24 and a bit hours in Geneva

Arriving

I arrived in Geneva on the train from Fribourg, where I had been staying with a friend for a few days. I spent just over 24 hours in Geneva as my friend needed to return to work and it was where I was flying home from.

Accommodation

I stayed at the City Hostel Geneva, there appear to only be 2 hostels in Geneva so there isn’t a large amount of choice! The hostel is approximately a ten-minute walk from the train station, or you can get the number 15 tram heading to Nations for one stop from outside the train station, this takes you about half way. The hostel provided a free travel card for use on the buses and trams, it also gave 50% off at the Red Cross museum. I stayed in a 3-bed mixed dorm as this was al that was left when I booked, my first night was with 2 women and my second with 2 men. The hostel was clean, the nearest bathroom to my room had 3 toilets and 2 showers but at no point did I have to wait to use the facilities. I didn’t really use the kitchen other then to make a drink, but it seemed well equipped and was quite big.

First Evening

I arrived in Geneva at about 4pm so I knew I would be unable to go to any museums, I walked down to the lake for a wander and to look at the fountain but it was turned off due to the terrible weather!  I went to Slup for dinner, Slup are a gluten free restaurant, they do vegan meals but also offer meals with meat. The food was okay, my vegan GF chocolate crepe was pretty good, I was a little disappointed with the service as it was very slow which meant I had to send more time there then I had wanted to.

Full Day

In the morning of my full day I went on a free walking tour with http://www.freewalk.ch/geneva/ as per most free walking tours the tour leader asks you pay how much you think the tour was worth at the end. I really enjoy walking tours and think they are a great way to learn about a city. I learnt a lot about the history of Geneva and was finally able to see the fountain! We also saw the longest wooden bench in the world! Yes, apparently this is a thing and now you all need to add it to your bucket lists! You can walk to the meeting point from the hostel in about 25/30 minutes, I got the 15 tram to the train station and then the 25 bus for 3 stops down to the meeting point (I was being encouraged by my new hostel friend to not walk where possible as I had hurt my knee whilst skiing).

Botanical Garden

We didn’t stop for lunch as we both had snacks, (we – me and my new friend form the hostel), we then took the bus to the botanical gardens, it has free entry which is very exciting in a city as expensive as Geneva! I have a terrible habit of visiting Botanical Gardens in the winter which means there are not always very many flowers, but none the less it was beautiful. There are a few green houses to visit which were very warm and welcoming as it was so cold outside. https://travelasorous.com/?s=botanical+garden

Red Cross Museum

I then said goodbye to my new friend who needed to return home to France and I took the bus to the Red Cross Museum, the bus stopped just around the corner and I just had to climb the steps up to the museum. The museum is a definite must visit if in Geneva, it is split into 3 different sections and when I visited there was a temporary exhibition about prisons. The museum is really interactive and very interesting, I would recommend spending at least 2 hours there longer if possible. When I left, I walked down to the Broken Chair to take some photos and the got on the number 15 tram back towards the hostel.

Dinner

I went back to the hostel for a small rest then for dinner I went to Pizza Leggara where I was able to have a gluten free and lactose free pizza. This was the best GF pizza I have had unfortunately it’s a long way to go from the UK for a pizza! I got the number 25 bus from the train station there and back which was super simple and easy. The next morning, I had an early flight home, the train from the station to the airport took 7 minutes which again was super simple.

In Conclusion

There is much more to see in Geneva but time didn’t permit me to do everything. The walking tour leader told us that you can go up into the cathedral and from the top view the city. I found travelling around Geneva really easy they have a good bus and tram system and it is also easy to walk around. However, unfortunately, you can’t use roaming so I needed to be really organised and work out where I wanted to go when I had WiFi so that I could use maps.me and Google maps offline, this did mean that I wasn’t as spontaneous as I might have been.