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….

In this case you you can forget about Lake Geneva or Le Rhône River. They are continuation of the same water. Rather only think about the right bank and the left bank. And you can say, Cross the Lake Geneva on the Mont Blanc Bridge to get to the Old Town. You can also say, Cross the Rhône River on the Pont de la Machine Bridge to reach the Old Town.

Thanks for responding, kappa1.

For those of us who don’t live in Geneva, figuring out how to get from place to place can rest on understanding Geneva’s waterways and their names. Thinking one must keep walking until one crosses a lake is a very different thing than thinking one must keep walking until one has crossed a river. :-)

So yes, let us agree to be accurate: To get from Gare Cornavin to Geneva’s Old Town, cross the Rhone (which is a river, not a lake).

It seems that you agree that I was not mistaken? I’d actually like to have you say that explicitly, because I was <b>extremely</b> distressed by your claim that I was “completely mistaken" and that I gave "wrong info" -- information that you now acknowledge was, in fact, correct.

Thank you for ensuring that I did, in fact, provide accurate information.

Have you been that "distressed" that you triangled kappa's post?

According to the official Swiss map, the Lake ends just after Pont du Mont Blanc.
Jardin Anglais and Molard are along the Lake, Fusterie and Bel-Air are along the river.
But Geneva people don't worry about that; for them, there exists only Rive Gauche and Rive Droite, from Parc de Mon Repos and Parc des Eaux Vivees up to St-Jean (or even la Jonction).

WORKS BETWEEN CORNAVIN AND AIRPORT: EARLY MORNING TRAINS NOT AFFECTED

Press release of Swiss Federal Railways:


InterRegio/InterCity Geneva–Geneva Airport.

The InterRegio trains Lucerne–Bern–Geneva Airport are cancelled between Geneva and Geneva Airport. In order to get to Geneva Airport, you will need to change trains in Geneva. The same applies to trains in the opposite direction.

The InterCity trains St Gallen–Zurich–Bern–Geneva Airport are cancelled between Geneva and Geneva Airport. In order to get to Geneva Airport, you will need to change trains in Geneva. The same applies to trains in the opposite direction.

The remaining trains run according to the regular timetable between Geneva and Geneva Airport.

The SBB Online Timetable has been updated accordingly.

.... and all works will end on December 13th

And when they take the shuttle boat, they say they cross the lake : "Les mouettes Genevoises Navigation: www.mouettesgenevoises.ch Les mouettes genevoises sont à votre disposition pour traverser le lac. Vous pouvez les prendre avec votre Geneva Transport Card, ils font partie des transports publics."

Merci vielmals, neckerVD

Gaern gscheh, de rien, prego, plaschair

> To get from Gare Cornavin to Geneva’s Old Town, cross the Rhone (which is a river, not a lake).

You seem to make things too complicated but anyway, I wrote, "Cross the Lake Geneva on the Mont Blanc Bridge to get to the Old Town". I did not say "Lake" Rhône.

> I thought the Gare Cornavin on the same side of the LAKE as Geneva's Old Town
This is the line by you that made me say you are mistaken. If you still think this is correct, you are absolutely mistaken. Or maybe you undertand better now ;-)

> According to the official Swiss map, the Lake ends just after Pont du Mont Blanc.
That's what I think as well. Mont Blanc Bridge is the only bridge on the Lake. All the others are over the Rhône river.
( Place Molard is by the Rhône like Fusterie but that's another detail. )

I knew neckervd would come back with sbb infos regarding the trains Geneva and Airport ! Thanks.

I was in Geneva a couple of months ago and have checked my photos that I took while there. It looks to me that the body of water between where Old Town is located and where the Cornavin train station is is a lake. It is true that you can also walk between the two by crossing a bridge over the Rhone rather than the Mont Blanc Bridge over the lake.

In any case, it seems everyone but Dukey agrees that they are on opposite sides of the River.