Geneva, Switzerland

Geneva is the most international city in Europe in the most literal sense — the UN, the NGOs and a few centuries of banking have filled it with people from everywhere — and it functions entirely in French with a genuine Swiss punctuality. The Pâquis is the dense quarter by the station with the nightlife, the red-light streets and the best cheap food in the city, the Old Town is the historic hill with the cathedral, the UN quarter is the institutional end, and the lake is the postcard with the fountain that the whole city photographs and the swimming areas the locals actually use.

The city's character is diplomatic and reserved, with a significant population of well-paid people far from home who are looking for company — a dynamic that makes the discretion-based part of the local scene genuinely active. French is the language of flirtation here and the accent is Swiss-French, which is noticeably softer and slower than Paris.

Expect real international crowds, French dirty talk, and a city where half the men you meet work for an organisation with an acronym.

Nearby: Lausanne Bern Basel Zürich