Overview
Our second visit to this city. This time we explored with a friend who lives there, taking a more critical eye, but it didn't quite meet our expectations. Probably because our first visit was pure tourist mode, this time the city felt very mixed in terms of its population. Apparently 40% of residents are expats. No different from New York or London, finding a Swiss local in this massive city is tough. Still, nobody stands out negatively; there are no safety issues, and since immigrant integration is handled well, it doesn't create problems.
What to See
- The most important sights: the Jet d'Eau fountain and the world's longest bench.
- CERN is a bit outside the city but absolutely worth the trip. A genuinely enjoyable visit. The only problem is the subject matter is so complex that even the simplest explanation feels complicated. I didn't know the Hadron Collider spans the entire city, it's spread across an enormous area.
- The right bank wasn't impressive for residential architecture, big, blocky apartment buildings. The left bank is beautifully preserved with old historic buildings and neighborhoods.
- The Carouge district is quite charming, nicely decorated houses. A good 4-5 hour area to spend time in.
- The Musee d'Art et d'Histoire has a countdown that shows an incredibly long number. If you look it up, it's counting down to when the Sun will collapse into a black hole, the end of our solar system. I have no idea what frame of mind inspired that, but it's quite fascinating.
- The chess park (Jeux d'Echecs) was wonderful. We'd seen a similar one in Moscow before. If we were locals, we'd probably be regulars. Even just watching the players is entertaining.
- If you're into wine, the UNESCO-protected Lavaux region is 1.5 hours away. A beautiful area for exploring.
- If you have time, Lausanne and Montreux are nearby cities, suitable for day trips.
- Evening trains become less frequent, definitely check schedules and plan ahead.
Food & Drink
- Laderach is truly an outstanding chocolatier. Their truffle chocolate is hard to beat anywhere. Swiss chocolate is unquestionably number one in the world. Belgian chocolate can't compete.
- On our previous visit, we caught a medieval festival near the castle. The fully cheese-sauced hot dog we ate at one of the stands still haunts our taste buds. If you encounter something similar at a festival stand, don't miss it.
- Le Relais de l'Entrecote is superb. They have a fixed menu of steak and fries. They don't take reservations, which means big queues at opening time. Since the place is large, the line moves fast, but don't leave it too late. The food was excellent, the sauce was phenomenal.
Tips & Advice
- Uber is considerably more expensive than trams. Using public transport makes much more sense.
- Whether it's selective eating preferences or a new trend, I don't know, but large children are being pushed around in strollers everywhere. Families probably do it for convenience, but I've never seen this many big kids in strollers anywhere before.
- The water is surprisingly hard with high lime content. Locals struggle with their appliances because of it. For a place right in the heart of the Alps, this was quite surprising.
- Geneva is apparently one of the rare places in Switzerland where waste separation isn't mandatory. Being behind on this in the heart of Europe is quite surprising.
- Their Ubers arrive in Range Rovers. That level of wealth.
- The traffic light optimization in the city is zero. We hit 10 red lights in a 5-minute stretch. Not fitting for a city like this.
- Some homes have solar panels even on their balconies. Our friend's apartment is heated by solar energy. That they can harness solar this effectively at such altitude and cold while our country lags so far behind is genuinely saddening.
- One of the rare European cities where urinal partitions actually exist.
- People constantly greet each other. Apparently one of the unwritten rules. Everyone is polite, a lovely aspect of the city.
- The yellow flowers planted around the area are actually potato fields. Production is quite widespread.