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Travel guide
Geneva
4 days · 8 things to do
Best time to go: May to September
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Welcome
Geneva, in a few days
Geneva fits into a few square kilometres between the tip of Lake Geneva, the Jura and the Salève, with the stone-built old town on one side and the international organisations on the other. Distance is not the issue here, price is: it is one of the most expensive cities in the world, and the French border is ten minutes away by tram.
- Day by day
- D1 Day 1 2 things
- D2 Day 2 2 things
- D3 Day 3 2 things
- D4 Day 4 2 things
- Worth sorting before you go
- Words that help
- The practical page
- Packing checklist
The trip
Day by day
Map of the sights (numbers follow the suggested order). It prints with the base map.
D1
Day 1
2 things to do · at your own pace
- Morning · The Jet d'Eau free · about 30 minFive hundred litres a second thrown 140 metres high; once a safety valve, it moved to the quays in 1891 because people liked it.
- Afternoon · Bains des Pâquis · 2 to 3 hA concrete jetty where everyone swims in the lake from May to September, with sauna and hammam in winter and a cheap canteen.
🛏️ Where to sleep · Hôtel Cristal€190 a night
D2
Day 2
2 things to do · at your own pace
- Morning · The old town and St Pierre Cathedral · 2 to 3 hA Gothic cathedral stripped bare by the Reformation in 1535, above an archaeological site covering fifteen centuries, from a Roman villa to 5th-century mosaics.
- Afternoon · Carouge free · 2 to 3 hA grid of streets where each archway opens onto a courtyard of wisteria and fig trees, with potters, violin makers, vintage shops and chocolatiers.
🛏️ Where to sleep · Hôtel Longemalle€260 a night
D3
Day 3
2 things to do · at your own pace
- Morning · The Salève cable car · half a dayA near-vertical ride up the cliff to a grassy plateau with a restaurant, picnic tables and paragliders launching from the edge.
- Afternoon · Palais des Nations · about 1 hThe UN's European headquarters in a park of peacocks and cedars; the tour includes Miquel Barceló's ceiling in the Human Rights room.
🛏️ Where to sleep · Hôtel Rhodania€160 a night
D4
Day 4
2 things to do · at your own pace
- Morning · International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum · 2 to 3 hA century and a half of humanitarian work; the most moving exhibit is the index of First World War prisoners, seven million handwritten cards.
- Afternoon · CERN Science Gateway free · 2 to 3 hRenzo Piano's building, opened in 2023, with a real section of the LHC and a cloud chamber that shows cosmic rays crossing the room.
🛏️ Where to sleep · Warwick€260 a night
Before you go
Worth sorting before you go
📶 eSIM data
Online the moment you land, no roaming bill.
Get one · Holafly
Online the moment you land, no roaming bill.
Get one · Holafly
🛡️ Travel insurance
Health, luggage, cancellation.
Cover it · Ekta
Health, luggage, cancellation.
Cover it · Ekta
💳 Fee-free card
Pay at the real rate, with no exchange markup.
Open one · Revolut
Pay at the real rate, with no exchange markup.
Open one · Revolut
🚐 Airport transfer
A private car at a fixed price from the moment you land.
Book it · GetTransfer
A private car at a fixed price from the moment you land.
Book it · GetTransfer
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Good to know
Flavours & local habits
🍽️ Worth tasting
- Fondue: melted cheese in a pot, shared and stirred.
- Raclette: cheese melted off the wheel over potatoes.
- Rösti: grated potato fried into a golden cake.
- Swiss chocolate, sold by weight in every town.
- Birchermüesli, devised by a doctor around 1900 and still the standard breakfast.
⚠️ Best avoided
- Everything costs: buy lunch at a Coop or Migros and eat it outside.
- Validate your Swiss Travel Pass before the first journey if you are chaining trains.
- Trains leave at the stated minute, not a moment after. Be early.
- Take mountain weather and mountain kit seriously, even in July.
Getting by
Words that help
English ↔ German
| English | German |
|---|---|
| Hello | Hallo |
| Thank you | Danke |
| Please | Bitte |
| Yes | Ja |
| No | Nein |
| Excuse me | Entschuldigung |
| Goodbye | Auf Wiedersehen |
| Do you speak English? | Sprechen Sie Englisch? |
| I don't understand | Ich verstehe nicht |
| How much is it? | Wie viel kostet das? |
| Where are the toilets? | Wo sind die Toiletten? |
| The bill, please | Die Rechnung, bitte |
| Help! | Hilfe! |
| Cheers! | Prost! |
The essentials
The practical page
CurrencySwiss franc (CHF)
BudgetAbout €225 a day, mid-range
Best seasonMay to September
PlugJ/C · 230V
Tap waterSafe to drink, and among the best in Europe
TippingService is included, round up
Emergency112 / 144
EntrySchengen area: an ID card or passport for EU citizens, 90 days visa-free for UK, US, Canadian and Australian passports.
HealthNo specific vaccination needed. Check that tetanus, polio and MMR are up to date.
Scan to open this guide online, always up to date.
https://offwegooo.com/en/guides/geneva
Don't forget
Packing checklist
Have a good trip.
Guide made on offwegooo.com · Photos via Pexels · Details are indicative, check before you leave.