9 Best Sights in Geneva, Switzerland

These 69 peaceful acres of winding paths and streams bear witness to Geneva's early-19th-century fascination with botany. They also include tropical greenhouses, beds of irises and roses, rock gardens, an aviary, a deer park, a garden of scent and touch, a living catalog of economically useful and medicinal plants, a seed bank, and a formidable research institute. Several of the trees predate 1700. The main entrance is opposite the World Trade Organization.

The museum focuses on three major challenges in today's "Humanitarian Adventure:" defending human dignity, restoring family links, and reducing natural risks. The artifacts and artwork in each section are complemented by the life-size videos of 12 witnesses sharing their heart-wrenching personal stories that include surviving a land mine in Kabul and identifying tsunami victims in Japan. An audio guide, available in English, is included in the price.

Built between 1929 and 1936 for the League of Nations, this monumental compound became the European office of the United Nations in 1946 and quickly evolved into the largest center for multilateral diplomacy in the world. Today it hosts some 9,000 conferences and 25,000 delegates each year; it is also the largest nexus for United Nations operational activities after New York.

Security is tight: be prepared to show your passport and arrive at least 45 minutes before your scheduled tour. Points of particular interest include the Assembly Hall, the largest of 34 conference rooms, where the UN General Assembly and scores of world leaders have met, and the ornate Council Chamber, home to the Conference on Disarmament, which glows with allegorical murals. Tours last about one hour and are conducted in 15 languages, including English.

This iconic Swiss hotel, built in 1865, has discreetly witnessed the birth of a nation (Czechoslovakia, in 1918), the death of an empress (Empress Elisabeth of Austria, in 1898), the sale of royal treasure (the Duchess of Windsor's jewels, in 1987), and the passage of crowned heads from around the world.

Charles d'Este-Guelph, the famously eccentric (and deposed) duke of Brunswick, died in Geneva in 1873 and left his vast fortune to the city on condition that his mausoleum, the Gothic design of which is based on the 14th-century Scaligeri tombs in Verona, be given prominence. No one is sure why his sarcophagus faces inland.

An architectural anachronism when it was completed in 1887, this serene Italianate structure now houses the Musée Suisse de la Céramique et du Verre (Swiss Museum of Ceramics and Glass). Stoneware, earthenware, porcelain, and glass covering 700 years of East–West exchange populate the upper floors; contemporary work rotates through the basement.

Walk-around glass cases display age-old sundials and astrolabes, microscopes and telescopes, barometers and ornate globes that collectively document the evolution of modern science. Descriptions are in English. The neoclassical Italianate jewel that houses the collection, the Villa Bartholoni, dates from 1830.

The humble setting adds authenticity to this detailed look at a neutral but thoroughly competent military force. Uniformed models, weapons, prints, and documents proceed in chronological order through the eventful history of la Garde Genevoise from 1814 to the present, including a Napoleonic officer's outfit, Guillaume-Henri Dufour's personal effects, and a full-scale re-creation of a Genevois border post during World War II.

The largest of Geneva's grandes dames, this former hotel leaped to international prominence on April 28, 1919, when the peace negotiators in Paris chose Geneva to host the newborn League of Nations. International civil servants began work here in November 1920, and the building was renamed in honor of U.S. President Woodrow Wilson in 1924. By 1936 the faltering League had run out of space and moved to the custom-built Palais des Nations. Ten years later it was dismantled. The Palais Wilson was gutted by fire in 1987, meticulously restored in 1998, and now houses the headquarters of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. It is not open to the public.