7 hours and 40 minutes road trip to Geneva, Switzerland

Geneva is the second largest populous city next to Zürich, the pride of Geneva is its famous Lake, Reformation Wall and Jet d’eau, what really makes it special to visit is that it has a wonderful panorama view of the Lake and the shadows of the mountain Mont Blanc makes it more magical.

Geneva has more than 60,000 residents 37.4% are Catholic, 23.20% belongs to agnostic or atheist, and the rest belongs to Swiss Reformed Church, Muslim, Orthodox, Buddhist, and Jewish.

On the Road to Geneva

Languages in Geneva are French, Romansh, Italian, and German, however, French is widely spoken by the locals or Genevan or Genevois. Currency is Swiss Franc (CHF) it’s about 1 euro = 1,14 Swiss franc.

It’s a sunny day and We are going to Geneva, Switzerland by car, yes you’ve heard it by car.

Well, Geneva is not that far it’s more than 7 hours of drive from my city Brussels, with some 2-3 stopovers for a break 8 hours will be ideal. So why did we chose Geneva? It features more than 10 sights beside of Jet d’eau and Reformation Wall

On the other hand you can visit United Nations, Rousseau Island, Place du Molard, St. Peters Cathedral, Old Town, Russian Church, Place Neuve, Junction of rivers Rhone and Arve, Plainpalais Cemetery, Schtrumpfs Building, The Paquis, Carouge, Mount Saleve.

Meanwhile, on the road passing the border of France, the clouds are starting to cover the sky, gray color came out filling the surrounding. Our first stop to get some gas on the prices were a bit higher than expected 1,34 euros per liter we paid about 35 euros.

I took out some food, biscuits, sandwiches, water, and juices that we packed and had a brief break at the gas station.

You can also check out my Adventure in Lugano, Switzerland

Hotel Lido, Geneva

After hours on the road, we finally arrived at our destination, we searched for car parking first then our hotel indeed. Our hotel is Hotel Lido located 5 to 6 minutes walk to Geneva Lake.

The hotel was very charming, the receptionist helped us with our queries and gave us some tips on where to eat, what to visit and more things to discover about the city. So we decided to go first to eat, walking in the majestic street we search for the restaurants that would please us, and yes after minutes of looking at the menu of each restaurant thus it’s the pizzeria we have chosen.

We ordered 2 pizzas one with olive and fish and the other one with seafood, we had a great time and after lunch, its time for some walk and explore the place.

Lake Geneva

Lake Geneva or Lac Léman is one of the largest lakes in western Europe which lies between France and Switzerland, however, Geneva is the biggest city who occupies the lake part.

As we went to see the Jete d’eau it was turn off due to the violent wind that day, instead we just a stroll in the lake and enjoy the panorama view of the city.

If you like to have a see another lovely lake not too far from Geneva, you can check out Annecy City “little Venice of France” a one hour ride away from here.

Brunswick Monument

Brunswick Monument was built to commemorate the life of Charles II, Duke of Brunswick it known as the replica of the Scaliger Tombs in Verona, Italy. Charles himself gave his fortune to Geneva in exchange for acquiring a monument built-in his name next to the park and water views.

Adoring the incredible outlook of the lake I have accidentally spotted a swan with talking to a bird well I’m not sure if they are communicating with each other but I’ve surely heard them exchanging weird sounds.

There are various kinds of Yachts and small boats in the area, I imagine that people lives from here own these properties.

Going to the other side of the road of Quai du Mont-Blanc you will be surprised to see this excellent glimpse of the mountains shading the city, I can hear people talking in French and it feels so good to overhear them.

We went to buy 2 ice cream and a bottle of coke (330 ml) which cost us almost 10 euros (gosh it’s expensive here).

Getting to the other side of the city, we thought of boarding a ferry but personally, I prefer to walk so my choice followed by him (as always)

Jardin Anglais

Jardin Anglais is an English inspired park consisting of the famous flower-clock, fountain, and the lake views. There were a lot of people at the flower clock it was hard for me to take a good angle, fortunately, I had my turn and took a beautiful photo as much as I could.

St. Peters Cathedral

Promenading in the park we settled visit the other very known landmark of the city which is St. Pierre Cathedral an 850-year-old adopted home church of Protestant leader John Calvin, the cathedral consist of two towers where you can have 360 degrees view of the city. It resembles a bit to the Pantheon of Rome and other Roman structures that I have seen before.

Entrance to the towers is CHF 5 for adults and CHF 2 for children

There are two other spots to visit inside the cathedral recently they found some remains of the basilica and they build the Archeological Site with Entrance: CHF 8 for adults, CHF 4 for students and children, free with Geneva Pass.

International Museum of Reformation, found in the north side open Tue-Sun: 10:00 am to 5:00 pm, entrance CHF 10.

Art and History Museum

The next to visit is minutes of walk from where we stand the largest of all museums in Geneva, The Musée d’Art et d’Histoire yes another museum to visit, it’s just not because it’s free but there are one million pieces of collection organized in three different wings of the Museum.

The Archeology wing has relics collection from ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome, the other wing has paintings collection of Renaissance works by Van Gogh and Renoir, and the last wing consists of the military collection of middle age era.

Opening hours Hours: 10:00 – 18:00. Closed Mondays.
Web/email: mah.ville-ge.ch
Admission: Free. and CHF 5 for temporary exhibitions

The tour in the museum took more than an hour there were collections that I’ve never seen before, especially the Necklace made of Ivory and the military-unique weapons.

English Church of the Holy Trinity

It’s now 6:00 pm time to go back to the hotel and get some rest before another day comes and going back to home will be another long journey.

On our way I had an opportunity to take a photo of this magnificent church as we went inside there was a mass ongoing so I didn’t take any photo of the inside and on the other side of the road is the tourist information of the city.

Geneva Tourist Information Office

On the next day we directly went out to see the Jet d’eau since I haven’t seen it yesterday, so it was my last chance before we go home.

The weather was finally on our side it wasn’t too windy not too cloudy neither it was just perfect as it is.

Jet d’eau Fountain

The fountain is the tallest not just in Europe but in the world, yes it is the tallest with 140 meters.

Originally built as the safety valve for a local hydraulic water network yet it became the most popular tourist spot an iconic image of the city.

Finally, I saw it with my own eyes honestly I was quite upset yesterday for not having a photo of the fountain, (I’m so pathetic right?) It’s just this one is in my bucket list that’s why.

The Basilica Notre-Dame of Geneva

A gothic style roman catholic church considered the main church in Geneva, It has a specific design of stained glass windows. There were 7 artists who contributed to making those remarkable evolutions of stained glasses.

Lastly, we checked out from our hotel and picked up our car to start the next road trip direction home, it was a great experience short but worth it.

There were more places that we could have visited but its a matter of choice, we had a good night at the hotel the bed is good, my husband’s back has definitely relaxed after a long drive and I have a great time watching the city view from the window of our room.

I would say I’ll give a 9/10 for this experience we would definitely come back next time.

7 hours and 40 minutes road trip to Geneva, Switzerland