Geneva Switzerland is a beautiful city, and where we ended our 10 day European anniversary trip. I’m breaking down what we did and where we stayed on one afternoon there!
After our two day stay in Bellagio, Italy on Lake Como, we took a train to the beautiful Grindelwald, Switzerland. Then we headed to Chamonix and Annecy, France before our Geneva stop.
As I mentioned in my Lake Como post, Ted and I took a reasonably affordable 10 day anniversary trip in mid September, and I broke down each leg in separate, detailed blog posts.
BTW, we were determined to stay under $5,500 all-in for flights, hotels, food, drink and excursions, and I’m happy to report that we did!
One way to travel for less is to sign up for a Chase Sapphire reward card and use the rewards to travel for free or at a discount. I highly recommend the Chase Sapphire card, which has covered the cost of our larger trips since we got the card in 2020. We use it for almost every purchase possible and just make sure to pay it off in full each month.
Getting to Geneva Switzerland
From Chamonix France we took a bus (Flixbus) to Geneva, which cost $45 total and took about 1.5 hours. The bus stop was directly across the street from our Chamonix hotel and super convenient.
We took a lot of trains on all three legs of our trip, and found that buses were much easier to get to our Annecy day trip and Geneva more directly and easily.
Arriving in Geneva Switzerland
The bus dropped us off at the airport around 1 pm, which is where our hotel, The Hilton Geneva was located. We chose that location since it was so conveniently located near the airport and would be super easy with our early flight the following morning.
There is a complimentary free shuttle to the airport that runs every 15 minutes, and they give you a free public transportation pass along with your stay.
The hotel lobby, pool, and restaurants were very nice, but our room ended up being pretty small with a full size bed. If I were to book again I’d probably go with a larger room, but it was ok for our quick overnight needs.
Below are some photos of the property highlights.
Credit: booking.com
Exploring the Geneva waterfront
After we got settled into our room, we used our free public transportation pass to hop on a couple busses to take us down toward the beautiful waterfront area.
We departed he bus and walked about 10 minutes to the waterfront through a pretty park. It was nice to see the trees start changing colors.
The sky was overcast all day, and the temps were in the 60s and felt perfect with a jacket.
There is a very nice walking path along the whole waterfront, and a few restaurants as well. After walking for a bit, we decided to stop into a cute waterfront restaurant bar, La Terrasse to grab a late lunch.
We ended up getting a burger, side salad, and a drink. The view of the Marti Marina and The Jet d’Eau, a large lake fountain and one of the city’s most famous landmarks.
After lunch we walked the path to a cool lighthouse and swimming beach, and I got up close and personal with a swan. 🙂
The we walked past a pretty carousel, then toward the big ferris wheel and into the old town shopping district area, which was a pretty bustling area.
The ferris wheel was really cool is probably pretty popular on weekends.
If high end shopping is your thing, then you’d love this Geneva old down shopping district.
I’m a big fan of all the pretty architecture I saw on our trip, and Geneva didn’t disappoint on that either. I just love the flowers, awnings, and other pretty details.
After our waterfront walk, we decided to head back to the hotel around 5 pm for some dinner and an early bed time.
We had a couple glasses of wine and a delicious salad, which was very pricey, but our easiest option. Switzerland (both Grindelwald and Geneva) were definitely the most expensive stops on our European trip. Food, drink, and hotel prices are just overall much more costly. Just something to keep in mind if you plan to visit.
When we do Switzerland again, we’ll make sure to stock up on some wine and snacks at the grocery stores for our hotel room to help keep cost down a bit.
Overall, we personally thought that one day in Geneva was perfect, and we got to see quite a bit.
Flying out of the Geneva Switzerland airport
The following morning the shuttle took us to the airport and we had breakfast there after we got to our gate (2 breakfast sandwiches and 2 coffees totaled $60, ha).
I forgot I affordably upgraded our seats to United Premium Plus, so that was a nice surprise for our 7+ hour flight back to Newark. We were seated right behind first class, and got their same nicer meals.
Being seated in the exit row gave us even more leg room too – boom! We both crushed a few movies, and before we knew it we were in Newark, where we had a layover until we flew to Washing DC then back home to Kansas City.
It was such a wonderful vacation, and we saw and made so many amazing memories.
We can’t wait to plan our next (somewhat affordable) European adventure, this time with our daughter Vivienne included.
Don’t forget to check out the other 3 legs of our European Trip: Bellagio Lake Como, Italy, Grindelwald, Switzerland, and Chamonix and Annecy, France!
And pin our day in Geneva Switzerland for future planning!
