I'm interested in taking a bike ride through the vineyards in Geneva. The travel books I have been reading highly recommend it. Does anyone know how far these vinyards are from . . say, the train station? Is it worth the ride? Also, I will be in Geneva during the large festival in august. What should I expect? chaos? good fun? Will the festival take away from or enhance my time in Geneva?

Satigny, Dardagny etc in the west of <BR>Geneva Canton, very close to French boarder. Approx.30 min.by bike say from<BR>the main train station of Geneva. Dardagny has beautiful vineyards over the hilly grounds though you can't compare it to the breathtaking sight of<BR>Lavaux vineyard in Vaud canton,on the steeple hill side over the lake L&eacute;man.<BR>10 AUG, there will be a big firework show over the lake as a part of La F&ecirc;te de Gen&egrave;ve. Lots of people,and the street by the lake, Mont Blanc bridge will be closed for the automobiles.<BR>

Bonjour Swissmiss,<BR><BR>Welcome to Geneva. What vineyards do you have in mind ? Russin, Satigny, Dardagny, Peissy ? about 15 km from the station. Easiest way would be to jump in a train to La Plaine and cycle on from Satigny or Bourdigny. <BR><BR>Jussy, Gy ? about 15 km on the other side of the lake.<BR><BR>The tourist office gives very good free maps of the area for cyclists. Be careful on the road <BR><BR>Iron is optimistic about the time it takes on bike, or he's in a much better physical condition than me ;-)<BR><BR>The "F&ecirc;tes de Gen&egrave;ve" are a chaotic good fun event. Just make sure you have a very good lock for your bike, or better leave it at your hotel and go everywhere on foot.

Florence, ok 30 minutes is probably not<BR>an avarage time for GVA-Dardagny for <BR>everybody. Let's say 30 min to 1 hour depending on your skills and physical conditions. <BR>Enjoy your sunny Tuesday in Geneva!

swissmiss,<BR><BR>I'd recommend you go to the Lavaux vineyards between Lausanne & Vevey, focusing on the villages of Lutry, Cully, St Saphorin, Rivaz, & Chexbres. You can take a train to Vevey and rent a bike from the train station there. The route is 32 km long to Lutry. Take the ferry back to Vevey to return the bike. Check out the Lavaux at www.lavaux.ch.<BR><BR>Let us know how you did!<BR><BR>s<BR>

You beat me to it, S'. Swissmiss I second the Lavaux suggestion. There's a great little map of the area at lavaux.ch -- particularly lavaux.ch/ppdezaley.htm and lavaux.ch/sentier3.htm. Or to really inspire you, you might want to do a Google image search for lavaux and these maps and lots of photograph pages will pop up. You will love it. J.

Agree with the Satigny area. See the photos on the website for Domaine de Chateauvieux. Search here on this forum for the exact URL.<BR><BR>Best wishes,<BR><BR>Rex<BR>

toppers<BR>

thank you so much for your lovely suggestions. I will have a look at the regions you've listed - see where they are on a map. I might have more questions! thanks again.

The Fete de Geneve (August 2-11) has a very nice web page. The highlights will be translated in English. As far as I can see, the page isn't ready yet. But the portal looks great. Mabe you want to check it in a couple of days.<BR>http://www.fetes-de-geneve.ch/accueil.html

I was busy yesterday and didn't have time to track this website down. Here you go:<BR><BR>http://www.chateauvieux.ch/<BR>

to the top<BR>

If you end up in Vevey (lovely town!) try to get to the Saturday morning open air farmers market in the town square. It is just wonderful. And really gives you a good feel for the local people (I have friends who live there). <BR><BR>If you are in late July - early August, the Marche Folklorique takes places as well. Different vineyards serve their wines each Saturday. You buy a glass (~CHF7-10? i don't remember exactly) and you're welcome to as much wine as you can drink between 9AM-noon. There's even a rolling keg that goes around the marketplace to refill your glass while you shop!!