Geneva is exceptionally well positioned for easy driving adventures. Across the French border (bring your passport!), temptations include Annecy, a canal-dotted delight to which the Counts of Geneva used to retreat every year, and the medieval hilltop village of Pérouges, reached via winding Jura Mountain roads flanked by gorgeous meadows.

Back on the Swiss side, cheese-making town Gruyères and the Château de Chillon castle, whose 9th-century walls rise directly from Lake Geneva, both excel in seducing tourists.
Further along the idyllic water await dreamy Lausanne and the Belle Époque grandeur of Montreux, while Charlie Chaplin fans flood to the actor’s former home, Vevey.