Things to do
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Cathédrale Saint-Pierre
Climb the north tower for the best view in the city, over the harbour, the Jet d'Eau and, on a clear day, Mont Blanc. Leave time for the excavations under the floor, entered separately from the nave.
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Jet d'Eau
Walk out along the jetty if you want to stand under the plume, and keep to the windward side or you will be soaked. On a calm summer evening, watch it lit from the Bains des Pâquis across the harbour.
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Palais des Nations
Without your passport you will not get past security, so book ahead and bring it. What you see on the one-hour tour depends on which conference rooms are in use that day.
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Waterfront
Bains des Pâquis
A jetty of public baths juts into the harbour from the Pâquis quay, with lake swimming off wooden decks, a diving board and a straight view of the Jet d'Eau. Entry is ticketed and the baths open all year. In winter the sauna and hammam take over, the buvette serves fondue at long tables, and winter evenings bring a queue, so book or arrive early.
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Monument
Broken Chair
Opposite the gates of the Palais des Nations on the Place des Nations, a wooden chair twelve metres high stands on three legs, the fourth snapped off. It was raised as a protest against landmines and cluster munitions. The fountains in the square run beside it, and the UN visitor entrance is a short walk away.
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Neighborhood
Carouge
Across the Arve, a short tram ride south of the centre, Carouge is a grid of low painted houses, courtyards and plane trees with an Italian feel. Workshops, antique dealers and café terraces line the Rue Saint-Joseph and the Rue Ancienne. The market fills the Place du Marché on Wednesday and Saturday mornings.
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Museum
CERN Science Gateway
Tram 18 runs from Cornavin to the gates of CERN at Meyrin, where the visitor centre's tubes and bridges hold hands-on exhibitions on particles, the accelerators and the universe. Entry is free but needs registration, best done online, and it closes on Mondays. Guided site tours are booked at the desk on the day, two hours ahead, in groups of 24.
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Garden
Conservatoire et Jardin botaniques
Between the lake and the Palais des Nations, the city's botanical garden spreads over terraces, a rock garden, glasshouses and a small enclosure of deer and farmyard animals. Entry is free and the gates open daily. It pairs well with the UN quarter, and the lakeside path from the Perle du Lac park leads straight into it.
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Hotel Beau-Rivage
On the Quai du Mont-Blanc on the right bank of the harbour, this hotel faces the lake, with Mont Blanc beyond it on a clear day. Front rooms look over the quay to the Jet d'Eau and the old town. The Atrium bar keeps fragments of its original painted frescoes, and the main station is a ten-minute walk.
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Park
Jardin Anglais
At the foot of the old town on the left-bank shore, this lakeside garden holds the flower clock, a working clock face of several thousand plants that is replanted with the seasons. From the waterfront paths the Jet d'Eau is close, and the walk out along its jetty starts a few minutes east. Benches face the harbour and the Mont-Blanc bridge.
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Museum
Maison Tavel
The oldest private house in the city stands on the Rue du Puits-Saint-Pierre, a short walk from the cathedral. Its floors show daily life in old Geneva, and the attic holds a large relief model of the walled city as it stood before the ramparts came down. Entry to the permanent collection is free, and the house closes on Mondays.
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Museum
Musée d'art et d'histoire
Below the old town on the Tranchées side, the city's largest museum covers archaeology, arms, decorative arts and painting. Its best-known picture is Konrad Witz's altarpiece panel of the miraculous draught of fishes, set on Lake Geneva with the Salève behind. The permanent collection is free; temporary shows are ticketed, and the building closes on Mondays.
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Musée international de la Croix-Rouge
Give it two unhurried hours and come any day but Monday. The Broken Chair and the Palais des Nations are across the road, so pair the three in one morning.
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Old Town
Old Town
On the hill above the left bank, steep lanes climb from the lake to the cathedral, the Place du Bourg-de-Four and the Grand-Rue. Along the Promenade de la Treille, under the chestnut trees, runs a wooden bench of well over a hundred metres. The climb from the shore is short but steep, so wear sturdy shoes on the cobbles.
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Parc des Bastions
Come for the Reformation Wall, then stay for the giant chessboards, where you can join a game or watch the regulars. The park sits at the foot of the old town, so climb on to the cathedral afterwards.
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Garden
Parc La Grange
On the left bank of the lake, a short walk east of the Eaux-Vives jetty, a sloping park runs down from a villa to the water. Its rose garden is the reason to come in June, when a few thousand bushes are in flower on the terraces. The lawns look across the lake to the Jura, and the beach at Baby-Plage is just below.
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Patek Philippe Museum
Book a slot online before you go and allow two hours, because the upper floor of older watches and automata is the one to linger on. The singing birds are wound and shown on the guided tours.
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Market
Plainpalais Flea Market
Every Wednesday and Saturday, and on the first Sunday of the month, hundreds of stalls cover the diamond-shaped Plaine de Plainpalais with furniture, records, old watches, clothes and boxes of postcards. Dealers set up early and the best pieces go in the morning. The stalls pack up from late afternoon and the square returns to open gravel, with a skate park at one corner.
