Hi, My husband and I are flying from Geneva to Nice and have 24 hours in Switzerland. We are trying to decide on whether we should spend our short time in Switzerland in Geneva or Lausanne. We haven't visited either city before and would appreciate thoughts and recommendations on which one to visit in our short stay in Switzerland. Thanks!
Posted by
Long Beach, California, USA
3398 posts
We spent 3 weeks in this area this summer and, if I had to choose, I would spend my time in Geneva. Honestly, I wasn't too excited to go there because of what people had told me but it turned out to be one of my favorite cities in Switzerland that we visited. The lakefront near the jet d'eau was surprisingly beautiful. The old town around the cathedral was really nice to walk around with all of the shops and restaurants. Two favorite things though...the antique shops in the old city are amazing. Antiquarian books, shops that specialize in regions or specific kinds of items, and significant art for sale, were loads of fun and I wanted more time to explore. The second thing I loved was the archaeological dig under the cathedral - one of the best I've seen anywhere. They have excavated underneath the church down to the 1st century. You can walk around an extensive area up and down steel stairs going between layers of the various churches that have been on the site over the last 2,000 years or so. Roman mosaic floors, wells, walls, bones, beautiful fragments of previous structures are all spread under the cathedral. I found it fascinating! Great audio tour to help you understand what you are seeing. Highly recommend!
Posted by
Rochelle, IL
263 posts
I'm partial to Lausanne. There is an Olympic museum there that is pretty interesting, and the cathedral at the top of the city is pretty impressive. Not sure of your schedule, but you could take a lake boat to Lausanne and train back. To be honest, I have not spent a lot of time in Geneva.....
Posted by
Dallas, Texas, USA
501 posts
I'm partial to Geneva, even though it sometimes gets a bad rap. How about splitting the time, or consider going to Montreux.
Posted by
OP
Washington, DC, United States
10 posts
Thanks for the helpful feedback everyone. Based on the input we have gotten here as well as information we have read online, we have decided to skip Geneva as we would prefer a scenic, small town feel more. We have a rental car in Chamonix which we will return in Geneva and will be flying from there to Nice. Instead of heading straight to Geneva from Chamonix, we have decided to drive from Chamonix to Martigny, Montreux and Lausanne. We will stay overnight in Lausanne and then on our way back we will return the rental in Geneva and fly out to Nice. Looking forward to our brief time in Switzerland! Thanks for your input!