THE KEY
Read moreOne of Vevey's legendary gourmet addresses, this inn was where Jean-Jacques Rousseau stayed in 1730. A plaque quotes a highly poetic passage from Confessions: "I went to Vevey," he says, "to stay at La Clef. I took for this city a love that followed me in all my travels." Rousseau first came to Lausanne at the age of 18 to prepare for a music competition. Having finally opted for writing, he wrote Julie ou la Nouvelle Héloïse in Switzerland, using Clarens as the setting. It is said that he could see Mme de Warens' house from his window.
VILLA DIODATI
Read moreIn the Geneva countryside, a 1710 manor house was the setting for one of the most famous and first science fiction novels. It was in this sumptuous mansion, formerly called Villa Belle Rive, that three young writers (Lord Byron, Mary Shelley and Percy Shelley) played a perilous game of writing a terrifying novel. By morning, Mary Shelley had written Frankenstein. The world's most famous science fiction novel was born in the canton of Geneva. The villa is privately owned and unfortunately cannot be visited.