Calvin's city on Lake Geneva, with the Jet d'eau, Saint-Pierre Cathedral and the old town, the Palais des Nations and CERN, and in December the Escalade, the festival of the night it drove back the Savoyards
Geneva is the city where the Rhône flows out of Lake Geneva, the largest lake in western Europe, with Mont Blanc in the background on clear days. It was a bishop's city, then an independent republic: on 21 May 1536 it chose the Reformation, and with Calvin it became the "Protestant Rome", the refuge of Protestants from half of Europe. On the night of 12 December 1602 it drove back the soldiers of the Duke of Savoy who were scaling its walls, and every December since it has remembered that night with the festival of the Escalade. It joined the Confederation only in 1815. Here Henry Dunant founded the Red Cross and the first Geneva Convention was signed; here the League of Nations had its seat, and today there is the European headquarters of the UN, with dozens of international organisations. On the outskirts, CERN. On the lakefront the Jet d'eau, in the old town on the hill Saint-Pierre Cathedral, and beyond the Arve Carouge, the town that the House of Savoy made grow at its gates. For those travelling by motorhome the city has few campsites, all around it, and no stopover; but those who sleep at a campsite in the canton get public transport free.
Sleeping
Stops and overnight stays
In Geneva there is no motorhome stopover, and the canton has three campsites, all outside the city: one on the lake at Vésenaz, towards France, and two in the countryside of Satigny, towards the Jura. In winter the one left is Bois-de-Bay, the only one that does not say it closes at the end of October. Those who sleep at a campsite in the canton pay the tourist tax and get in return the Geneva Transport Card, with buses, trams, trains and boats free for the whole stay. Just over the border, in France, there is little in winter: the first stopover open all year is at Excenevex, on the lake, more than twenty kilometres away.
Geneva City Camping Bois-de-Bay
route de Bois-de-Bay 19, 1242 Satigny
the city's campsite, in the countryside of Satigny, to the west. The operator does not publish its opening dates: the portals give it as open from 1 March to 31 December, and it is the only one in the canton that does not close in autumn, but before setting off in December you phone, and also ask whether the water and the emptying point work in winter. It cannot be booked online: you send a request from the website. The motorhome emptying point is in front of the entrance. Reception is open from 8:30 to 19:00, the gate opens with a card, against a deposit of 30 francs or 20 euros, and after 22:00 vehicles stay in the car park outside. Departure is between 8:30 and 10:00, or the evening before by 19:00. Public transport is included: with bus 83 and tram 14 you are in the centre in about forty minutes, or with bus 73 to Satigny station and the Léman Express
ElectricityGrey waterToiletsShower
With the 2026 price list, which has a single price for the whole year, two adults with a motorhome longer than 4.5 metres and electricity spend 53.70 francs a night, tourist tax included; with a shorter motorhome 48.70 · +41 22 341 05 05 · geneva-camping.ch
the Touring Club Suisse campsite at the Pointe-à-la-Bise, on the lakeshore, north-east of the city, with 103 pitches, the beach, the shop and the restaurant. The premium pitch takes up to 7.5 metres. It can be booked online; arrival is from 13:30 to 18:30 and departure by noon. Public transport is included: bus E takes you to Rive, at the foot of the old town, in about twenty minutes. In December it is closed
ElectricityGrey waterToiletsShower
For one night in October 2026 the booking system asks 54 francs for two people on the standard pitch and 64 on the premium one, with electricity and one vehicle; it does not say whether the tourist tax is included, and it does not show the summer price · +41 22 752 12 96 · camping.tcs.ch
a campsite in the Allondon valley, towards the French border at La Plaine, the farthest from the city, with pitches with electricity for motorhomes up to 7.5 metres, three toilet blocks with hot showers, the laundry and the shop. Seven hundred metres away there is the bus to La Plaine station, from where the train goes to Geneva; public transport is included
ElectricityToiletsShower
The operator does not publish the 2026 price list: the website still has the 2022 one · +41 22 753 15 15 · camping-allondon.ch
an automatic stopover on the French shore of Lake Geneva, with twenty stabilised pitches, each with an electricity socket, four hours per token. There are no toilets, and you pay only by card. It is the first stopover open all year round that you find near Geneva. For the city there is bus 271, from Excenevex Centre to Rive, in about fifty minutes; those who sleep here do not get the Geneva transport card
20 motorhome pitches
ElectricityWaterGrey water
Outside July and August 14 euros for 24 hours, in summer 16, plus the tourist tax of 0.60 euros per person: two adults spend 15.20 euros in December. Electricity and emptying are paid separately, with a 3 euro token · onlypark.fr
In Geneva the motorhome stays at the campsite, and you get around the city by public transport, which is free for those sleeping in the canton: buses, trams, the Léman Express and the Mouettes, the yellow boats that cross the lake. The old town is on the hill, small, and can be explored on foot.
