Hi,

I'm going to take the plane from Geneve to Lisbon and I'll be driving to the airport from La Chaux de Fonds. I'll stay in Lisbon for 15 days, so free parking is the only option for me.

Is there any free parking near Geneve? I know in the center is very rare, so I can park in a radius of, let's say 30km and take the train to the airport.

Thanks in advance

If you find some safe, free parking near the airport, I'd love to know.

Why not take the train from La Chaux to Neuchatel and then to airport. You can get a day ticket for 40CHF x 2 = 80. Much cheaper than parking at the airport and the train station is right next to the airport.

A return from neuchatel with half price is 45 francs I think

My half price expired and I won't do it again.

From La Chaux de Fonds to Geneve-Airport it costs 50CHF, with half-fare just 25CHF.
If I take the train I'll pay a total of 100CHF to go and return. A friend is doing the same trip with me, so we are going to spend a total of 200CHF just for the train, the price is ridiculous.

If I go by car I'll spent something like 30CHF on Diesel.

Some weeks ago I went to Geneve and passed by Nyon just to take a look, I searched in the entire village and found a total of 9 free parking places! I don't believe there isn't any large free parking zone within a 30Km radius of Geneve.

I use day tickets bought from the Commune at 40 per day = 80 for return day. But agree if there are 2 of you it's cheaper to go by car- but as you have found out, not much free parking around for miles and miles- and not within walking distance of a local train station. Not sure where the day tickets (cartes journalières) in La Chaux. Here it used to be at the Commune, but now contracted out to the Newsagent (and they take a small fee for the service).

I did ask before is any EF member would be prepared to rent a space on their drive - it could be a nice little earner- but no reply. I used to have a friend who lived in Grand Saconnex and had a spare private parking place, but alas, no longer.

There you are:

10 cartes journalières/jour sont mises à disposition de la population de la Ville au prix de Fr. 40.-. Une carte journalière permet le jour de sa validité de voyager avec ou sans l'abonnement 1/2 tarif en 2ème classe sur l'ensemble du réseau suisse des CFF (y compris sur la plupart du réseau des transports publics).
Une bonne raison pour laisser sa voiture au garage !

• Les cartes sont vendues uniquement aux personnes domiciliées à La Chaux-de-Fonds.
• Paiement comptant et en espèces uniquement.
• Cartes vendues dans la limite des quantités disponibles à la Billetterie de la Ville de La Chaux-de-Fonds, avenue Léopold-Robert 27-29
• Renseignements téléphoniques (Mardi - Vendredi : 14h30 - 17h30 et Samedi : 10h - 12h) : 032 967 60 50

Horaires d'ouverture :
Mardi-Vendredi : 13h - 18h
Samedi : 10h - 12h

I never thought there would come a day when I needed to ask where to park my car. Only in Switzerland...

Switzerlanded indeed. Mind you, try and park safe and free near Heathrow or Gatwick?

Why not look for a kind friend who could drop you and pick you up? I personally do that all the time for my friends and they would it do it for me too, if required. I have my demi-tariff though.

Thank you. Even so, 160CHF on train against 30CHF on diesel.... I prefer to burn fuel.

Switzerlanded indeed. Mind you, try and park safe and free near Heathrow or Gatwick? Or Charles de Gaulle? Parking free, cheap and safe near any major airport is a nightmare.

Odile, I never visited UK. Even so, a huge city like London is not comparable with Geneve. Lisbon, is a few times bigger than Geneve and I can easily find massive free parking zones within a 3km range.

Yes, that's better way I know. But this time all my friends will be returning home, sweet Portugal

Problem with Genève is that it is stuck in a small space- lake, France and mountains!

Anyway, I've tried to find a solution to the same problem for years, and haven't found one. I've Googled it both in French and English- and nobody seems to have the answer. If you do find a solution, I for one would be VERY grateful.

For more than 10 days we use parking P51 which is the cheapest- but cannot be booked in advance so you have to be there a couple of hours earlier just in case it is full. If for more than 10 days- we get train day-cards or get friends to drop us at Yverdon station.

Bonne chance et à dimanche.

What date are you going? If its a weekend and before the 24th I can drop you off.

23th after 12:00.
Thank you anyway

What a fantastic offer - but watch out for terrible traffic on the Motorway. The Swiss celebrate Christmas on 24th and most will finish at 12 on 23rd - so everybody and his dog will be on the move. Bonne chance.

Warning, if you are going for Christmas, parking even in the official paying car-parks will be full so book early if the offer above does not work out. Same with the day tickets as they are very limited- they go very quickly for week-ends and holidays.

Park in Carouge, there are many unlimited white boxes, I often leave a car for more than a week. Ticket to the airport is 3 CHF.

Sounds great!
I searched for Carouge on google maps and in fact there are many white boxes on 30km speed zones. 2Km away from there I found Pinchat and Troinex, also white large white parking areas.

That's it! It's done!

Just one question: Should I be worried about snow ? I think white parking don't have any restrictions, I'm just checking

Thank you.

Try some of the roads near Place des Nations, eg Avenue de la Paix. I used to park my car there a lot a year or two ago, and I think it is till mostly white boxes.

I saw those parking places when I was on the bus after parking in Carouge! Snow is not a mojor issue in Geneva, the white boxes are unlimited, around carouge there are camper vans that are parked for months as a time.