Getting off the train in Lucerne's Hauptbahnhof on a busy Saturday night, you could be forgiven for thinking you'd ended up in a bustling metropolis - and in a way, you'd be right.
The foyer is full of punks and football fans, the streets outside are awash with students, and the quayside bars and cafes are doing a roaring trade. But the big surprise is that, despite its big-city buzz, Lucerne is remarkably compact - with only 60,000 inhabitants - so it's really easy to get out into the surrounding countryside.
And what countryside. The slogan of Lucerne's tourist office is "Die stadt. Der see. Die berge." (The city. The lake. The mountains.) And for once this isn't just a meaningless marketing catchphrase.
Even in the heart of town, the lake and the mountains are extremely close. You can board a boat right outside the train station, and the nearest cable car is only a brief bus ride away.
British visitors have been flocking to Lucerne for 200 years, but the city is just the half of it. If you're looking for a base from which to explore central Switzerland, you've come to the right place.
For more information visit luzern.com