From Italy via Mont Blanc: the tunnel, for a motorhome between 2 and 3 metres high and up to 3.5 tonnes, is in class 2, and from 1 January 2026 it costs 74.70 euros from Italy to France, 93.80 with the return within seven days. In autumn 2026 the tunnel closes at night, from 22:00 to 6:00, in some weeks for work on the vault: check the December dates before setting off. Then the A40 Autoroute Blanche to Gaillard, at the Geneva customs: in class 2 it costs 12.50 euros
From Italy via the Great St Bernard: the tunnel, in class B1 for vehicles between 2 and 3 metres high, costs 52.50 euros, 84 with the return within thirty days; on the Italian side you pay only in euros. Then the Swiss motorway from Martigny via Lausanne to Geneva
The Swiss motorway vignette: 40 francs, sticker or electronic, linked to the number plate, bought on via.admin.ch. The 2026 one is valid until 31 January 2027, and the 2027 one already from 1 December 2026. Over 3.5 tonnes the vignette is not valid: you pay the flat-rate heavy vehicle charge for the days spent in Switzerland, on all roads, on the Via portal, with a minimum of 25 francs
Stick'AIR: on days of heavy pollution, in winter because of fine particles, the centre of the canton, from 6:00 to 22:00, is open only to vehicles with the right sticker, foreign ones included. The French Crit'Air sticker is also valid, and can only be ordered on certificat-air.gouv.fr; without a sticker, on those days, you cannot enter the perimeter, and the fine goes up to 500 francs. This is what the canton's Stick'AIR bulletin says, and on alert days public transport is free for everyone
The Annemasse low emission zone, just over the border, also includes Gaillard, where the A40 comes out: today it only bans vehicles without a Crit'Air class, from 2028 Crit'Air 5 ones too
Sleeping in a motorhome outside campsites: the cantonal traffic regulation allows camping vehicles to stay on the public roads and car parks of the city and of fourteen other municipalities for a maximum of 24 hours, and the Touring Club writes that wild camping in the canton is generally forbidden. You sleep at a campsite
The city's P+R car parks all have a maximum height of 2 or 2.50 metres: an overcab or semi-integrated motorhome will not fit, a low van perhaps at Bout-du-Monde or on the first underground level of Genève-Plage. The daily P+R costs 14 francs, with the public transport ticket for one or two people
Public transport tickets, for zone 10, the whole canton: one hour 3 francs, the day pass 10, and on Saturdays and Sundays the 10 franc day pass is valid for two people travelling together. The Mouettes run every day of the year with the same ticket. From Annemasse the Léman Express reaches Geneva in a few minutes: with zone 10 the ticket costs 6.80 francs
Customs: you can bring into Switzerland at most one kilo of meat per person per day without paying duty
Seeing
Sights
The centre can be explored on foot in a day, from the right bank to the old town: you start from the Bains des Pâquis, cross the Mont-Blanc bridge with the île Rousseau, follow the Jardin Anglais to the Jet d'eau, and climb from the Musée d'Art et d'Histoire to the Bourg-de-Four and the cathedral. You go down past the Maison Tavel, the Hôtel de Ville and the Treille to the Parc des Bastions, and from there the Patek Philippe Museum is ten minutes away. Carouge is reached by tram. Outside the centre, to the north, the Palais des Nations, the Red Cross museum and the Botanical Garden are ten minutes from one another; CERN is at Meyrin, at the end of tram line 18, and the Salève, the city's home mountain, is in France. Tap a marker on the map to open its entry below.
1
Bains des Pâquis
Beach · paid entry · 46.21016, 6.15489
quai du Mont-Blanc 30, 1201 Genève
the public baths on the jetty of the right bank, ten minutes on foot from the station. The first ones, of wood, date from 1872; the lighthouse from 1894; in 1932 they were rebuilt in concrete and glass, in the Bauhaus style. At the end of the 1980s there were plans to demolish and rebuild them: the users founded an association, and on 25 September 1988 72 per cent of Genevans voted against the project. Since then the association has run them, and keeps them open all year round: in winter there are people swimming in the lake, the sauna and the hammam, and the buvette becomes a wood-heated hut where you eat fondue with the Jet d'eau in front of you. From 1 December to 4 January there is Noël en décembre: until the 23rd, every evening at 19:00, a door of the Advent calendar is opened with an artist, and from 20:00 there are shows under a yurt. When the bise, the north wind, blows, the railings are covered with ice.
