Geneva is considered by many a global city, the world capital of bureaucracy, because of the large number of international organizations, including the headquarters of many of the agencies of the United Nations and the Red Cross. The Geneva Conventions (which chiefly concern the treatment of wartime non-combatants and prisoners of war) were of course signed here as well.

Geneva is the second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous city of the French-speaking Switzerland.

The city is situated in a gorgeous spot, where the Rhone River exits Lake Geneva. Flanked on one side by the Jura ridges and on the other by the first peaks of the Savoy Alps, Geneva is the nearest thing the world has to a truly international city. Its metropolitan area extends partly over Switzerland and France.

Geneva has become the businessperson’s city par excellence, efficient and packed with hotels. At the heart of the city is the huge Cathédrale St-Pierre, and packed in all around are an array of top-class museums. The cobbled Old Town, high on its central hill, is atmospheric but strangely austere, with abiding impressions of high, grey walls and the stern tap-tap of passing footsteps.

More than one third of its population are foreigners, but across most of the city centre you’d be hard pushed to spot a non-white face or eavesdrop on a conversation that wasn’t in either French or US-accented English.

All City Rankings in Worldwide Surveys

	Ranked 2nd	Safest Cities (2008)
	Ranked 2nd	Cities with Best Quality of Life (2008)
	Ranked 2nd	Cities with Best Quality of Life (2007)
	Ranked 4th	Most Livable Cities (2005)
	Ranked 4th	Most Livable Cities (2002)
	Ranked 9th	Most Livable Cities (2008)
	Ranked 10th	Healthiest Cities (2007)
	Ranked 20th	Most Liveable Cities (2007)

 

All City Rankings in Regional Surveys

Ranked 2nd

Top Cities in Switzerland (2008)

 

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Tags: Best Cities of Switzerland, Cities, Geneva, Switzerland

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