A Good Walk: Lausanne
Begin in the commercial hub of the city, the Place St-François (nicknamed "Sainfe" by the Lausannois), where you'll see the former Franciscan Église St-François. Behind the church, take a near hairpin turn right onto the fashionable main shopping street, the ancient Rue de Bourg. At the top of Rue de Bourg, Rue Caroline leads you left and left again over the Pont Bessières, where you can see the city's peculiar design spanning gorges and covered rivers.
Crossing the bridge and bearing right brings you up into the Old Town. On your left, the imposing palace of the Old Bishopric now houses the Musée Historique de Lausanne.
Adjacent is the Musée de Design et d'Arts Appliqués Contemporains, known as the "Mudac" to locals. Straight ahead, at the top of Rue St-Étienne, towers the tremendous Cathédrale de Notre-Dame, which is on par with some of Europe's finest churches.
With the cathedral on your left, walk up the narrow passage of Rue Cité-Derrière to the Place du Château and its eponymous monument, the Château St-Maire. As you face the château, turn left and walk down the Rue Cité-Devant.
As you pass the cathedral again, veer right toward a flight of wooden steps that leads down to the dramatic Escaliers du Marché, a wood-roof medieval staircase, and the Place de la Palud and the Hôtel de Ville, the seat of the municipal and communal councils. Turning right, just up Rue Madeleine, you will come upon the Place de la Riponne and the imposing Palais de Rumine.
A long hike up Avenue Vinet, northwest of the Old Town, will take you to the Collection de l'Art Brut, an unusual museum of fringe art.
South of the Old Town, Ouchy's Débarcadère has typical quayside attractions—vendors and people strolling on a promenade. It can be easily reached by the steep subway Métro; there are stations across from the Gare Centrale and under the Rue du Grand-Chêne in the Flon. (There's also a large underground parking garage, a boon in this space-pressed city.)
Just east of Ouchy, on a hillside overlooking the lake, the dramatic Musée Olympique tells about the history and sports of the Olympic Games. It's less than half a mile from the Débarcadère along the Quai de Belgique, which turns into the Quai d'Ouchy.
Uphill and connected by garden pathways, the Musée de l'Elysée is a photography museum housed in a restored 18th-century campagne (country manor home).
