Grenoble, France

Elegant Grenoble is the Alps’ modern economic soul. Spectacularly sited in a broad valley surrounded by snow-capped mountains – Chartreuse (north), Vercors (southwest) and the Italian Alps (east) – the city sits plump in the centre of the Dauphiné region. It gained a reputation for social, artistic and technological innovation in the 1960s thanks to Socialist mayor Hubert Dubedout, and still lures Europe’s top dogs with its nuclear and microelectronic research. Shops thrive, boulevards are broad and architecturally fine, and a gregarious student population adds a big-city buzz to the air.