I visited Switzerland when I was a teenager, but now I am going to visit as an adult with 2 children (10 & 7) and I am feeling overwhelmed with the day-trip plans.

We will be there 7-10 days, but we will only be able to make day trips with Geneva as our base city.

I have spent almost an hour reading old threads (thank you for the info I found), but I decided to just ask for specific help.

1) What are the must see things in Geneva?

2) What are your favorite day trip activities from Geneva? (Switzerland, France, and Italy areas)

3) I would appreciate any advice/tips you have to offer for traveling with children. We love to hike and they are great in museums, but I want to share everything with them (thus the reason I am overwhelmed).

Visit the UN and Red Cross. The old town has some nice little bits and there are plenty of nice parks if the weather allows you to.

A boat trip is always worth, you can take one to France, Yvoire for example is a lovely village, check the CGN website for details. You can also easily go into France and the Alps.

Even easier, go to the top of the Saleve for one of those "before you die" views, the bus takes you to the border in Veyrier (check the Tpg.ch site for maps) and you have a 10 min walk into France for the cablecar station taking you up there.

You can also take the train towards Satigny, go out at Russin, in the middle of the vineyards and from there you can find nice walks in the country and stop at an inn to sample the local production.

A little excursion you can make, with kids and all and for very good value, providing you get day passes on the public transports is with the Mouettes Genevoises boats. Take line 3 to cross the lake to Geneve Plage from the Paquis mooring point (next to the Bain des Paquis), there you'll find swimming pools, beach, etc and a large park with a rose garden. Once you are done, take line 4 to Perle du Lac and you can visit the botanical gardens and the Museum Scientifique, exposing all sorts of scientific gyzmos and it's free. I did that two weeks, ago and it was a nice enjoyable way to spend an afternoon, for very little money (7 chf for a day card).

If you can tell what dates you are thinking about, I might have further ideas for you.

Thank you so much for your response. I have added your ideas to my notebook. We are thinking about late May for our trip.

I have a few questions:

I am not sure what CGN or Tpg.ch abbreviations stand for and I need a little help. Thanks!

Late may eh? You can even catch some second division soccer game if you really are struggling for ideas

CGN is Compagnie Generale de Navigation, the transport company that runs the commuting and tourism boats on Lake Geneva, those that would take you on a round trip on the lake or to Lausanne or the French harbours. Website is www.cgn.ch.

TPG is Transports Publics Genevois, the state company that runs most buses and trams in canton Geneva. Notice that EVERY public transport within the borders of canton Geneva including Swiss railways, other bus companies with regular schedules and the Mouettes Genevoise small boats are part of a community of transport called Unireso which means that the transport title you buy from any bus stop can be used with one ticket. Website is www.tpg.ch

Any question just ask.

Hello,

Along with the other advice you've received, I'd like to add a few things that might be of interest, especially to your children. My husband is from Switzerland, but we're living in the US at the present time. We've traveled there several times with our children. They really enjoyed visiting the St. Bernard Museum in Martigny on our last trip--there were lots of puppies there, and they were a big hit! I'm not sure I would drive all the way there from Geneva, but if you're going past it anyway, it's worth a stop. We've also visited the hospice on the Grand St Bernard pass, but May may be too early for that. Our older daughter is 13, and she enjoyed the Chateau de Chillon in Montreux and also our trip to Gruyere castle and watching the process of cheese making. You can also visit the Cailler chocolate factory which is near there, but we've never done that. I think a drive along the lake from Geneva around to Lausanne, then on to Montreux, and Martigny would be nice. You can't beat the view of the lake with the mountains behind...it's breathtaking. We also like going high up in the area of Crans-Montana on the cable cars. I'm sure there are closer places to Geneva, but my husband's family is near that area, so that's where we usually go. Sometimes we drive through the Grand St. Bernard tunnel over into the Val d'Aosta area of Italy. Going through such a long tunnel is fun for the kids and for weird adults like me! Plus it's fun to have an Italian pizza! We've taken the train from Sion to Zermatt and on up to Gornergrat to view the Matterhorn (Le Cervin in French)..it's a fun train ride and spectacular views of the mountains. I guess that would be a really long day trip from Geneva though...there are probably other train rides to be had that are closer. We visited the Grand Dixence Dam one summer--it's enormous. There were also some really unusual rock formations in that general area...les pyramides d'Euseignes. Both of those are above Sion, which is about a 2 hour drive from Geneva. Those are just a few ideas....I'll post if I think of others. Have a wonderful trip!!

--Sophie