Opening hours every day, with opening hours that follow the weather. From mid September to the end of May the winter changing rooms are open from 9:00 to 20:30. The sauna and the hammam, from 20 September 2026 to 23 May 2027, Tuesday to Friday from 9:00 until the evening, Saturday and Monday until 22:30, Sunday from 8:00 to 22:30, with last entry an hour earlier; on Tuesday the sauna is for women only. The buvette from 7:00 to 23:00 · in winter entry to the changing rooms costs 2 francs, with a deposit for the wristband. The sauna 22 francs a day, on Monday 15. The fondue with Dardagny Crémant costs 27 francs, and in the evening it is worth booking; the operator does not give the year of these prices · +41 22 738 16 16 · aubp.ch
the Mont-Blanc bridge is the first on the Rhône where it leaves the lake, 252 metres long: the sheet-metal one dates from 1862, the concrete one from 1903, widened in 1965. On both sides fly the Swiss and Genevan flags, and on 1 August those of the twenty-six cantons. Next to it, on the water, the île Rousseau: a bastion of 1585, then the government's boatyard, turned into a promenade in 1834 and named after Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who was born in Geneva, with his bronze statue by James Pradier, of 1835. It was restored in 2012, for the three hundredth anniversary of his birth, with a long masonry bench, and the lake birds live there. You reach it by a footbridge, which takes pushchairs.
Geneva's first English-style park, on land reclaimed from the lake from 1854, where the timber port used to be. The cast iron fountain dates from 1862; the National Monument, of 1869, commemorates Geneva's entry into the Confederation. The flower clock dates from 1955: eight dials of flowers that change with the seasons, and a second hand two and a half metres long, said to be the longest in the world. It is the photograph everyone takes, but in winter there are fewer flowers.
jetée du Jet-d'eau, quai Gustave-Ador, 1207 Genève
the 140 metre water jet at the end of the Eaux-Vives jetty, the symbol of the city: five hundred litres a second shooting out at two hundred kilometres an hour. It was born by chance. In 1886 the hydraulic power station on the Rhône, the building that today is the Bâtiment des Forces Motrices theatre, had too much pressure in the evening, when the craftsmen's machines stopped, and a valve released it into the sky. In 1891, for the six hundredth anniversary of the Confederation, it was moved here, to the end of the jetty; since 1951 it has had its own pumping station, which draws from the lake, and it reaches 140 metres. Until 2003 it was switched off in winter. You can walk along the jetty almost to its base, and when it is windy you get wet.
Opening hours in 2026 from 4 May to 13 September from 9:00 to 23:15, lit up in the evening; in spring and autumn until sunset from Monday to Thursday and until 22:30 from Friday to Sunday. From 2 November to 3 December it is switched off for maintenance, and from 4 to 31 December it runs from 10:00 to 16:00. It stops when the temperature drops towards zero or the wind is too strong · sig-ge.ch
the city's great museum, in Marc Camoletti's Beaux-Arts building opened in 1910, from prehistory to the twentieth century: archaeology, arms, applied arts and painting, from Rubens to Monet, Cézanne and Giacometti. The painting to see is Konrad Witz's Miraculous Draught of Fishes, of 1444: it was a panel of the cathedral's altarpiece, which escaped the iconoclasts of the Reformation, and behind Christ and Peter you can recognise the Geneva harbour, the Voirons, the Môle and the Salève. It is considered the first true landscape in European painting. There are lockers, and the restaurant keeps the museum's hours.
