Zurich

Zürich is a stunningly beautiful city that sits astride the River Limmat (the Zürichsee flows into the River Limmat). Its charming old town, comprising a substantial part of the city center, is full of beautifully restored historic buildings and narrow, hilly alleys. In the distance, snow-clad peaks overlook the waters of the lake, and the shores are dominated by turn-of-the-century mansions.

Zürich is also one of the world's leading financial centers -- the Zürich stock exchange is the fourth-largest after those of New York, London, and Tokyo. However, Zürich is a far cry from a cold-hearted business city. The avant-garde Dadaist movement started here in 1916, when a group of artists and writers, including Tristan Tzara, Jean Arp, and Hugo Ball, rebelled against traditional artistic expression. Zürich also attracted Irish author James Joyce, who spent years here re-creating his native Dublin in Ulysses.

The city's extraordinary museums and galleries, and the luxuries available in shops along the Bahnhofstrasse, Zürich's Fifth Avenue, attest to the city's position as Switzerland's spiritual, if not political, capital.

The latest addition to the city's profile is Zürich West, an industrial neighborhood that's quickly being reinvented. Amid the cluster of cranes, former factories are being turned into spaces for restaurants, bars, art galleries, and dance clubs.