Fribourg, Switzerland

Fribourg (Freiburg in German) is one of Switzerland's best-kept secrets. Its winningly attractive medieval Old Town, almost perfectly preserved, is set on a forested peninsula in a meander of the River Sarine. Steep, cobbled streets, bedecked with wrought-iron lamp standards and ornate inn signs, are picturesque and characterful. Six bridges, from medieval wooden fords to lofty modern valley spans, provide woodcut-pretty views across the town of the old houses piled up together on the slopes.

But the views only scratch the surface. For, behind its visual charm, Fribourg is perhaps Switzerland's most amiable and easy-going town, thoroughly modern at heart despite the medieval appearance of some quarters. It's small enough to have kept most of its city centre residential, but large enough to have attracted a lively, cosmopolitan mix of people to fuel the community atmosphere. One of the country's most prestigious universities – and its sole Catholic one – attracts students from all over the country (and especially from Italian-speaking Ticino), generating a social dynamism that is tangible on the streets.

The River Sarine (Saane in German), which carves a path through the town, is the local defining line of the Röstigraben: Fribourg is split roughly 70:30 between French Swiss, who call their town free-boor and are a majority on the western bank, and German Swiss, to whom the place is fry-berg and who form a majority on the eastern bank. The town's radio station has two separate channels, many streets have two names, and almost everyone is instinctively bilingual. Some of Fribourg's older folk even cling on to the ancient Bolze dialect, a mixture, unsurprisingly, of French and German which you might be able to catch in the taverns and public squares of the Basse-Ville (Lower Town).