The old-world town of Yverdon, capital of northern Vaud and a well-known health resort, lies at the southwest end of the Lac de Neuchâtel. From ancient times this has been an important traffic junction.
Yverdon-les-Bains occupies the site of the Roman camp of Eburodunum. Traces of the earliest
inhabitants were found when the inland waters of the Jura sank in the flood plain of the Orbe in the 19th C. According to the most recent excavations, the first settlements built on piles are dated to about 2800 B.C. At the beginning of the fifth C. Burgundians invaded the area. In the 13th C. the Dukes of Savoy built the massive castle in which the famous educationalist Pestalozzi ran his school from 1805 to 1826.