Mulhouse is a city and commune in eastern France, close to the Swiss and German borders. With a population of 110,514 and 278,206 inhabitants in the metropolitan area in 2006, it is the largest city in the Haut-Rhin departement, and the second largest in the Alsace region after Strasbourg. Mulhouse is the principal commune of the 32 making up the Communaute d'agglomeration Mulhouse Alsace Agglomeration (MAA, population 252,000).

Mulhouse is famous for its museums, especially the Cite de l'Automobile (also known as "Musee national de l'automobile") and the Musee Francais du Chemin de Fer (also known as "Cite du train"), respectively the largest automobile and railway museums in Europe. An industrial town nicknamed "the French Manchester", Mulhouse is also the main seat of the Upper Alsace University, where the secretariat of the European Physical Society can be found.