Headquarters for the United Nations in Europe, the Red Cross and several other international organizations, French-speaking Geneva is cosmopolitan and pricey. 

By Jim Johnson

Lake Geneva

A quiet breakfast on a summer morning in an elegant Geneva hotel. At one table a dapper, 60-something captain of industry wears a business suit that cost the equivalent of an around-the-world airline ticket. Opposite him a scruffy teenager with multiple body piercings and rainbow-colored hair wears jeans frayed la mode du jour. Surprisingly, they speak to each other in warm tones punctuated by an occasional laugh. The scene is a perfect metaphor for Geneva, a city of contrasts and tolerance.

Stand in the heart of downtown, and you can feel the electricity of one of the world's most cosmopolitan, international cities. Head five minutes in almost any direction and you can relax in rolling vineyards or on the expansive waters of Lake Geneva. One minute, it's an international city with 208 banks, 65 watch manufacturers and an alphabet soup of United Nations agencies (Geneva's the U.N.'s European HQ); the next minute it's small-town Switzerland with a population of barely 180,000.

About 70 % of visitors are there on business and their presence means a strong tourism infrastructure for all visitors, including 125 hotels (14 of them five-star), more than 1,100 restaurants, and shops to strain every credit card limit. And the town's compactness means more charm and convenience for tourists, who can make the trip from one end of downtown to the other without breaking a sweat.

Nearly 40 % of residents - representing 183 nationalities - are from outside Switzerland. Of the remaining Swiss, about a third are descendants of refugees who fled to Geneva in the 17th century to escape religious persecution. Everyone seems to have learned to get along.

Virtually encircled by France, Geneva is the most French of Swiss cities. Each day, 30,000 French citizens commute to work in Geneva.

And you just have to love a city with five chocolate factories and where residents consume an average of 25 pounds (11 kilograms) annually - nearly three times the U.S. level.

The town straddles the Rhône as it pours into Lac Léman (Lake Geneva). The left bank (facing upstream away from the lake) is the older part of the city, protected by a fortress and fortifications. The right bank is where hotels sprang up when protection was no longer needed. From there, you can look across the lake to the Old Town and mountains (including Mont Blanc when the weather cooperates).

Even a few hours in Geneva demonstrates it's one of Europe's most walkable cities. Starting at the Rhône, follow the promenade along the right bank and the lake, past excursion boats and the Paquis Bath, a downtown swimming area perfect for a picnic. If you'd like, you can borrow a bike - just leave a deposit. Stop along the way at a food stand and watch street performers. Or dodge packs of in-line skaters. Soon, you'll come to the Botanical Gardens - one of the city's many parks. Then cross the lake in a mouette - literally "seagull" - a water taxi that ferries passengers along the waterfront, weaving among tacking sailboats.

Completing your walk along the left bank, you'll pass two city landmarks: the Jet d'Eau - the 140-meter (459-foot) geyser-like fountain that pummels the sky with 416 liters (110 gallons) of water per second - and the English Garden with its flower watch, an operating clock with hands and dial made of living flowers. You can extend your walk along causeways connecting a string of islands in the Rhône.

Another recommended stroll is through the Old Town along 16th- and 17th-century streets, past St. Peter's Cathedral (and the exciting yet often missed archaeological site under it), the Town Hall, the Arsenal and Bastion Park, typical of green spaces converted from former fortresses and moats. Audio-guided tours to 26 points of interest are available at the tourist office (rue du Mont-Blanc 18), two blocks from the main station. There's no cost for the 2-hour tour, but you must leave a CHF 50 deposit.

Just a short tram ride from the center is Carouge, once a small village and now within the city limits. Designed in 1754 by a Turinese architect, it's unique Mediterranean flavor makes for great walking. The streets, laid out in the 17th-century, run off a central park, creating a checkerboard arrangement of blocks. Each block is made up of gabled, two-story row-houses with wooden galleries that open in the rear to gardens. Carouge is filled with boutiques, food shops, bakeries, bistros and cafés (L'Imsomnia is a current hot spot). Once home to many craftsmen, Carouge continues the tradition with shops owned by artisans who design, create or repair hats, handbags, furniture, clothing and, at Les Allumés, lamps made from household items like colanders, clasps, spoons and tea strainers. Trams run every 7-10 minutes from the main station on line 13, direction Palettes.

(Public transit in Geneva is superb, and its "tariff community" covers the complete canton and includes buses, trams, boats and trains. Tickets range from one zone for CHF 1.80 to an all-zone day-pass for CHF 12.

If you're not a walker, take an excursion boat either up the Rhône or along the shores of Lake Geneva past villas and lakeside communities, or head out to the vineyards in nearby Satigny. Swiss Rail trains operate hourly from the main train station to the Satigny station, where they connect with a "W" bus which runs a loop through vast vineyards, petite villages, past moss-covered walls and medieval chateaux.