Opening hours Tuesday to Sunday 11:00-18:00, Thursday 12:00-21:00; closed on Monday. The museum does not say whether it opens on Christmas Day · pay what you wish: you pay what you like, at the beginning or at the end of the visit. The same applies to the Maison Tavel · +41 22 418 26 00 · mahmah.ch
already a market outside the walls in Roman times, and from the Middle Ages the place of the fairs. It is shaped like an hourglass, with the law courts to the north, which until 1857 was the hospital, and the fountain to the south. In the seventeenth century some houses were raised by a few floors to take in the Protestants fleeing France. Today it is the square of the cafés, a stone's throw from the cathedral; the Jullien bookshop has been here since 1839. During the Escalade it is one of the stops for the proclamations.
for a thousand years the cathedral of the bishops of Geneva, since 1535 the city's Protestant church, where Calvin preached. The present building was begun in 1160 by Bishop Arducius de Faucigny; on 8 August 1535, after Farel's sermon, the iconoclasts destroyed its statues and altars, and inside it has remained bare and full of light. The columned façade is by Benedetto Alfieri, the architect of the House of Savoy, of 1752, the green spire of 1895. You climb 157 steps up the towers, with the view over the city and the lake, and in the north tower hangs the Clémence, the largest bell, weighing six tonnes. Under the church the archaeological site takes you down among the remains of the oldest churches, from the fourth century, the mosaic of the bishop's hall and an Allobrogian tomb; it can be visited in the rain too. Next to it, the Maccabees Chapel, Gothic, of 1406. The Reformation Wall and the evening of the Escalade both start from here.
Opening hours from 1 October to 31 May Monday to Saturday 10:00-17:30, Sunday 12:00-17:30; from 1 June to 30 September Monday to Friday 9:30-18:30, Saturday 9:30-16:30, Sunday 12:00-18:30. The towers close half an hour earlier; the archaeological site is open every day 10:00-17:00, with last entry at 16:30. The cathedral does not say whether it opens on Christmas Day · the church is free. The towers cost 7 francs, from 7 to 16 years 4, and there is a family ticket for two adults and three children at 20 francs; towers and archaeological site together 12 francs, children 7. The price list does not give the year · +41 22 310 29 29 · cathedrale-geneve.ch · info@fcsp.ch
the oldest private house in Geneva, of the Tavel family, rebuilt as a small fortress after the fire of 1334. The city bought it in 1963, and since 1986 it has been the museum of life in the city, with armour, a weathervane of 1334 and the guillotine of 1799. In the attic is the Magnin model, of 1896: Geneva as it was in 1850, before the walls were pulled down, with every house and every bastion. It is where children understand where they have walked. There is a lift for pushchairs.
Opening hours Tuesday to Sunday 11:00-18:00, closed on Monday. The museum does not say whether it opens on Christmas Day · pay what you wish, like the Musée d'Art et d'Histoire · +41 22 418 37 00 · mahmah.ch
Hôtel de Ville, the Ancien Arsenal and the Treille
Monument · free entry · 46.20083, 6.14661
rue de l'Hôtel-de-Ville 2, 1204 Genève
the seat of the cantonal government. In the courtyard the ramp tower, built from 1553 to 1584: a paved ramp that rises on a gentle slope, without steps and without landings, with the doorway of 1556. Opposite, the Ancien Arsenal: a fifteenth century covered market, then a granary and military store, with five period cannons under the arcades and Alexandre Cingria's mosaics of 1949, which tell of Julius Caesar, the medieval fairs and the arrival of the Huguenots; during the Escalade it is one of the hearts of the festival. Behind, the promenade de la Treille, the government's tree-lined square since the sixteenth century, with the horse chestnuts and the 120 metre bench, of 1767, said to be the longest in the world. From up there you look down on the Parc des Bastions.
the park between the sixteenth century walls and the seventeenth century ones, with the university buildings and the giant chessboards. Geneva's first botanical garden was born here in 1817, and the Escalade race and its procession start and finish here. Set against the walls is the Reformation Wall, about a hundred metres long, begun in 1909 for the four hundredth anniversary of Calvin's birth and unveiled in 1917: in the centre, five metres tall, the statues of Farel, Calvin, Theodore Beza and John Knox, at the sides the protectors of the Reformation, and above them the city's motto, Post tenebras lux. At the two ends two dates: 1536 for the Reformation and 1602 for the Escalade.
the museum of the watch manufacturer, with about 2,500 watches, automata and objects spanning more than five centuries. On the second floor the antique collection, from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century, with the enamelled pocket watches, which were a Genevan craft; on the first, Patek Philippe from 1839, with the firm's first wristwatch, of 1868; on the ground floor the watchmakers' benches and the restoration workshop. On Saturday at 15:30 there is the tour in French, at 16:00 in English. For a child what holds the attention is the automata; otherwise it is a museum for grown-ups, but under 18 years entry is free.
