Neuchatel Old Town

Neuchatel was built from a local yellow limestone quarried at Hauterive, and the effect in low sun gave rise to the line usually credited to Alexandre Dumas, that the town looked as though it had been carved from a block of butter. Above the lanes stand the castle and the collegiate church, together on a terrace: the church is twelfth-century with a cenotaph of the counts of Neuchatel from about 1372, a painted group of fifteen figures that is among the most important gothic funerary monuments north of the Alps. The town belonged to Prussia for much of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, which shows in the classical buildings below. The Laténium archaeology museum is along the shore.

What you actually see

• Yellow limestone throughout - the stone behind the butter-block description.
• The counts' cenotaph - fifteen painted figures from about 1372.
• Castle and collegiate church - the terrace above the lanes.
• A Prussian period - the classical building from the years under Berlin.

When to go

All year. Half a day.

Honest expectations

The climb from the station to the terrace is steep. The castle is the cantonal government seat, so access is by guided tour at set times. Museums close on Mondays. The lakefront is modern and separate from the old core.

Nearby

The Areuse gorges and Creux du Van are west; Lake Neuchatel is below.