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The museum that sources this humbling exhibition of original texts—from cuneiform tablets, papyrus scrolls, and parchment to a dizzying array of first editions—maps the history of human thought. Dramatic displays of bas-reliefs and dimly lighted Egyptian books of the dead give way to Homer's Iliad; handwritten Gospels according to Matthew and John; exquisite copies of the Koran; a perfectly preserved Gutenberg Bible; Shakespeare (the complete works, published in 1623); an autographed score by Mozart; Oliver Twist; the Communist Manifesto; and Alice in Wonderland. A comprehensive printed guide is available in English. Energetic sightseers can get here on foot; otherwise, take the A bus from Rond-point de Rive and get off at Cologny-Temple. The ride takes 12 minutes.
19–21 Martin Bodmer, Cologny, Geneva, 1223, Switzerland
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Rate Includes: SF15, Closed Mon.
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International Area
These 69 peaceful acres of winding paths and streams bear witness to Geneva's early-19th-century fascination with botany. They also include tropical greenhouses, beds of irises and roses, rock gardens, an aviary, a deer park, a garden of scent and touch, a living catalog of economically useful and medicinal plants, a seed bank, and a formidable research institute. Several of the trees predate 1700. The main entrance is opposite the World Trade Organization.
154 rue de Lausanne, Geneva, Geneva, 1292, Switzerland
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Rate Includes: Free
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Eaux-Vives
The city's landmark fountain, which shoots 132 gallons of water—the equivalent of four standard bathtubs—459 feet into the air every second at 125 mph, can be seen throughout downtown. The parks and promenades around the lake offer the opportunity to see it from almost 360 degrees, and a wooden walkway on the pier at dock Gustave-Ador makes it easier to view up close.
Off Quai Gustave-Ador, Geneva, Geneva, 1207, Switzerland
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Vieille Ville
Conceived on a grand scale and erected between 1909 and 1917, this solemn 325- by 30-foot swath of granite pays homage to the 16th-century religious movement spearheaded by Guillaume Farel, Jean Calvin, Théodore de Bèze, and John Knox. Smaller statues of major Protestant figures, bas-reliefs, and inscriptions connected with the Reformation flank the lifelike giants as they hover over Bern, Geneva, and Edinburgh's coats of arms. Roger Williams is surrounded by Pilgrims praying on the deck of the Mayflower, and near Oliver Cromwell is the 1689 presentation of the Bill of Rights to King William and Queen Mary by the English Houses of Parliament. The Reformation's—and Geneva's—motto, Post Tenebras Lux (After Darkness, Light), spreads over the whole. The location is just below the Vieille Ville.
Parc des Bastions, Geneva, Geneva, 1204, Switzerland
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International Area
The museum focuses on three major challenges in today's "Humanitarian Adventure:" defending human dignity, restoring family links, and reducing natural risks. The artifacts and artwork in each section are complemented by the life-size videos of 12 witnesses sharing their heart-wrenching personal stories that include surviving a land mine in Kabul and identifying tsunami victims in Japan. An audio guide, available in English, is included in the price.
17 av. de la Paix, Geneva, Geneva, 1202, Switzerland
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Rate Includes: SF15, Closed Mon.
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Recommended Fodor’s Video
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International Area
Built between 1929 and 1936 for the League of Nations, this monumental compound became the European office of the United Nations in 1946 and quickly evolved into the largest center for multilateral diplomacy in the world. Today it hosts some 9,000 conferences and 25,000 delegates each year; it is also the largest nexus for United Nations operational activities after New York.
Security is tight: be prepared to show your passport and arrive at least 45 minutes before your scheduled tour. Points of particular interest include the Assembly Hall, the largest of 34 conference rooms, where the UN General Assembly and scores of world leaders have met, and the ornate Council Chamber, home to the Conference on Disarmament, which glows with allegorical murals. Tours last about one hour and are conducted in 15 languages, including English.
14 av. de la Paix, Geneva, Geneva, 1202, Switzerland
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Rate Includes: SF15
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Vieille Ville
Archaeologists found multiple layers of history underneath the Cathédrale St-Pierre when its foundations began to falter in 1976. Excavations have so far yielded remnants of two 4th-century Christian sanctuaries, mosaic floors from the late Roman Empire, three early churches, and an 11th-century crypt. The first Romanesque cathedral on the site was built in 1000. Audio guides in English and careful lighting help navigate the (reinforced) underground maze that remains.