Opening hours Tuesday to Friday 14:00-18:00, Saturday 10:00-18:00, Sunday 14:00-18:00; closed on Monday, on 25 December and from 29 December to 4 January · 10 francs, reduced 7; free under 18 years. The audio guide is free, if you leave an ID document · +41 22 707 30 10 · patekmuseum.com
the town that the House of Savoy built at the gates of Calvinist Geneva. With the Treaty of Turin of 1754 it became part of the Kingdom of Sardinia, and Victor Amadeus III gave it privileges to attract foreigners and in 1786 made it a town, with the coat of arms of the lion at the foot of a tree. In 1787 an edict gave the Jews freedom of worship, something very rare at the time. It passed to Geneva in 1816, and a square is still called place de Sardaigne. Today it is the quarter of craftsmen, little shops and cafés. In December it has its own Christmas market.
Opening hours the market is on Wednesday and Saturday all year round from 6:00 to 14:00, on the place du Marché and in rue Saint-Joseph; from March to October also on Thursday from 16:00 to 21:00 · carouge.ch
built from 1929 to 1937 in the Ariana park for the League of Nations, then passed to the UN, whose European headquarters it has been since 1966, the second after New York. About eight thousand meetings a year are held here. The visit lasts an hour and involves walking a couple of kilometres, through the historic halls and the park with the bronze celestial sphere dedicated to Woodrow Wilson; it is also given in Italian, and the route changes according to the conferences. The building is being restored, but the visits continue. On the square in front, free, the Broken Chair: a wooden chair twelve metres tall with a broken leg, by Daniel Berset, placed in 1997 against landmines, which can be explained to a child in two words. Nations stop.
Opening hours you can only go in with the guided tour, Monday to Friday, closed at weekends; in 2026 there are no tours on 25 December. Tours for a month can be booked from the 20th of the month before, and they sell out quickly. Arrive half an hour early for the security checks · in 2026 25 francs, from 14 to 17 years 14, from 6 to 13 years 13. You need a passport or an identity card; for children the source does not say which document · +41 22 917 48 96 · ungeneva.org · visit-gva@un.org
opened in 1988 next to the headquarters of the International Committee of the Red Cross, founded in Geneva in 1863 by five Genevans, among them Henry Dunant. The permanent exhibition, The Humanitarian Adventure, has three spaces by three architects: defending human dignity, restoring family links, reducing natural risks. There is the card index of the First World War Prisoners of War Agency, with the names in alphabetical order, which UNESCO has placed in the Memory of the World, and the first Nobel Peace Prize medal, of 1901. With small children the themes are heavy.
Opening hours Tuesday to Sunday 10:00-17:00, Thursday until 20:00; closed on Monday, on 24, 25 and 31 December and on 1 January. It stays open during the works, from 2026 to 2028 · 15 francs; reduced 10 from 12 to 22 years; free under 12 years. For one or two parents with children between 12 and 22 years the discount is 25 per cent. The audio guide costs 2 francs. The museum does not give the year of the price list · redcrossmuseum.ch · info@redcrossmuseum.ch
the botanical garden born at the Bastions in 1817, with Augustin Pyrame de Candolle, and moved here in 1904, next to the lake and the UN park: twenty-eight hectares of trees, rock gardens, medicinal plants and greenhouses, with the garden of scents and touch and a space for families, the Botanicum. In winter the greenhouses are the warm place. It is ten minutes from the Palais des Nations and the Red Cross museum, and they can be combined in a morning. Dogs are not allowed.
Opening hours every day of the year, in winter 8:00-17:00, in summer 8:00-19:00 with the greenhouses closing at 17:00 · +41 22 418 51 00 · jardinbotaniquegeneve.ch · info.jbg@geneve.ch
CERN, the largest particle physics laboratory in the world, was founded on 29 September 1954 by twelve European States, straddling the border with France, and here in 1989 Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web. The Science Gateway, the visitor centre under the roof of solar panels, has three interactive exhibitions on the quantum world, on CERN and on the universe, shows and workshops, also in Italian. You get there by tram 18, to the Meyrin, CERN stop, in about twenty-five minutes from Cornavin. The car park is paying and only for the length of the visit, and CERN does not say whether a motorhome fits.
