Geneva

A hundred and forty metres of lake water thrown up at 200 km/h, five hundred litres a second, with half a tonne of it in the air at any moment. Walk out along the jetty and get soaked; it costs nothing.

The UN's European headquarters, visitable on guided tours only: CHF 25 for adults and booked online well ahead, with slots for the following month released on the 20th and taken quickly. Bring a passport and arrive thirty minutes early for security.

The church where Calvin preached, with Roman and medieval layers in the archaeological site underneath and towers you can climb. The old town above it is the largest historic quarter in Switzerland.

A public bathing pier from 1932 on the right bank: swimming off the concrete, a sauna in winter, and a canteen that serves the cheapest good fondue in the city to a completely mixed crowd.

The particle physics laboratory on the French border runs free exhibitions at its Science Gateway, with hands-on workshops and shows for people with no physics at all. Tram 18 from Cornavin to the end of the line.

Geneva Airport has its own station, with trains to Cornavin in about seven minutes. Take the free public transport ticket from the machine in baggage reclaim before you leave the terminal; almost nobody notices it.

The Geneva Transport Card comes with your room and covers trams, buses and the little yellow mouettes across the harbour for the whole of your stay. Ask for it at check-in if it is not handed over.

Cornavin to Lausanne in about 40 minutes, Bern in under two hours and Zurich in around two hours 45. The boats to Lausanne, Montreux and Yvoire take far longer, which is rather the point.

May to September, for the lake, the swimming piers and long evenings on the quays.

January to March once the New Year conference season passes, when hotel rates fall hard between the big fairs.

Any week the Palexpo halls are full; Geneva prices its hotels off the conference calendar, not the weather.

Walk the left bank out to the Jet d'Eau and along the jetty, then up through the Parc des Bastions past the Reformation Wall.

The Old Town: St Pierre, the archaeological site beneath it, and the very long wooden bench on the Promenade de la Treille.

Cheap and good at the Bains des Pâquis canteen, or from the Plainpalais market stalls if it is a market day.

Your pre-booked tour of the Palais des Nations, then the Red Cross museum immediately opposite.

Aperitif in Carouge across the Arve: built by the Kings of Sardinia, low-rise, and the one part of Geneva that stays out late.

Terraced vineyards on the north shore between Lausanne and Montreux, UNESCO-listed, with a marked path through the vines and cellars that pour by the glass. About an hour by train.

A walled medieval village on the French shore, an hour and a half by boat. Take a passport, and remember that you land in the Eurozone and pay accordingly.