One night in Geneva before trip home
 

We're looking for a hotel for one night in Geneva - moderate price, less than $200 if possible. Suggestions anyone? Relatively close to the Gare de Cornavan for transport to the airport at 5 a.m. would be great, but if the main downtown area is in another area, we'd consider staying further away and taking a cab to the train station early in the morning. We also assume cabs run in the wee hours of the morning? Many thanks for help.

There is an Ibis hotel very close to the station (10 rue Voltaire) - a 5-minute walk and Hotel Montbrillant is even closer, in front of you as you exit opposite rue du Mont Blanc.

We were recently in Geneva on a Sunday night and had a difficult time finding restaurants open (other than expensive ones near the lake),, so keep that in mind when looking for hotel.

Cheapest hotel close (600m) to Gare Cornavin:
http://www.cityhostel.ch/english/
Trains from Cornavin to the airport at 4.43 and 5.14 (7 min ride)
Trolleybus from Geneva city center (Belair) at 4.44, 4.59, 5.05, 5.12, 5.16 (20 min ride).
There are many affordable hotels close to the airport too
http://www.booking.com
Geneva taxis run of course day and night. You may call one by phone at any time.
There are many popular restaurants open on Sundays. Ask at the hotel reception.

Thanks everyone - is the Gare Cornavin on the same side of the lake as the Old Town?

Yes and it is on the same side of the river, too.

Go to Googlemaps.com and input Gare Cornavin; it sounds as if you need that perspective about now

"is the Gare Cornavin on the same side of the lake as the Old Town?"
No, it isn't.

(We drove in from Chamonix on a whim, just to have dinner and without doing any research. We didn't stay overnight, no hotel to ask.) We ate in the Universoty area, near a lovely park and had a difficult time finding a place that served a thing but burgers or pizza. There were many restaurants that we walked past in the big, fancy hotels, of course but we weren't up to that expensive of a restaurant.

I just mentioned this as a heads up.

Hmmm, I thought the Gare Cornavin on the same side of the LAKE as Geneva's Old Town, but on a different side of the RHONE than the Old Town, and that's what I think googlemaps shows....

BTW, I had a wonderful meal at the Bistrot du Beouf Rouge, not far from the Gare Cornavin. Reservations for this small restaurant may be required:
http://www.boeufrouge.ch/files/index.php

Left bank and right bank in Geneva : http://www.geneva.info/map/

IME (which is just anecdotal experience), I find Geneva hotels quite affordable over the weekend.
Many hike up their rates during the week because of the massive impact of business travel.
When you check meta hotel searches like Trivago, you find a good choice of hotels in close walking distance or literally next door to the main station. For single occupancy I found many hotels asking just 80 and 100 euros (add 20% for USD) for the night Sun/Mon.

I've also walked from the Old Town to the station (without luggage obviously, more a sightseeing stroll), and it's not as if the station was in some god-forsaken part of town. You have all kinds of shops, at least one major department store, restaurants and the upscale lakefront hotels in the area between the station at the lake/Old Town. On a sunday the shops will be closed - but just to show that the station area is not somewhat isolated from the city center but IN the city center. Just not in the historic center.

For going back and forth between the station and the Old Town you can either walk (15-20 minutes most, I'd say) or take the city buses.

If you'll be going to Geneva in the near future, you may want to check rail connections to the airport.
I've learned that currently there are some upgrade works on that line so you have much fewer trains per hour to the airport as usually. But, and PP pointed out, the airport is also well connected by city buses.
So if you stay somewhere else but the airport, you may look if the hotel is close to a bus stop with direct connection to the airport - at least lines 5 and 10, I think, but you should double-check that:
www.tpg.ch

As I had most meals with friends at their places I cannot comment on moderately priced good dining options (which is, given the exchange rate, an oxymoron anyway), but if you stay near the station you might want to check out the main station restaurant. The Swiss Railways have gained some reputation for having really nice restaurants in their stations. But as I have never been to the one in Geneva, it will take a local like pvoyageuse to give a valid assessment.

" is the Gare Cornavin on the same side of the lake as the Old Town?"
of course not! but Cornavin railway station is linked to the old town by the famous Mont Blanc Bridge: trams and buses between the 2 parts every few minutes.
http://www.geneve-tourisme.ch/en/use...ion/city-maps/

One does <b>NOT</b> need to cross Lake Geneva to get from Gare Cornavin to Geneva's Old Town, ergo, they are on the <b>SAME</b> side of the <b>lake</b>.

One <b>does</b> need to cross the <b>Rhone</b> (whether by the Mont Blanc Bridge or by a different bridge) to get from Gare Cornavin to Geneva's Old Town, ergo, there are on different sides of the <b>river</b>.

Boeufrouge is on the station side (right bank) and the Old Town is on the left bank.

kappa1.. thanks for the update on the trains..
I noticed it when I looked up times at SBB for connections between Bern and GVA (airport).
The note said that there would be no direct trains to GVA (at least when I'll be there in early Dec.) due to some constructions. And that you had to change to one of the fewer trains that were kept in operations just between GVA and Cournavin.

Cowboy, you are right. There seems to be something going on that does not allow direct train from Berne to Geneva Airport. Better to check timetable on www.sbb.ch

@ kappa1 – I regret any misinformation that I have provided, but perhaps you can understand my confusion, since ALL of my maps show that the body of water that separates Gare Cornavin from Geneva’s Old Town is the Rhone River, not Lake Geneva, and sources like the one Pvyoageuse sited above seem to support my interpretation (“The Rive Droite ... is … connected to Rive Gauche by a series of seven bridges <b>spanning the Rhone</b>….”) I’d like to think that I am educable, so please edify me: Where, exactly, does the river end and the lake begin?

The funny thing is that from looking at the same maps and when walking around in Geneva I'd kind of instinctively say that the Old Town is on the Southern side of Lake Geneva. Even though parts of the Old Town may technically border only the River Rhone and not Lake Geneva.
Maybe one could say that parts of the Old Town have no lakefront at all but only a riverfront.
But even when you followed that logic, you could never say that station and Old Town were on the same side of the lake, IMO.
But again, that is just a gut feeling and I have no idea if it makes sense...

@ Cowboy – I completely agree that both the Rive Droite and the Rive Gauche edge Lake Geneva. The question is what DIVIDES the city (what one must CROSS to get from one part to the other), and as I understand it – and everything I’ve been able to consult -- says that the body of water that DIVIDES the city is the Rhone.

To my knowledge and experience (and according to everything I’ve been able to learn) one needs to cross the Rhone to get from Gare Cornavin to Geneva's Old Town – so these parts of the city are clearly on different sides of the river. But, as I’ve already said, I can't find anything that says that one needs to cross <b>Lake Geneva</b> to get from Gare Cornavin to Geneva's Old Town, which means (by definition) that Gare Cornavin and Geneva’s Old Town are on the <b>SAME</b> side of the lake.

Yes, the Old Town is further south than the Gare Cornavin. That does not mean that one needs to “cross the lake” to get there (although one certainly needs to cross the Rhone to get there).

I am truly puzzled by the claim that one must cross Lake Geneva to get from the Gare Cornavin to Geneva’s Old Town. Even if one claims that the Mont Blanc Bridge is far enough into the river’s mouth that the waterway should, at that point, be considered to be Lake Geneva rather than the Rhone (and I haven’t found anything that makes that argument), the rest of the bridges that connect the Rive Gauche and Rive Droite seem to be over the river, not the lake.

I remain puzzled and continue to hope for clarity….