Opening hours Tuesday to Sunday, exhibitions and activities 9:00-17:00, with last entry at 16:30; closed on Monday, on 24, 25 and 31 December 2026 and on 1 January 2027. There are no guided tours from 23 December to 5 January · free, but with registration, online up to a month ahead: it guarantees entry, and on the spot you get in if there is room. The exhibitions are from 8 years, the science shows from 4, the workshops from 5 and the guided tours from 12, and tours and workshops are booked on the spot. Under 16 years you go in with an adult · visit.cern
Geneva's mountain, which however is in France. The cable car, of 1932, designed by the Swiss Maurice Braillard, climbs in a few minutes to almost 1,100 metres; closed in 1975, reopened in 1984, it has had its stations rebuilt and reopened in September 2023. At the top the panoramic terrace over the city, the lake, the Jura and Mont Blanc, a playground made of natural materials, the paths and the climbing wall. It is the same Salève that Konrad Witz painted in 1444. You get there by bus 8 to Veyrier, Douane, and then nine minutes on foot beyond the customs post: everyone needs their documents. At the lower station there are two free car parks.
Opening hours in 2026 from 1 April to 1 November every day 9:00-18:45, Thursday, Friday and Saturday until 22:45. In winter 2026 it was open from 17 January to 31 March on Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, with the last ascent at 16:30. The operator has not published the December 2026 timetable · with the 2026 price list, in euros, return 18 euros, reduced 13, from 4 to 15 years 6.50; the family ticket, two adults and two children from 5 to 15 years, 49 euros. Free under 4 years, but the ticket must be collected at the ticket office · +33 4 50 39 86 86 · telepherique-du-saleve.com
Geneva has the calendar of an international city, with the shows at Palexpo and the film festivals, but only one festival stands for it: the Escalade, in December, when the old town goes back to 1602 to remember the night it drove back the Duke of Savoy's attack. The week before there is the race, the week after the Christmas swim in the lake, and around it the market on the lakefront. The Fêtes de Genève in August, with the big fireworks display, have not been held since 2019, and the Motor Show closed for good in 2024.
Next: Geneva International Film Festival · 30 Oct - 8 Nov
30 Oct › 8Nov
Geneva International Film Festival
between late October and early November
the festival of cinema, series and virtual reality, ten days in the city's cinemas, with GIFF KIDS for the youngest. In 2026 it is the thirty-second edition
6-15Nov
Les Automnales
in November
the autumn fair at Palexpo, with more than two hundred exhibitors from the region, some sixty kitchens between food trucks and restaurants, and sport
19 Nov › 24Dec
Noël au Quai
from late November to Christmas Eve
the largest Christmas market in the city, on the quai du Mont-Blanc, on the lakeshore: the craftsmen's chalets, the fondue chalet, street food, the merry-go-round and entertainment for children. It is open from Monday to Wednesday from 12:00 to 21:00, on Thursday and Friday until 22:00, on Saturday from 11:00 to 22:00 and on Sunday from 11:00 to 21:00; on Christmas Eve it closes at 16:00. Entry is free. It started in the Parc des Bastions, then moved to the Jardin Anglais
4-6Dec
Marché de Noël de Carouge
in early December
a weekend with about a hundred and fifty stalls of craftsmen and traders in the streets and squares of Carouge's old town, on Friday from 14:00 to 21:00, on Saturday from 10:00 to 21:00 and on Sunday from 10:00 to 18:30
5-6Dec
Course de l'Escalade
the weekend before the Escalade
the foot race through the old town, starting and finishing in the Parc des Bastions, held since 1978 and the most crowded in Switzerland. On Saturday evening the Marmite, a three and a half kilometre race in costume, non-competitive, from 4 years, with thousands of runners in fancy dress; on Sunday the parents and children race and the youth categories. In 2026 entry costs 42 francs, 26 for children; watching is free
9-13Dec
CHI de Genève
in December
the international indoor horse show, at Palexpo, with show jumping and driving. In 2026 it turns a hundred and falls on the same days as the Escalade
11-13Dec
Fête de l'Escalade
in mid December
