Neuchâtel (Swiss Canton)

Three worlds in one: the aristocratic lakeside town of Neuchâtel, surrounded by vineyards, the factory town of La Chaux-de-Fonds in the mountains, famous for its workers' struggles, and the valleys and mountains of the Jura, cradle of the distillation of the green fairy (absinthe) and a paradise for hikers.

The town of Neuchâtel, on the shores of the lake of the same name, is partly built of yellow Hauterive stone, which gives it its unique character. Surrounded by wine-growing regions to the east and west, and dominated by its collegiate church and castle, it is an attractive town well worth a visit.

Perched at an altitude of 1000m, La Chaux-de-Fonds is a strange town, laid out in a straight line following its destruction by fire at the dawn of the industrial revolution. The scene of many workers' struggles, it is one of the great strongholds of the Swiss watchmaking industry.

The rest of the canton is made up of the mountains and valleys of the Jura, a hiker's paradise. With unique features such as the village of La Brévine, nicknamed the "Siberia of Switzerland" because the temperature can drop to -40°C in winter, and the Val-de-Travers, the cradle of the distillation of the "green fairy", this absinthe-based brandy that was the delight of the French intelligentsia and the misfortune of working-class families...

Not forgetting, of course, the wine-growing regions, which produce very good quality wines: 650 hectares of vineyards spread over about 40 km from west to east and divided into 3 regions, the Béroche (from Vaumarcus, on the Vaud border, to Bevaix), the Littoral (from Cortaillod to Neuchâtel) and the Entre-deux-Lacs (from Hauterive, the eastern suburb of Neuchâtel, to Le Landeron, right next to Lake Biel).