Neuchatel

Capital of the Canton of Neuchatel. The town has some 32,000 inhabitants, is surrounded by 61 communes, which together form the Canton of Neuchatel with 167,900 inhabitants.

The town of Neuchatel is built in concentric circles between the lake and the Jura Mountains, around its heart: a chateau, almost a thousand years old and the collegiate church that houses the 14^th century tomb of the Counts of Neuchatel, its architecture and the 15^th century squares, the fabulous Palais du Peyrou and its 18^th century French-style gardens. Neuchatel is also a university, students, cafés, terraces in summer, a theatre and festivals. When autumn arrives, at the foot of the vine-covered hillsides, Neuchatel celebrates the grape harvest in one of the largest wine festivals in Europe. Friedrich Durrenmatt chose to live in Neuchatel and from the museum built by the architect Mario Botta on the heights of the town, close to the writer’s home, you have a dominant view of the town and if you are lucky, of the whole alpine chain (town website: www.neuchatel.ne.ch).