The town of ZUG (pronounced tsoogk), 22km from Luzern on the north side of the Rigi, is the richest place in Switzerland, which makes it very rich indeed. Tiny Canton Zug has the lowest tax rates in the country – about half the national average – which attracts flocks of multinational corporations, which in turn pushes average per capita net income up to an incredible Fr.70,000 (£30,500) a year. Zug’s modern, business-driven existence proceeds without pomp amidst the glittering offices and malls of the new town, a world away from the picturesque medieval churches and cobbled waterfront lanes of the compact Old Town adjacent. Over the centuries, Zug’s Old Town has regularly suffered from landslides which have deposited buildings and people into the lake, most recently in 1887; today, with the addition of modern retaining lake walls, the danger has receded.

The town’s location on the crystal-blue Zugersee is very attractive, framed by the high wooded plateau of the Zugerberg rising 600m to the east and the peak of the Rigi (see above) on its southwest shores.