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Geneva occupies a particular position in the European imagination, one that has little to do with size. Sitting at the southwestern tip of Lake Geneva where the Rhône flows out toward France, it is a city that has long punched far above its weight, hosting the headquarters of the Red Cross, the United Nations European offices, and more international organisations than almost anywhere else on earth. That diplomatic density gives the city a certain composed, multilingual quality, a place where French is the language of daily life but the streets carry the accents of the world.

The lake itself is the defining fact of Geneva. The Jet d'Eau, that 140-metre column of water shooting up from the harbour, is visible from much of the city and has become its most recognisable symbol, though it began as a hydraulic pressure valve in the nineteenth century rather than an ornament. The lakefront promenades on both the Rive Droite and Rive Gauche draw walkers and cyclists at almost any hour, and the water changes colour through the day in ways that make the surrounding Alps, when they are clear, look almost theatrical. The Quai du Mont-Blanc on the right bank and the Quai Gustave-Ador on the left frame a body of water that is technically a lake but feels, in scale and mood, closer to a sea.