Basel or Geneva?
 

We are flying from JFK to Geneva on our way to Basel to board a riverboat for a Rhine cruise. We have two days to spend before we debark. Should we spend them in Geneva or Basel? Our plans now are to take the 3 1/2- hour train trip from Geneva to Basel. Your suggestions would be most welcome.

Well, you could do a day in both towns. I haven't been to Geneva but have been once to Basel. It is an interesting city with an easy-to-walk center. We spent an afternoon and one night there, and saw the Munster and river overlook, the ferry, the Rathaus (exterior), a Tinguely fountain, and a loop around on the tram system.. stayed at Hotel au Violon, very nice.
http://www.au-violon.com/

Here's an article about Basel:
http://www.burttravels.com/pdf/basel.pdf

Here's an article about Geneva:
http://www.burttravels.com/pdf/geneva.pdf

I've stayed in both, and I'd rank Basel as far more interesting than Geneva. And here's a second for HotelAuViolin -- which is actually a former prison.

Hi Rolf, When I took a Rhine cruise from Basel we actually spent a couple of days IN Basel after checking in for the cruise. If that's what you'll be doing, I'd go ahead and spend a day or two in Geneva. If you do pick Geneva, see if you can take a boat trip to the Montreux end of the lake and then train back. It's a beautiful trip.

hey there-
Lived in Geneva for a year, and spent some time in basel (bale).

Geneva is the best place to be for one- two days, because of the old city, the fondue places and especially, the lake, with it's park across the way.

By train for 40 mins, I reccoment LAUSSANE in FRance.... magical....
i hope you love geneve. it speaks to me daily

While I think Basel is an interesting town, between that and spending two days in the Vevey/Lausanne/Montreux end of Lake Geneva, I would take the latter any day. Gorgeous lake and Alp views, very different from the scenery you will see in Basel and on your cruise.

Definitely skip Geneva. (I am prejudiced as I live in Zurich, but I don’t get the attraction of Geneva at all when the rest of the lake towns are so much more beautiful and charming and have the views.)

So IMO skip Geneva and Basel. From Geneva airport and take a train from the airport to one of the above towns. Takes about an hour or a bit more. Morges or Nyon are also nice little towns, I prefer to be farther down the lake. Spend your time walking or biking through the gorgeous Lavaux vineyard areas, take a cruise on the lake. Great for 2 days. From any of these towns you can get to Basel by train in 3 hours. (The train from Geneva to Basel in fact stops in Lausanne and/or Morges, Nyon on the way). Go to rail.ch for timetables.

Run a search here for any of the above towns, there is lots of info and advice on hotels and things to do.

I'd give Geneva a miss, but take a stop on Morges, Lausanne, Vevey, or Montreux. I visit friends in the area every other summer, & we never go into Geneva. It's a huge huge city and certainly you could tour the Old Town or something, but going out to one of the smaller towns would be much more pleasant way to spend the time, IMO.

Thank you all for your very excellent advice. Our plans now are to take the steamer to Lausanne for a couple of nights, and then the train on to Basel. As Grasshopper suggested, we do in fact spend the first day (and night) in Basel itself, albeit on the boat, but will have some free time to explore the city. Thanks again to you all!

Not really a reply but a question. Sounds like you are taking a trip similar to the one we are looking at. We have never cruised before. When are you going (or, if you have already gone - how was it)? Who did you travel with on the cruise (eg. Viking, Gate 1, Uniworld, etc.) and any pros and cons? Thanks for any advice. HelenR

Hello, Friends. This is RolfG again, on the same thread. We plan now to spend a night in Geneva, then take the lake trip by boat to Montreaux for 2 nights, then a train direct to Basel for debarkation. The train's website shows several connections between Montreaux and Basel. Has anyone taken that particular route?

Rolfg - Would love to see a trip report from you afterwards; we've been looking at what sounds like the same cruise and have not yet made up our minds whether to go or not. At one point we considered flying into Paris and spending a couple days there, then train to Basel, and then flying home out of Amsterdam. Is it Uniworld on the River Queen? How did you decide what time of year to go? We were thinking early September. Please please do a trip report when you return! :)

trvlite, I took a Rhine Cruise in Sept. 2001 (days after 9/11) from Basel to Amsterdam (11 days). We spent a couple of days in London then flew to Basel. It was a very relaxing trip. We stopped daily and had the opportunity to take guided walks at the various towns we saw.

I would say the frustration for me was popping into towns that were interesting and getting to see such a quick glimpse. We ate all our meals on the boat so we didn't get to experience the local foods or even sit in the cafes and people watch very much. It did give me some ideas for places that I would like to visit more another time. It was a great "tasting menu".

There have been times since when I've craved sitting in the lounge with a book or a journal and watching the Rhine towns go by. Like I said, it was incredibly relaxing. We thought Sept. would be perfect, but it rained the entire time. Our trip was on the MS Helvetia with Viking.

Hi Rolfg,

I wonder why you decided to spend one night in Geneva? Montreux is only a bit over an hour from the Geneva airport, so (to me) it's less hassle to just push on for an hour than to check in & check out, unpack & pack, relocate, etc.

I also wonder why you're taking the ferry from Geneva to Montreux? That's a looooooong trip -- almost five hours (schedule at www.cgn.ch). To me, that's just too much of a good thing! If you just take the train from the aiport to Montreux and spend three nights in Montreux, you'll have plenty of time to take a shorter ferry trip -- say to Vevey, to Chillon, or to the vineyards around Rivaz.

What is your specific question about the train route from Montreux to Basel? While I haven't taken this exact routing, I've taken lots of trains in Switzerland. To choose my route, I usually pick a convenient departure time (not too early so I don't have to rush breakfast), and I pick a route with the fewest changes. There's one train leaving Montreux at 8.53 with a change in Morges or one leaving at 10.19 with a change in Lausanne. I'd probably pick one of those. One great idea might be to take the train to Morges, spend a few hours in that absolutely delightful town, then continue your journey.

s

Personally I don't understand staying the night in Geneva, but to each their own, and definitely I don't get the boat ride to Montreux (it's so long vs. the sweet and scenic 1 hour train ride). Takes a good chunk when you have only a few days you have to visit this area.

Sorry that last sentence is such a jumble, but you get the idea.

Wow! This Fordor's Message Board is the greatest thing since night baseball. I really appreciate all the advice, much of which I will take to heart, some of which is beyond change. Let me answer a few of your questions: Why one night in Geneva? We've never been there before, so we'd like at least a day (and night) to explore . . . Why the boat ride? We love boat rides! No matter what duration. And we'll get our share of train rides from Montreaux to Basel. Our cruise details? We're with Viking Cruises, aboard the Viking Sun, leaving Basel June 2 to Antwerp June 13 with 3 extra days in Brussels. I'll file a trip report, by all means. And thanks again to you all for your very helpful suggestions.

Such a lovely part of the world, lucky you!

Re: Au Violon

Has anyone stayed in a Category B room? Thanks in advance.