Nyon was a Roman town before most of Europe had names, founded by Julius Caesar around 45 BC as Colonia Iulia Equestris, a settlement for veteran cavalry on the shore of Lake Geneva. Columns from the Roman forum still stand by the lake, and a small museum in the old basilica shows what remains. Today it is a pleasant town of about seventeen thousand people with a castle on the hill, a waterfront promenade and a market, and it has the quiet, wealthy air of a place that has been well looked after for two thousand years.
Nyon has a few modern claims to fame. Its porcelain factory, active from the 1780s to the early nineteenth century, produced delicate pieces now treasured in museums. In July the town hosts the Paléo Festival, one of Switzerland's largest open-air music events, which brings the population of the whole area to a standstill, so book ahead if you are here then. Prangins Castle, close by, houses part of the Swiss National Museum, with exhibits on life in the country in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
For riders, Nyon is the base for the Jura crest road, a ride that climbs the long, forested ridge behind the lake. The Jura is a very different range from the Alps, made of folded limestone, with gentle summits, meadows with cattle and forest of spruce and beech. Roads here are narrow, often twisty, with passes such as the Marchairuz, at about 1,450 metres, and long views across the lake to Mont Blanc on a clear day. The surface can be patchy after winter, and cows may be on the road, so watch your speed.
Practical points are easy in town: fuel, food, a bakery for the road and a range of hotels. Weather behaves differently on the Jura, with cloud banks and mist frequent on the ridge while the lake is bright, and a sea of fog may lie over the lowlands in autumn, with the summit above in sunshine. In winter the high roads can be icy or closed. Come in late spring, when the meadows bloom, or in October, when the beech forests turn copper.