Holidayto sSwitzerland.?

vixmony

Hello, am planning on taking the familyto Switzerland Geneva. Can anyone recommend some activities for a 9 year old and 3 year old please. I was looking at skiing but it appeares very expensive, sso very much welcome your suggestions.

Voyager2002

Everything about Switzerland is expensive, and Geneva is just about the most expensive city there. I suggest you decide what you want to do and then choose a location, rather than looking for things to do in Geneva.

JasonLVC

vixmony wrote: »

Hello, am planning on taking the familyto Switzerland Geneva. Can anyone recommend some activities for a 9 year old and 3 year old please. I was looking at skiing but it appeares very expensive, sso very much welcome your suggestions.

When were you thinking of going?

There's actually isn't anything kid friendly in Geneva. Its a pretty dull and serious city.

You have to travel outside of Geneva to get the fun stuff, so depends whether you have a car or not or just plan to walk within a short distance from your hotel.

You can have a boat ride on the lake, visit the jet d'eau, the Museum of natural history is like Londons natural history museum so full of dinosaur bones and stuff like that, there is a beach on the lake side if weather is good, but that's about it.

You can't ski in Geneva until Winter time and even then the local ski area isn't that exciting, again, you need to travel about an hour into Portes de Soleil (French alps) for the fun stuff but again, no skiing in August, more like December onwards.

vixmony

JasonLVC wrote: »

When were you thinking of going?

There's actually isn't anything kid friendly in Geneva. Its a pretty dull and serious city.

You have to travel outside of Geneva to get the fun stuff, so depends whether you have a car or not or just plan to walk within a short distance from your hotel.

You can have a boat ride on the lake, visit the jet d'eau, the Museum of natural history is like Londons natural history museum so full of dinosaur bones and stuff like that, there is a beach on the lake side if weather is good, but that's about it.

You can't ski in Geneva until Winter time and even then the local ski area isn't that exciting, again, you need to travel about an hour into Portes de Soleil (French alps) for the fun stuff but again, no skiing in August, more like December onwards.

Thanks very much. Any useful tips for driving to Geneva are their any tolls etc please?

vixmony

Finally managed to make it, great place and kids really enjoyed. Only one more questionwe had to take the root with those atrocious hills and slopes and my wife is well terrified of driving in such places lol. Anyone knows any routes out of sSwitzerland that avoids these please?

dzug1

Head NE towards Basle rather than heading into France?

vixmony

Thanks, does that add a sizeable chunk on the route? With possible more diving ttime?

dzug1

vixmony wrote: »

Thanks, does that add a sizeable chunk on the route? With possible more diving ttime?

Yes it would

JasonLVC

vixmony wrote: »

Finally managed to make it, great place and kids really enjoyed. Only one more questionwe had to take the root with those atrocious hills and slopes and my wife is well terrified of driving in such places lol. Anyone knows any routes out of Switzerland that avoids these please?

Sorry I didn't respond earlier, I was busy over the weekend and so didn't get a chance to respond to your queries.

Did you come in from the Jura mountains? (Saint Cluade, Gex).

If you don't mind using a bit of the French toll roads, drive South from Geneva heading for Saint Julien-en Genevois, heading for the A40 (AutoRoute Blanche) which then takes you around all those mountains (so via Bellegarde and then heading for Bourg-en-Bresse) where you can pick up the A39 which I presume is the road you came in on originally (ie, Dole, Dijon, Chamount, Troyes, Reims, Calais).

The toll will not be that expensive (about 15 euros for this stretch) and will be quicker than zig-zag roads as you can do 110kph-130kph on the autoroutes.

http://www.viamichelin.co.uk/web/Routes?strStartLocid=31NDI1ZzYxMGNORFl1TWpBMU1UVT1jTlM0eU1qVTFOQT09&strDestLocid=31MzZqbTEwY05EWXVNakF6T0RFPWNOaTR4TXprNU5nPT0=&intItineraryType=1&caravaneHidden=false&vh=CAR&strVehicle=0&itineraryCarType=0&itineraryFuelType=0&isFavoriseAutoroute=false&isAvoidPeage=false&isAvoidVignette=false&isAvoidLNR=false&isAvoidFrontiers=false&dtmDeparture=01%2F09%2F2014&distance=km&devise=1.0|EUR&indemnite=&carbCost=1.6&autoConso=6.8&villeConso=6&routeConso=5.6#idTitleRoadsheet

www.viamichelin.co.uk is a good website as it plots routes and estimates costs and if you have a printer, produces excellent step-by-step guides including what the overhead gantry signs will look like.


What did you get upto in the end in Geneva?

Voyager2002

Surely a wind-up... Why would anyone who dislikes mountains choose to visit Switzerland?

And what do you mean by "take the root"? Those beautiful trees need their roots: tourists should not dig them up!