SWITZERLAND TRAVEL, HOTEL, HOLIDAY & ACCOMMODATION GUIDE
HOTELS IN LAUSANNE, LAKE GENEVA, VAUD

Lausanne, the capital of the Swiss canton of Vaud, is a medium sized city (around two thirds the size of Geneva) which sits at the northern most point of Lake Geneva (Lac Léman). 

The city is the host to the International Olympic Committee and two major universities. It is also the transportation hub of Vaud, and a gateway to the alpine Canton of the Valais, home to some of the best known ski slopes in the world.

As you might expect the large student population makes for a lively nightlife and arts community, revolving around the Flon district. You'll also find a number of quality restaurants and two dozen museums of note, including the Olympic Museum and the offbeat Collection de l'Art Brut. Architecture buffs should note that at the top of the old town you'll find the best preserved Gothic cathedral in Switzerland. Lausanne is a French speaking city, but Swiss-German and Italian are also spoken. A large enough part of the population has English as a second language that you probably will have little trouble, but it is not as commonly spoken as in nearby Geneva. There has been a settlement on the hill of Lausanne since at least the stone age, but most histories of the city trace its origin to the roman camp Lausanna which occupied a position just down the hill toward the lake in what is now the village of Vidy. Relocated to more defensible hilltop in the dark ages, Lausanne's increasing wealth and importance were largely derived from its placement on the primary north south routes between Italy and the north sea.

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It was the first major town north of the St. Bernard pass, at least until the establishment of the bishopric of Valais.

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In 1538 the Bernese took the city from the Dukes of Savoy as part of their drive to secure their southwestern frontier. The Bernese held the territory until Lausanne gained its independence from Berne after the invasion of a French army under Napoléon Bonaparte in 1798. The city was later, in 1803, admitted to Switzerland as the capital of Vaud. Lavaux, the mini region of the northwestern shore of Lake Geneva from Lausanne to Montreux (sometimes called the Swiss Riviera) has been a second home to writers, artists and musicians for about 150 years starting with the Shelleys and Lord Byron, who partied and wrote in Lausanne (Frankenstein is rumoured to have been composed here). Other famous residents include Ernest Hemingway, who wintered here with his young family around the time related in A Movable Feast and Charlie Chaplin who lived in Vevey from the mid 1930s on.

LAUSANNE, VAUD FEATURED HOTELS, SWITZERLAND