Yverdon-les-Bains

Yverdon-les-Bains sits at the south-western end of Lake Neuchâtel, and it has been a spa since the Romans built baths over its sulphurous springs. The water comes up at 29 °C from a depth of around 500 m, and it is prescribed for rheumatism and respiratory complaints by doctors who are entirely serious about it.

The town is the second largest in canton Vaud, French-speaking, and pleasantly unbothered by tourism.

The baths

Centre Thermal is a large, practical spa rather than a design statement — indoor and outdoor pools, saunas, and a medical wing. It is the sort of place where you are surrounded by Swiss pensioners taking a cure rather than by visitors, which is its own recommendation.

See thermal baths for the etiquette.

The castle and Pestalozzi

Château d’Yverdon, thirteenth-century, square with round corner towers, built by the Savoyards on the same pattern as Chillon and Morges.

From 1805 to 1825 it housed the school of Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi, the educational reformer whose ideas — teaching through observation and activity rather than rote, educating the poor, and treating children as children — underlie a great deal of modern primary schooling. Visitors came from across Europe to watch his classes. There is a study centre in the castle.

Maison d’Ailleurs

And then the unexpected one: the House of Elsewhere, a public museum of science fiction, utopia and extraordinary journeys — the only one of its kind in Europe.

It holds a very large collection of books, illustration, film material and objects, including the archive of H. R. Giger in a dedicated space, and it runs serious exhibitions rather than fan displays. It is in an old prison building by the castle.

If you have any interest in the subject, this alone justifies the trip.

The menhirs

On the edge of the town, at Clendy, stands a group of around forty-five standing stones from about 4,000 BC — the largest neolithic alignment in Switzerland, re-erected after being found during drainage work.

They are free to visit, in a field by the lake, and almost nobody goes.

The lake

The southern end of Lake Neuchâtel is flat, reedy and full of birds — a protected wetland quite unlike the alpine lakes. Boats run from here up the lake to Neuchâtel and through the canals to Biel and Murten; see the lakes.

Getting there

• By train — Lausanne 25 minutes, Neuchâtel 25 minutes, Geneva an hour, Zurich about two hours.
• On foot — the castle and old town are five minutes from the station; the baths a little further.

When to go

Any time — the baths and the museums are indoors. Summer for the lake and the menhirs.