One week in Geneva!

psarinuk

Hi all

I am travelling with family to Geneva, Switzerland from 24th till 31st Dec. Could I get some help on:

1. Currency: I've a post office credit card and some debit cards, should I use them for shopping/ eating out or should I get some cash? Where is the best place to buy where you get most for your money? Do they take unused cash back as well in the end?

2. Day trips to other parts of Switzerland: We are only going to stay in Switzerland, so if you could suggest some day trips to Zurich, Bern etc from Geneva and suggest what to see, that would be great. It would be myself (29), my wife (24) and 2 year old daughter and we are relying on public transport to carry us around.

3. Christmas Day: Does any eating place open in Geneva on XMas day or do we have to shop on 24th itself and get ourselves something to eat in our hotel? Does public transport run on X Mas day?

4. Eat out: Are there any places you would like to suggest for eating out? For info, we are vegeterians and I hope that won't be a problem in Geneva!

For info, I've booked Les Nations in Geneva for 7 days!

Thanks in advance!

potfish

Geneva's good for a few days but it's pretty small. There's the Olympic Museum up the road at Lausanne and CERN is nearby if you like technology stuff but I haven't visited either. In France there are some excellent options - Annecy is beautiful and easy to get to from Geneva. Chamonix is a little further but also beautiful in a different way - mountains and glaciers.

There are a lot of resources on this site to answer your question 1 so I won't, but note that if you go into France you'll need euros as well as Swiss Francs.

I have no idea if any places to eat will be open on Christmas Day but my experience is that it's pretty dead on Sundays even so I wouldn't rely on finding anything.

psarinuk

Thanks Potfish, we know geneva is small, which is why we would like to go places in Switzerland for day trips.

We are planning to stay in Switzerland only, and would not be going to France..

potfish

Shame, as Annecy is much more beautiful than anywhere I can think of within a similar travelling time staying in Switzerland.

psarinuk

potfish, due to visa restrictions for my wife (she can travel visa free in Switzerland), we won't be travelling to France.
In fact we found hotel deals to be much better on the French side of Geneva but still booked Les Nations in Geneva due to this reason..

Voyager2002

Currency: get yourself a Nationwide Flex account (with debit card) and credit card. For purchases, the Post Office and Nationwide credit cards are equally good, but have some kind of back-up since our chip and pin or chip and signature cards sometimes fail on the Swiss system.

Do explore the supermarkets for food: wonderfully fresh bread and a great assortment of cooked meats, cheeses and local wines are available at reasonable prices.

Day trips: visit the SBB site and find the English language section. A wide range of travel passes are available, including the Swiss card, which gives half-price on virtually all public transport and free entry to most museums and places of interest. You can buy these on-line, or at most railway stations (including the ones in the airports). I suggest that you do NOT buy on-line, since the conditions are pretty confusing. When I arrived at Zurich airport I thought I knew exactly what I wanted, but the guy in the ticket office explained that the conditions did not allow me to do what I had planned, and found a slightly different card that enabled me to do what I wanted and cost a little less than my original idea.

You can also buy these passes from th Swiss Centre in London, but then they cost a bit more.

While Zurich is a beautiful city, Switzerland is special for its mountains and countryside. So don't concentrate on cities. I would suggest the Bernese Oberland (near Interlaken) but it is a bit too far from Geneva to be a day trip. But don't miss the castle of Chillon, which is just at the other end of Lac Leman from Geneva itself.

On visa restrictions, you might like to know that Austria has a postal visa service and could issue a visa for your wife within about five days. Such a visa would also enable you to visit France.

Brit_Chick

My husband and I are also going to geneva for a week in january (also cos of the visa restrictions, why is it such a hassle to get a schengen visa...grrrr) so I'll be following this thread with interest.

Is is easy to travel on public transport in geneva or would it be worth hiring a car?

Psarinuk - I think that it may be possible to take a day trip to italy without obtaining a schengen visa which we might do depending on how brave we feel. Technically you should have a schengen visa to enter italy but apparantely the immigration controls on the swiss/italian border are very lax. Lets see how it goes.

bargainbarmy

Brit_Chick wrote: »

My husband and I are also going to geneva for a week in january (also cos of the visa restrictions, why is it such a hassle to get a schengen visa...grrrr) so I'll be following this thread with interest.

Is is easy to travel on public transport in geneva or would it be worth hiring a car?

Psarinuk - I think that it may be possible to take a day trip to italy without obtaining a schengen visa which we might do depending on how brave we feel. Technically you should have a schengen visa to enter italy but apparantely the immigration controls on the swiss/italian border are very lax. Lets see how it goes.

Visa ?!!!! Visa?!!!! You've got me all worried now. My wife and two young daughters are flying into Geneva in January for a weeks skiing in Chamonix in France. We will be spending 1 night in Geneva next to the airport on way back. Do we need visas? We are all born in the UK and have valid UK passports. Will we be OK?

psarinuk

Hi Voyager

I've a post office credit card which I think would be good.. I am also going to order some cash from travelex website and collect at the airport.. I've heard they offer best exchange rates this way.

Would a day trip to Zurich from Geneva be possible?
Is there a swiss card that covers jorney via trains to various cities from Geneva and lasts a week? Do you use the same card for entry into museums etc?

Regarding visa for France, I know of this way but my wife is not too fussed about going to France... but she always wanted to visit and explore Switzerland, hence the trip.

I think 1 week is good enough to cover Switzerland? What do you think?

Vampgirl

bargainbarmy wrote: »

Visa ?!!!! Visa?!!!! You've got me all worried now. My wife and two young daughters are flying into Geneva in January for a weeks skiing in Chamonix in France. We will be spending 1 night in Geneva next to the airport on way back. Do we need visas? We are all born in the UK and have valid UK passports. Will we be OK?

Don't worry UK citizens don't need visas for any EC/EEA country you're fine :beer:
To be honest I wouldn't worry about the visa situation anyway...my hubby spends a lot of time in Geneva and sometimes can only get a hotel over the border in France - I've lost count of the number of times he and his collegues have left their passports in the hotel (in France) and gone to the office (in Switzerland), they've never had their passports checked at all! Probably because so many people who work in Geneva actually live in France coz its cheaper, so the border is pretty much an open one.

Brit_Chick

bargainbarmy wrote: »

Visa ?!!!! Visa?!!!! You've got me all worried now. My wife and two young daughters are flying into Geneva in January for a weeks skiing in Chamonix in France. We will be spending 1 night in Geneva next to the airport on way back. Do we need visas? We are all born in the UK and have valid UK passports. Will we be OK?

You'll be fine, I don't need a visa either since I'm also born in the UK but my husband is not a UK passport holder which kinda limits our holiday options for the immediate future.

Didn't mean to make you worried though, apologies:)