Jet d'Eau & Bains des Pâquis
Geneva lakefront
The postcard, and the place locals actually go
A couple of hours · 15 min from Cornavin
CHF 2
Lake & waterFood & wine
Beyond the dance floor
Explore
Geneva sits an hour from UNESCO vineyards, medieval castles and the Alps. Twenty-five places worth your free day, with what each one actually costs and how long it actually takes.
Plan it around the programme
The festival runs 8 to 12 October. Come early, or stay on.
Once the workshops start you will not want to lose a day, and you should not have to. The trips here that need a full day are best taken on Tuesday or Wednesday before the festival opens, or from Tuesday 13 October once it closes. Everything in the Geneva section fits into a free morning without touching the programme.
Mon 5 to Wed 7 Oct
Arrive early. Full-day trips, no conflicts, cheaper hotel nights.
Thu 8 to Mon 12 Oct
Festival days. Stick to the Geneva list and the couple-of-hours filter.
From Tue 13 Oct
Stay on. The obvious window for Zermatt or anything overnight.
Before you buy a single ticket
Four things that change what this costs
Geneva Transport Card
Free for every guest in a Geneva hotel, emailed the day before check-in. Covers trams, buses, trains and the yellow Mouette ferries inside zone 10, which is everything in the Geneva section of this page.
Half Fare Card
CHF 190 for a year, and it halves every train, bus, boat and most mountain railways in Switzerland. Worth it the moment you plan two proper day trips: Rochers de Naye alone drops from CHF 72 to CHF 36.
Saver Day Pass
From CHF 52 without a Half Fare Card, from CHF 29 with one, for unlimited travel across the whole country on one chosen day. Buy it early, the price rises with demand and it sells out.
Carry your ID
Annecy, Chamonix, Yvoire and the Salève are all in France. The border is usually waved through, but checks happen and you need a passport or national ID card on you.
Twenty-five places, filtered your way
Pick a region, then narrow by how much time and money you have. Tap a pin to jump to its card, or open any card for the full route, the real cost breakdown and what early October means there.
Everything inside zone 10, which is exactly what your free Geneva Transport Card covers. No planning needed: step off the tram and you are there.
How much time
How much money
What kind of day
10 places in Geneva & around
Lake & water
Old towns
Museums & culture
Nature & hiking
Mountains
Hidden gem
Hover a pin
Old Town & St-Pierre Cathedral
Geneva, Vieille Ville
Europe's cobbled hilltop, minus the queues
Half day · 10 min from Cornavin
From CHF 7
Old townsMuseums & culture
Carouge
Hidden gemGeneva, left bank
The Sardinian quarter that feels like Italy
A couple of hours · 15 min from the centre
Free
Old townsFood & wine
CERN Science Gateway
Meyrin, Geneva
Where the web was invented, free to walk into
Half day · 25 min from the centre
Free
Museums & culture
Palais des Nations
Geneva, International district
Inside the United Nations, passport in hand
Half day · 20 min from Cornavin
CHF 15
Museums & culture
Red Cross & Red Crescent Museum
Geneva, International district
The most affecting hour in the city
A couple of hours · 20 min from Cornavin
Around CHF 15
Museums & culture
Parc des Bastions & the Reformation Wall
Geneva, city centre
Giant chess under hundred-year-old chestnuts
A couple of hours · 5 min from the Old Town
Free
Nature & hikingMuseums & culture
Patek Philippe Museum
Hidden gemGeneva, Plainpalais
Five centuries of watchmaking, almost empty
A couple of hours · 10 min from the centre
Around CHF 10
Museums & culture
Eaux-Vives waterfront & the Mouettes
Geneva, right bank
A lake crossing for the price of nothing
A couple of hours · from the harbour
Free
Lake & waterNature & hiking
Mont Salève cable car
Étrembières, France
Geneva's balcony, five minutes over the border
Half day · 30 min from Rive
EUR 18 return
MountainsNature & hiking
Check before you travel
Prices and timetables here were checked in August 2026 and are indicative: Swiss rail fares move with demand, French attractions are quoted in euros, and mountain lifts take autumn maintenance breaks between the summer and winter seasons. Every card links to the operator, so confirm the day you plan to go. If something on this page turns out to be wrong, tell us and we will fix it.
Extending your stay? Partner hotels and ratesPhotos: 24 Wikimedia Commons images, credits
- Canal @ Old Town @ Annecy (34660327594).jpg by Guilhem Vellut from Annecy, France, CC BY 2.0
- Genève - Reformation monument - Mur des Réformateurs - panoramio.jpg by Rokus Cornelis, CC BY 3.0
- 1 bern 2012b.jpg by chensiyuan, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Bex salt mines.jpg by Tomasz Wachowski, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Carouge Place du Temple1.jpg by HJPD, CC BY 3.0
- CERN Globe at night 2019-07-03 (1).jpg by Simon Cobb, CC0
- Aiguille du Midi 12.jpg by Unknown, CC BY-SA 2.5
- Jura.jpg by Earth explorer, Public domain
- Switzerland-02529 - Red Cross & Cresent Movement (23248481892).jpg by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0
- Geneva flower clock 2012.jpg by Cayambe, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Chateau de Gruyère.jpg by Türke Andras, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Jet d'eau, Lake Geneva (Ank Kumar) 02.jpg by Ank Kumar, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Lake Geneva Deep Blue Secret.jpg by Lani Gatchalian, CC BY-SA 3.0
- St-Saphorin (Lavaux).jpg by JoachimKohler-HB, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Schweiz Schloss Chillon Gesamtansicht.jpg by Benjamin Gimmel BenHur, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Palais des nations.jpg by Yann Forget, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Les Rochers de Naye et son train.JPG by Simon LEPÊTRE, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Pont sur le Doubs, Saint-Ursanne 01 10.jpg by Хрюша, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Telepherique du Saleve looking down from the top.jpg by EuroTripPhotos, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Château de Valère from Tourbillon.jpg by Christian David, CC BY-SA 4.0
- L'Abbaye et le lac de Joux.jpg by Gérard Calbérac, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Genève - Cathédrale Saint-Pierre 12.jpg by Alex Riechert, CC BY-SA 3.0
- CGN SS Montreux Yvoire 270724.jpg by NAC, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Gornergrat (with Matterhorn).jpg by Hans Hillewaert, CC BY-SA 3.0