want to see all tourist spots with geneva as base. a day or two stay in hotel outside of geneva ok. have about 8 days
please suggest an itinerary for senior couple

Geneva is at the edge of Switzerland. Why not choose a more central location such as Lucerne?

Hi huliavalakki,

Or Bern or Thun. You won't be able to see much from Geneva -- you'll be spending all your time in transit.

Can you also tell us what time of year this will be? Lake Geneva is a gorgous spot in the Fall and Spring, but it's nothing like the cozy chalet-filled mountain villages that you think of when you think of Switzerland.

Have fun as you research!

s

No matter where you stay, 8 days is definitely not enough time to see "all the tourist spots" in Switzerland. By far not.

Good advice above, though. Lucerne would be perfect IMO.

thanks for quick input. geneva was only a thought as we would have free accommodation. we will be visiting in last week of Jun2011. Please do suggest the best alternatives

Stay in Geneva but don't consider seeing as much of Switzerland. You could visit the French Alps, the southern part of the Jura, Annecy, etc.

If you have free accommodation, by all means stay in Geneva.
Possible day trips :
Geneva, Lausanne, Montreux
Fribourg, Bulle and Gruyères
Neufchâtel
The Joux Valley
Bern
etc.....

Since you have a free place to stay, I would make Geneva work! The close towns easy to get to on the train along the lake include: Lausanne, Vevey, Montreux. Gruyere is not far. Annecy in France.

Draw a circle around Geneva and you have quite a lot of Switzerland and even more of France as your target area.

A very rich region on both sides of the border - don't for a moment regret what's further away in Switzerland just because Geneva is as far away from the rest of Switzerland as can be. You'll have more to choose from than you could do in a month!

Free digs are nothing to sneeze at in a country as expensive as CH, so go with it. Eight days will go by like lightning if you visit some of the above-mentioned - which I'll reiterate as I'll add a bunch more names that you should look up.

Your trains will be at www.rail.ch, and if you need the French train site, it's www.voyages-sncf.fr (but try the Swiss first, it is usually easier to deal with). For additional reference look at
http://plannerint.b-rail.be/bin/quer...ld=IA&L=profi&

Many of these targets will also be available via coach (in Switzerland the term for a coach is Car...), ask at a travel agency in Genève

Take your pick from among these:

Annecy

Chambéry

Chamonix

Courmayeur

Zermatt (best two nights)

Saas Fee (best two nights)

Montreux (go up on mountain train to Rochers de Naye - www.fusions.ch/naye - stop in Glion or Caux for views and refreshments, visit Chillon Castle)

Montreux-Vevey wine country see http://www.lacave-vevey-montreux.ch/...evey-en42.html

Gruyères (the cheese-and-chocolate excursion from Montreux, see http://www.myswitzerland.com/en/trav...ate-train.html)

Lausanne (Olympics museum, cathedral)

La Chaux-de-Fonds (watchmaking)

Murten/Morat

Avenches (Roman excavations - see www.avenches.ch/en/siteetmuseeromain)

Tournus (possible by train but longer than by car)

Bourg-en-Bresse

Mâcon (burgundy cusine and wine!)

Lyon (major city, famous for cuisine among others)

Some of these require early starts and will get you home late, but hey, the bed is free...

Enjoy!

Best alternatives depends on what you want to do:

Do you want to see the major tourist sights?

Do you want to do a lot of hiking?

Do you have any special interests?

If you have 8 nights I would stay in 2 different places - one being Geneva (if free) - you can do several day trips from there. the second should be near or in the mountains. If you want to do a lot of hiking stay in a small village already part way up the mountain. If you want to do tourist sites stay in Lucerne or Interlaken and use it as a center to visit a variety of mountains, lakes and smaller towns.

Any good guide book - pick at least one with a lot of color photos and info on sights versus hotels and restaurants.

You can consider seeing:
Lakes Lucern, Brienz and Thun
Ascend Jungfrau, Pilatus, Titlis
Visit towns: Brienz, Thun, Gruyere, Montreaux and at least one of the mountain towns
There is a fantastic museum of Swiss rural life that we loved

Your real decision is if to travel by train or car - that may control the number of nights you spend where.

Hi again,

If it were me, I would really want to see the high Swiss Alps, those cozy chalet-filled mountain villages that I mentioned above, which are rather far from Geneva. For that reason, I would recommend you pick one of the three cities mentioned in the first few posts -- either Luzern, or Bern, or Thun. You can ascend the peaks of the Jungfrau region or visit places like Gstaad, Montreux, etc.

Have fun!

s

appreciate the responses. We are not into hiking. prefer quiet places with beautiful scenery. mountanis but no climbing( use trolley to go to top ) we will have eurail pass not much into dining since we are both vegetarians. love sunrise sunset, quiet cruise on lake etx.

Have you already purchased the Eurail pass? Depending where you specifically want to go, that may or may not be your best value.

The list of targets I gave you are calculated to be within a daytrip's range from Geneva.

If you choose to go make your home elsewhere, the entire scenario shifts.

But from Geneva, where you can stay for free, you have plenty of such places as you describe, within reach, with good views of very high mountains without having to actually go up to the top of each.

A lovely lake such as you describe- aside from the lakefront of the Lake Geneva itself, is to be found near Annecy (look up www.lac-annecy.com/gb/index.html) - from the station Genève-Eaux-Vives (not the main Cornavin station) it takes about 1 h 20 m with one switch in La Roche-sur-Foron.

Another nearby lake you could visit is the Lac du Bourget near Aix-les-Bains - see http://www.justtourfrance.com/Rhone-...ty=Rhone-Alpes - easily reached from the main Geneva station in about 1 h 21 m with one switch in Culoz.

I think that you'll also find coach tours from Geneva to these locations.

From Chamonix you can effortlessly soar to great heights - read this report at http://www.ricksteves.com/plan/desti...e/chamonix.htm

This will take a little longer to get to, but it is well worth getting up early for this trip - you leave again from Genève-Eaux-Vives and to Chamonix-Mont_Blanc it will take 2h 10 m with a switch in St-Gervais-les-Bains-le-Fayet.

And so it goes - no need to go sleep elsewhere unless you want to make it Zermatt or Saas-Fee.

Oh - did anyone mention that excursions on the French side of the border cost a lot less than in Switzerland? The lakes and mountains look the same, but your wallet will be happier...