Things to do in Geneva!

Before I jump into all the things you can do around Geneva, I feel the need to give a disclaimer if you are wanting to do a vacation here. In my opinion, Geneva is one of the worst places to vacation if you are going to Switzerland. I’M JUST BEING HONEST, I absolutely loved living in Geneva and I think it is a fantastic place to reside (especially as an English-speaking person) and would recommend it to anyone who wants to live abroad. But if you want to really see Switzerland as a tourist, I would go to many other cities before I would go to Geneva. With that being said, if your tickets are already booked don’t worry, your vacation is not going to be bad I promise! Like all places in the world, there are things to do and see here, and some amazing cities are just a train ride away! Just make sure to set realistic expectations- Geneva is very much a “working” city and although it brings in a fair bit of tourism in the summer, it is nothing compared with places like Interlaken, Zurich, or Zermatt. The views, architecture, and people will be much different than in the other parts of Switzerland. If you want a “Swiss cultural experience” it can be hard to find here because 40% of the canton is made up of foreigners and a lot of the Swiss people who live in Geneva are half-French…

so just keep all of that in mind!

  • Red Cross Museum

    • I am not a museum girl so I mean it when I tell you this one is great. It is located in the direction of the Geneva airport and is pretty close to the United Nations building. There are a lot of buses that will take you pretty close, with the closest stop being Appia. The museum felt very interactive with the different exhibits. Instead of it just being a bunch of stuff for you to read, you have an audio guide for the first part, then you get to a screen room where you can listen to people’s stories. At the end, there is a disaster simulation game (it took us a couple of tries to understand it, but once we did it was SO fun) and the whole thing is curated very well. There is an option for tickets to just see their temporary exhibit but the one that was up when we went was not worth our time and I would 100% recommend that you pay for the regular exhibit which includes the temporary one. Tickets are 10 CHF for students and adults under 23, and 15 CHF for adults older than 22.

    • If you have young kids this museum might not be the best one to take them to. It’s a lot of listening and watching people tell their stories at different stations, and as a kid I could see it being difficult to find the particular layout and content of the museum entertaining. The Olympic Museum in Lausanne has a lot more to look at and might be more visually stimulating. Plus they have some games you can play at the end of the Olympic museum, whereas the interactive game at the end of the Red Cross is a bit high up off the ground and could be hard for a child to play.

  • Botanical Gardens

    • These are 100% worth your time and are totally free! They are absolutely beautiful, located pretty close to the UN and the Red Cross Museum. They are beautiful in the spring and summer. If you want to go in the summer I would recommend going during the cool mornings or evenings. If you do evenings just know that the greenhouses close around 7 - 8pm and you’ll have more mosquitos than in the morning.

    • The bus stop is called Jardin Botanique, Geneve and a lot of different bus lines will take you there. It is one of those big bus stops that cover multiple blocks, so you might want to reference my public transit info page to understand how multi-block bus stations work.

    • There is also an entrance to the lake that is about a 12-minute walk from the gardens. It is more of a local spot and allows you to get in the water from concrete and not sand. So if you want a less crowded way to get into the lake then Baby-Plage near the Jet D’eau, this might be the spot for you!

  • Old Town & Jet D’eau

    • If you google “things to do in Geneva” these two will be at the top of the list. It’s a fun half-day activity, especially in the Spring when it isn’t too hot! You can pay to go to the top of the Cathedral for 8CHF for adults, but it closes at 5:00 pm and they don’t let anyone go up past 4:30 pm so make sure you go earlier in the day! It’s a LOT of stairs and a pretty view but if you are going to be doing a lot of traveling around Switzerland I would recommend the Lausanne Cathedral instead. It’s cheaper, has slightly fewer stairs, and has a better view (in my opinion).

  • Picnic at the Park

    • This one might sound lame but I have had more picnics in Geneva than I have ever had in my life! It is absolutely the local “thing-to-do” here. The parks are really beautiful, just head to the store and grab a baguette, some cream cheese, and sodas.

    • Eaux-Vives Park is actually 2 different parks combined into one. It’s beautiful with a rose garden, little walking paths, and cute buildings. Its VERY big and there is also a restaurant you can eat at as well but idk if the food is good because it was a little too expensive for my broke student budget haha. If you go, I highly recommend going to watch the sunset! Bus stops include parc plage eaux vives if you are entering from by the Jet D’eau or Geneve eaux vives, gare/vadier if you are coming in at the top of the park and working your way down to the lake.

    • Botanical Gardens have already been mentioned above, but they are a great place for a picnic!

  • Riverwalk and Beach

    • Pont de Vessy: This is a VERY local place and I never ran into tourists in this area, but I did run into a TON of dogs… so if you’re an animal person this is the place for you. It’s a hiking/walking path around Centre Sportif de Vessy. When I googled it and followed the search it took me to a totally different location, so I’m just going to explain exactly how to get here. It was a fluke that I found it and it was my absolute favorite walking trail and place to clear my mind. It’s basically in this woodsy area that is very well-shaded so it’s great for the summer, and you get openings onto a beachfront for the river Arve.

    • You will take the bus to Bout du Monde on lines 11 and 7. When you get off the bus you want to the bridge over the river. The baseball field/ training center will be on your right and you will walk all the way across the bridge on the right side. At the end of the bridge there will be a brown post that has a little picture of a hiker on a yellow flag and there will be metal stairs that will take you around and under the bridge. Once you go down the stairs you will be on a dirt path. You’ll have some trees on your left and an open grass area on your right where you can do a BBQ. Almost immediately on your left there will be an opening in the trees to some sand and the river. I found this spot to be the most private, but there is a much bigger spot further up, but there were always dog owners with their dogs in that section so I preferred the private one. If you want to go on a nice 1.5- 2hour walk, just walk straight. Follow the path. After about 10minutes on the path you will get to a big opening in the trees which allows you to walk inside the tree area instead of next to it. You will reach a fork in the path and if you go left, about 4 minutes more and you will be at the big opening with sand and the river.

