The geography of Switzerland features a mountainous and landlocked country located in Western and Central Europe. Switzerland's natural landscape is marked by its numerous lakes and mountains. It is surrounded by five countries: Austria and Liechtenstein to the east, France to the west, Italy to the south and Germany to the north. Switzerland has a maximum north–south length of 220 kilometres (140 mi) and an east–west length of about 350 kilometres (220 mi).
The Alpine region of Switzerland, conventionally referred to as the Swiss Alps, represents a major natural feature of the country and is, along with the Swiss Plateau and the Swiss portion of the Jura Mountains, one of its three main physiographic regions. The Swiss Alps extend over both the Western Alps and the Eastern Alps, encompassing an area sometimes called Central Alps. While the northern ranges from the Bernese Alps to the Appenzell Alps are entirely in Switzerland, the southern ranges from the Mont Blanc massif to the Bernina massif are shared with other countries such as France, Italy, Austria and Liechtenstein.
A snipe hunt is a type of practical joke or fool's errand, in existence in North America as early as the 1840s, in which an unsuspecting newcomer is duped into trying to catch an elusive, nonexistent animal called a snipe. Although snipe are an actual family of birds, a snipe hunt is a quest for an imaginary creature whose description varies.
The Jura Mountains are a sub-alpine mountain range a short distance north of the Western Alps and mainly demarcate a long part of the French–Swiss border. While the Jura range proper is located in France and Switzerland, the range continues as the Table Jura northeastwards through northern Switzerland and Germany.
The Aosta Valley is a mountainous autonomous region in northwestern Italy. It is bordered by Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France, to the west, Valais, Switzerland, to the north, and by Piedmont, Italy, to the south and east. The regional capital is Aosta.
The Republic and Canton of Neuchâtel is a mostly French-speaking canton in western Switzerland. In 2007, its population was 169,782, of whom 39,654 were foreigners. The capital is Neuchâtel.
Switzerland lies at the crossroads of several major European cultures. Three of the continent's major languages, German, French and Italian, are national languages of Switzerland, along with Romansh, spoken by a small minority. Therefore, Swiss culture is characterized by diversity, which is reflected in a wide range of traditional customs. The 26 cantons also account for the large cultural diversity.
La Chaux-de-Fonds is a Swiss city in the canton of Neuchâtel. It is located in the Jura mountains at an altitude of 1000 m, a few kilometres south of the French border. After Geneva, Lausanne and Fribourg it is the fifth largest city in the Romandie, the French-speaking part of the country, with a population of 36,915.
Monte Rosa is a mountain massif in the eastern part of the Pennine Alps, on the border between Italy and Switzerland (Valais). The highest peak of the massif, amongst several peaks of over 4.000 m, is the Dufourspitze, the second highest mountain in the Alps and western Europe, after Mont Blanc. The east face of the Monte Rosa towards Italy has a height of about 2.400 meters and is the highest mountain wall of the Alps.
The Alps form a large mountain range dominating Central Europe, including parts of Italy, France, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria, Slovenia, Germany and Hungary.
The Route nationale 5, or RN 5, is a trunk road (nationale) in France now connecting Dijon with the frontier of Switzerland. It is also numbered the European route E21.
The Autoroute A40 is a motorway in France that extends from Mâcon on the west to Passy on the east, terminating not far from Chamonix and the Mont Blanc Tunnel. The road runs 208 kilometres (129 mi) through Bresse, the high southern Jura Mountains, northern Prealps and French Alps. It was fully completed in 1990, and includes 12 viaducts and 3 tunnels. The road is maintained by Autoroutes Paris-Rhin-Rhône, comprising part of European routes E25 and E62.
The Comtois horse is a draft horse that originated in the Jura Mountains on the border between France and Switzerland.
Quingey is a commune and former canton seat in the Doubs department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in eastern France.
The A16, a motorway in north-central Switzerland, is a divided freeway connecting the border to France to the A5 motorway, 84 kilometres (52 mi) to the south on the Swiss plateau.
Parc naturel régional du Haut-Jura is a French regional natural park located in the southwest of the Jura Mountain Range in France, on the French-Swiss border.
The France–Switzerland border is 572 km (355 mi) long. Its current path is mostly the product of the Congress of Vienna of 1815, with the accession of Geneva, Neuchâtel and Valais to the Swiss Confederation, but it has since been modified in detail, the last time being in 2002. Although most of the border, marked with border stones, is unguarded, several checkpoints remain staffed, most notably on busy roads.
The Zec Martin-Valin is a "zone d'exploitation contrôlée" (ZEC), located in the Le Fjord-du-Saguenay Regional County Municipality, in administrative region of Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean, in Quebec, in Canada.
The Quarry: Deer Hunt in the Forests of the Grand Jura is an 1857 painting by the French artist Gustave Courbet. It was his first work on a hunting theme and is now in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
The Neuchâtel–Le Locle-Col-des-Roches railway is a single-track standard-gauge line of the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB).