the city's festival. On the night between 11 and 12 December 1602 Duke Charles Emmanuel I of Savoy sent his soldiers to scale the walls; Isaac Mercier dropped the portcullis of the Porte Neuve, and the Mère Royaume, legend has it, tipped her pot of boiling soup over an attacker. Eighteen Genevans died, whose names are read out every year during the festival, and the year after the Peace of Saint-Julien recognised the city's independence. The Compagnie de 1602 has been commemorating it for a hundred years with three days in the old town. The 2026 programme is not out yet; in 2025 on Friday evening there was the procession for the fallen; on Saturday, the children's day, the Mère Royaume's soup offered at the Ancien Arsenal, the old games in cour Saint-Pierre, the ponies, the cannon firing every half hour, the marmite broken at 18:00 and at 19:45 the lantern parade, open to all; on Sunday the great historical procession, about eight hundred people in seventeenth century costume, with fifes, drums, musketeers and horsemen, from 17:00 from the Parc des Bastions to the cathedral, with the proclamation read out in the squares, the last one in front of the cathedral. Everyone sings Cé qu'è lainô, the anthem in patois. Entry is free. On those days children go about in costume, and in every home a chocolate marmite is broken
19-20Dec
Coupe de Noël
the week before Christmas
a hundred metres swimming in the lake, at the Bains des Pâquis, with the water at six degrees, without a wetsuit: thousands of swimmers, many in fancy dress, in groups going in every four minutes. It has been held since 1934, it is the oldest sporting event in the canton, and watching it from the shore costs nothing
22-31Jan
Black Movie
at the end of January
the festival of independent cinema from all over the world, with the Petit Black Movie for children, animated short films and a dubbing workshop
24-28Feb
Salon du livre de Genève
at the end of February
the book fair at Palexpo, with the space for young people, puzzle trails and workshops
28 Apr › 2May
Salon international des Inventions
between late April and early May
the inventions fair at Palexpo, more than a thousand inventions from thirty-five countries, with the competition for young people from 4 to 18 years
This year's dates are not out yet
Geneva Lux
between January and February
the festival of lights: some twenty light works between the harbour and the old town, free, outdoors, from sunset. In 2026 there was also a show inside Saint-Pierre Cathedral
Antigel
in February
the winter festival of music and dance in unusual places, in dozens of municipalities in the canton
Watches and Wonders
in April
the fine watchmaking show at Palexpo, with the last days open to the public and events in the city centre
Fête de la musique
in June
three days of free concerts in the city's squares, parks and streets
National Day
on 1 August
Switzerland's national holiday, in Geneva in the La Grange park, with the ceremony, alphorns, flag throwers, the lantern procession and the bonfire. Entry is free
Remember
Useful tips
For the Escalade, in December, the only campsite in the canton that appears to be open is Bois-de-Bay, which does not publish its dates: phone first and send the request early, because on the same days there is the horse show at Palexpo. Those who cannot find a place have the Excenevex stopover, on the French side of the lake, without toilets and without the transport card
The rest of the year the most convenient campsite is the Touring Club one at Vésenaz, on the lake, with the bus to the centre in twenty minutes
Those who sleep at a campsite in the canton do not pay for public transport: the card comes with the tourist tax. Leave the motorhome at the campsite, because in the city there are no parking places for a motorhome
At the Escalade the children's day is Saturday: the soup, the ponies, the cannon, the marmite broken at 18:00 and the lantern parade. On Sunday evening you wait for the procession along the route or in cour Saint-Pierre, and it is cold: wrap up. The 2026 programme comes out in autumn on the Compagnie de 1602 website
The chocolate marmite is bought at a pastry shop in early December: at home, or at the campsite, the youngest breaks it
The Jet d'eau is switched off for maintenance from 2 November to 3 December, and from 4 December it only runs from 10:00 to 16:00: to see it, go during the day
On Monday the Musée d'Art et d'Histoire, the Maison Tavel, the Patek Philippe Museum, the Red Cross museum and CERN are closed. The Musée d'Art et d'Histoire and the Maison Tavel are pay what you wish, the Patek Philippe Museum is free under 18 years, the Red Cross museum under 12, CERN for everyone
Tours of the Palais des Nations are booked from the 20th of the month before, and they sell out quickly: for December from 20 November, only on weekdays, with an ID document each. For CERN register online as soon as you know the date
31 December is a holiday in Geneva, the Restauration de la République: the shops are closed
The Salève is in France, and everyone needs their documents; the cable car has not yet published its December 2026 timetable
In winter the Bains des Pâquis fondue has to be booked for the evening
Geneva · part two
and then?
What to taste, and where to go tomorrow.