      • The river Arve is VERY cold and fast, so don’t plan on getting in to swim but you can do a cold plunge like my friends and I did! It is such a pretty area and I loved going on walks on the path next to the river and doing picnics on the beach at night with friends.

  • Cheap Places to Eat!

    • I’ll be honest… I did 99% of my eating out in France. You can take a quick 10 or 15min bus or train to Annemasse and they have a mall 5-minute walk from the train station and have a lot of amazing restaurants. BUT there are some cheapish places to eat in Geneva that have really good food!

    • The Spoon Food Hall: https://www.spoonfoodhall.ch/ This is the food court in the Bel-Air mall on the top floor and it has 7 food options. “OH MY GREEK” and “Sando” were my absolute favorite! Very decently priced (15-21CHF) with very big proportions. The teriyaki Japanese chicken burger from Sando was the best teriyaki sandwich I’ve had in my life (which is saying a lot because I literally lived in Asia and had a lot of these)! The fries from the Greek place were very disappointing so I would stick with their wraps. Their vegetarian/vegan option was really good, I ordered it twice even though I am not vegetarian.

    • Uni-Mail: This is the university cafeteria. Anyone from the public is welcome to come and eat there, and many do. They have different menu items every day and the food is AMAZING! They have two different cafeterias in the same building. You have UniTime and UniKitchen. You can google each restaurant to see their daily menu.

      • Unitime will have 2 main food options on the left. You grab a tray on your right and you can go up and see what the options are. They will have a picture and name of the meal, as well as a bowl showing what it looks like. You just go up to them and they will make it, hand you the bowl/plate, and then you can get 2 slices of bread (it comes with it, there will be a big basket of cut baguettes on the right before you get to checkout) grab a drink or dessert if you want. If you don’t want either of the meals they are offering, on the right there is a salad bar with pasta or other food options. You grab your plate, fill it with whatever you want, and when you take it up to the cashier they will weigh it and you pay based on the weight. There will be a little sign next to the food that says how much it is per gram, but its very decently priced. My friends and I never spent more than 10 or 12CHF for a big meal + drink.

      • UniKitchen is on the opposite end of the hall than Unitime and has 4 meal options. You walk in and there will be salads and cold sandwiches you can buy right there with the front cashiers OR you can walk to the back (there will be a very obvious opening on the left where you walk past the tables and it will open up to the cafeteria part) and you can see their meal options. They have the “rock and roll menu” which is the cheapest, and then there will be a “around the world” menu option with a more gourmet meal, as well as 2 other medium-priced options. I was a student at the University so I got special student pricing, but I believe it is 7.90CHF- 12.90CHF for the general public. Same thing as UniTime, you grab your tray when you first walk in, grab any extra items you want like fruit, drink, dessert, etc. Then go up to the meal you want and they will serve it to you, grab your 2 pieces of bread from the basket, and go to the cashier. There are tons of tables in the back of the restaurant and it even goes down multiple levels. Both restaurants have glasses you can grab and fill with water for free. When you are finished with your meal you take your tray and put it on a cart.

    • Noodles Bar Acacias is only open in the evenings but has some really good Japanese Ramon and fried rice. A nice big bowl of fried rice with your choice of tofu, shrimp, or chicken is only 7.50CHF! https://www.noodlesbar.ch/

    • Gelatomania has the cheapest gelato in Geneva and its SO good! There are small stores throughout the city, but my favorite is in old town by the Cathedral because it has twice as many flavors as the other stores! You can get 3 flavors in the small for 4.50CHF. So if you are near old town or by the Jet D’eau and want some Gelato don’t waste your money buying from the stands right on the lake that charge 4.50CHF for one scoop… walk 10 minutes and go to Gelatomania instead! I tried every flavor (we went almost every week) and they are all great! You can ask for a sample as well which is always nice! Here is the address: Gelato Mania, Pl. du Bourg-de-Four 2, 1204 Genève

    • Les Petites Artisanes has the best pastries I’ve had in Geneva. I am not an influencer so I’m not here to pretend like Switzerland has amazing desserts- because it doesn’t. You want good pastries and desserts, go to France. That’s a fact and they will be cheaper there too. I have the world’s biggest sweet tooth and 99 times out of 100 I have been disappointed with Swiss desserts. The chocolate is 10/10 and absolutely worth the hype, but that does NOT translate to all sweets or even chocolate-flavored items. They just aren’t good in Switzerland but occasionally I would find the 1% of Swiss treats that I liked and Les Petites Arisanes contained a few of them. The chocolate cruffin is SO good. It has a dark chocolate ganache and it is 4.50CHF. Their lemon meringue tart is expensive at 7.90CHF but is probably the best one I’ve ever had. I also enjoyed their pecan cookie and their raspberry-filled framboise for 5CHF. The drinks were disappointing for all of us, so we always stuck with the free water that they had next to the fridge and shelves with teas. https://www.lespetitesartisanes.com/

    • Favorite Places in Annemasse, France: Pokawa poke bowls is SOOOOO good and totally customizable. Cafe Ernesto has some amazing hot chocolate and drinks and is a great vibe inside, La Paniere has great flan and lemon tarts but the eclairs are disappointing, but La Marquise has some good ones!