Pierre Linckenheld – or Pierro as almost everyone here calls him – originally hails from Strasbourg in France. For the last ten years or so, however, his adopted home has been the city of Lausanne on Lake Geneva. He is an assistant manager at the Café de Grancy near the city’s main train station, one of Lausanne’s most popular bistros.

In his free time, however, Pierre uses every spare minute to indulge his great sporting passion: freeboarding. A freeboard is a type of skateboard with six wheels, which transforms the experience of riding on tarmac into something comparable to snowboarding on a ski slope.

As a professional freeboarder and video maker, Pierre has a global profile thanks to the videos of his rides that he shoots with his Insta360 camera and shares on his social media channels. And in Lausanne he has found the perfect setting for this sport.

Just as a ski lift carries winter sports enthusiasts up the mountain, Lausanne has a similar means of transport for all urban skateboarders and freeboarders: every few minutes the Lausanne metro runs almost silently up the mountain from the terminus at Lausanne-Ouchy by the lake. It travels via the main station and the city centre (Flon) all the way up to Epalinges-Croisettes. The line is almost six kilometres long and climbs 336 metres, the largest altitude differential for an underground railway anywhere in the world. Half of the line runs underground, making the metro the first and only underground railway in Switzerland.

When you arrive at the top by metro, you feel far away from the hustle and bustle of the city. This is where you’ll find Sauvabelin Park, for example, where Pierre starts his downhill tour. Although you are still within the city of Lausanne, it feels like you are already in the heart of the countryside: a small, idyllic lake surrounded by oak forests, an animal park and an excursion restaurant invite you to relax. The “Tour de Sauvabelin” observation tower in the middle of the forest offers phenomenal 360° panoramic views of the city of Lausanne and its surroundings.

Whether you’re on foot, or on a freeboard like Pierre, Lausanne’s next natural jewel, the park at the Fondation de l’Hermitage, is only a stone’s throw away from Sauvabelin. This magnificent country park is another of the city’s popular viewpoints and provides a breathtaking panoramic vista. Nature is far from the only thing that attracts visitors to this park, however.

The park is best known as the home of the Fondation de l’Hermitage. Situated in a venerable 19th century country estate, this art museum of the city of Lausanne hosts two or three internationally important exhibitions every year. The museum’s collection of Chinese porcelain – a permanent exhibition in the building’s basement – is also well worth seeing.

Pierre’s freeboard whisks him from Parc de l’Hermitage to the city centre of Lausanne in no time. Even though the streets are much busier here, during the summer months even the city centre offers green oases where you can enjoy an aperitif in a relaxed atmosphere. Les Jardins du Vieux-Lausanne right by the cathedral is one such oasis.

Time seems to have stood still here. A secluded garden, the crunch of gravel underfoot, and small tables dotted about everywhere: Les Jardins du Vieux-Lausanne is the ideal place to escape the hustle and bustle of the city and enjoy an aperitif while the sun bathes Lake Geneva, the city and the Alpine panorama in a golden light.

The next stop on Pierre’s city tour is Lausanne’s main train station, where a special attraction has recently been added for all culture lovers to discover. Just five minutes from the station, the new “Plateforme 10” arts district brings three museums together under one roof. In addition to the Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts (MCBA), the cultural hub will soon also be home to the Musée de l’Elysée photography museum and the Museum of Contemporary Design and Applied Arts (mudac).

Located on the site of the main station’s former train sheds, the new arts district is also a highlight from an architectural perspective. The MCBA museum building was designed by Barcelona-based architects Barozzi Veiga and evokes the site’s industrial past. The second museum building, housing the mudac and the Musée de l’Elysée, was designed by Lisbon architects Manuel and Francisco Aires Mateus. It is due to open in autumn 2021.

As Pierre continues his tour from Plateforme 10 at the train station down through the city, there is actually just one stop left: Ouchy, with its harbour and lakeside promenade. Here on the shores of Lake Geneva is the perfect place to relax and unwind after an action-packed day of urban freeboarding, as the summer sun sets over the peaks of the Savoy Alps on the far side of the lake.