Taste
Geneva's cuisine is that of a small rural canton around a city, and its products carry the Genève Région Terre Avenir label. The Geneva spiny cardoon has been a designation of origin since 2003: it was brought to Plainpalais at the end of the seventeenth century by Protestants who had fled France, and Geneva is the last place in Europe that still grows the cardoon with spines; fresh it is found in November and December, in jars all year round. Longeole, a geographical indication since 2009, is the pork sausage with fennel seeds for cooking, which is left for two or three hours in water just below the boil and eaten with potato gratin. The canton has about 1,400 hectares of vineyards, the third largest in Switzerland, with Chasselas and Gamay, and Satigny is the largest wine-growing municipality in the country. Chocolate has been made in Geneva since 1826, and in December everyone buys the marmite de l'Escalade: a chocolate pot with Geneva's coat of arms, filled with marzipan vegetables, which the youngest in the family breaks with a punch, saying "thus perish the enemies of the Republic". At the festival you drink the Mère Royaume's vegetable soup, and at the year-end holidays you eat rissoles, little pastry parcels with cooked pears and cinnamon. Fillets of perch are the lake dish, but almost all of them come from elsewhere: when they come from Lake Geneva, the menu says so.
the Jet d'eau and Mont Blanc pink at sunset, above the city's roofsPhoto: lilo9948, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the Geneva harbour from above, with the Jet d'eau, the Eaux-Vives jetty and the Mont-Blanc bridgePhoto: Graymo86, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0a Mouette, the yellow boat that crosses the lake, passes in front of the Jet d'eau in JanuaryPhoto: kuhnmi, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0the Jet d'eau lit up on the evening of 27 July 2018, with the red moon of the eclipse above the shorePhoto: Laurie Nevay, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0the railings of the Bains des Pâquis covered with ice by the bise, in February 2012Photo: Patrick Nouhailler, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0the entrance to the Bains des Pâquis in the snowPhoto: Patrick Nouhailler, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0the île Rousseau on the Rhône, with the pont des Bergues and the Jet d'eau behind the treesPhoto: Patrick Nouhailler, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0the flower clock in the Jardin Anglais, in summerPhoto: jsamwrites, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the Musée d'Art et d'Histoire building, in rue Charles-GallandPhoto: JoachimKohler-HB, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the place du Bourg-de-Four under the snow, with the spire of Saint-Pierre above the roofsPhoto: Patrick Nouhailler, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0the Bourg-de-Four fountain in the evening, with the Christmas lights on the squarePhoto: Patrick Nouhailler, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0Saint-Pierre Cathedral, with its columned façade and the north towerPhoto: Sergey Ashmarin, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0the Gothic nave of Saint-Pierre, bare since the Reformation, with the chandelierPhoto: Daniel Jolivet, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0the towers and the spire of Saint-Pierre in the snow, above the roofs of the old townPhoto: Patrick Nouhailler, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0the roofs of the old town and the Collège Calvin, seen from the north tower of Saint-PierrePhoto: MHM55, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the Magnin model at the Maison Tavel, with Geneva as it was in 1850Photo: Rama, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0 FRthe courtyard of the Hôtel de Ville seen from the ramp towerPhoto: Daniel Jolivet, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0a cannon under the arcades of the Ancien Arsenal, in front of Cingria's mosaicsPhoto: Daniel Jolivet, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0the Reformation Wall in the Parc des Bastions, with Farel, Calvin, Beza and KnoxPhoto: JoachimKohler-HB, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the place du Marché in Carouge, with the church of Sainte-Croix at the endPhoto: HJPD, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0the Broken Chair and the fountains of the place des NationsPhoto: Nikolai Karaneschev, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0the bronze celestial sphere in the Ariana park, in front of the Palais des NationsPhoto: Besserwisser123, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the boxes of the card index of First World War prisoners, at the Red Cross museumPhoto: Benoît Prieur, Wikimedia Commons, CC0CERN's Science Gateway, under the roof of solar panelsPhoto: Mike Peel, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the red cabin of the Salève cable car, seen from belowPhoto: EuroTripPhotos, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0Geneva and the lake from the upper station of the Salève cable carPhoto: Mourad Ben Abdallah, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the landsknechts of the Compagnie de 1602 with their armour and drum, at the 2011 EscaladePhoto: Clément Bucco-Lechat, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0the Escalade drums in the old town, in December 2009Photo: Rama, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0 FRan arquebusier in costume fires during the 2009 EscaladePhoto: Rama, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0 FRthe gunners in costume load the cannon during the EscaladePhoto: Rama, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0 FRthe bonfire in cour Saint-Pierre at the end of the 2010 Escalade procession, with the torchesPhoto: AbrahamdeBaptista, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0a chocolate marmite de l'Escalade, with Geneva's coat of arms and the red and yellow ribbonPhoto: Clément Bucco-Lechat, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0the Escalade marmites on sale in November, with the bags of marzipan vegetablesPhoto: MHM55, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