6 cour St-Pierre, Geneva, Geneva, 1204, Switzerland
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Rate Includes: SF8
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Vieille Ville
Designed as a granary on the site of a Roman marketplace and converted to a gunpowder depot after l'Escalade, this municipal storage space has sustained Geneva through the ages. The current 1636 structure stocks history: murals on the inner wall and frescoes along the outer rim of the arcade tell the town's story from Julius Caesar to 1848; records in the State Archives date back to 1387.
Intersection of Rue de l'Hôtel-de-Ville and Rue du Puits-Saint-Pierre, Geneva, Geneva, 1204, Switzerland
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Vieille Ville
Reformed services in English, Italian, and Dutch made this simple Gothic structure, built in the 15th century on the site of two prior churches, a potent international gathering place for 16th-century Protestant refugees. The Scots reformer John Knox preached here from 1556 to 1559 while he translated the Bible into English, initiating the Presbyterian Church; Calvin and his successors used the space to teach theology. Today the auditoire hosts the Church of Scotland, the Dutch Reformed Community, and the Waldensian Church of Italy.
1 pl. de la Taconnerie, Geneva, Geneva, 1204, Switzerland
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Rate Includes: Free
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Les Pâquis
This iconic Swiss hotel, built in 1865, has discreetly witnessed the birth of a nation (Czechoslovakia, in 1918), the death of an empress (Empress Elisabeth of Austria, in 1898), the sale of royal treasure (the Duchess of Windsor's jewels, in 1987), and the passage of crowned heads from around the world.
13 quai du Mont-Blanc, Geneva, Geneva, 1201, Switzerland
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Vieille Ville
A stylistic hybrid scarred by centuries of religious upheaval and political turmoil, this imposing cathedral somehow survived the ages with its dignity intact. The massive neoclassical facade was an 18th-century addition meant to shore up 12th-century Romanesque-Gothic walls; stained-glass windows, the Duke of Rohan's tomb, a few choir stalls, and the 15th-century Chapel of the Maccabees hint at lavish alternatives to Calvin's plain chair. Fifteenth-century bells and bird's-eye city views reward those who climb the 157 steps to the top of the North Tower.
Cour St-Pierre, Geneva, Geneva, 1204, Switzerland
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Rate Includes: North tower SF7
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Plainpalais
Andy Warhol, Cindy Sherman, Nan Goldin, Pipilotti Rist, Thomas Scheibitz, and Shirana Shahbazi are some of the pioneering Swiss and international artists who have presented work here since 1974. The center's annual exhibits include multimedia installations and performances that highlight emerging artists who examine the practice of art in a cultural context. Guided visits in English are available upon request.
10 rue des Vieux-Grenadiers, Geneva, Geneva, 1205, Switzerland
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Rate Includes: SF5, Closed Mon.
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Plainpalais
Originally part of a 15th-century hospital complex built outside the city to isolate victims of the plague, these verdant seven acres hold the mortal remains of Jean Calvin, Simon Rath, Guillaume-Henri Dufour, William Favre, Jorge Luis Borges, and Sergio Vieira de Mello (the United Nations special representative killed in Iraq in 2003), as well as many of the people whose names grace street signs all over town.
10 rue des Rois, Geneva, Geneva, 1204, Switzerland
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Rate Includes: Free
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Vieille Ville
This pristine 15th-century sanctuary served as a Protestant temple, a butcher's warehouse, a foundry, and a government meeting hall before Napoléon's troops returned it to Catholicism in 1803. The second chapel on the left maps a structural lineage that began in AD 400, and the steeple dates from the 14th century. Today's whitewashed walls, strategic lighting, and stained glass frame weekly classical music concerts in summer. Attending a concert or a service (the latter occurs at 10 on Sunday) is usually your only chance to see the inside.
9 rue des Granges, Geneva, Geneva, 1204, Switzerland
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Vieille Ville
Alfred Baur's lovingly preserved collection of Far Eastern art packs more than 10 centuries of Chinese ceramics and jade, Japanese smoking paraphernalia, prints, lacquerware, and sword fittings—some 9,000 objects in all—into a tranquil 19th-century town house on the edge of the Vieille Ville. Thematic temporary exhibits occupy the basement. English texts introduce each room.
8 rue Munier-Romilly, Geneva, Geneva, 1206, Switzerland
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Rate Includes: SF10
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Centre Ville Rive Gauche
The city first planted this gigantic, and accurate, floral timepiece in 1955 to highlight Geneva's seminal role in the Swiss watchmaking industry. Some 6,500 plants are required four times a year to cover its 16-foot-wide surface.
Quai du Général-Guisan and Pont du Mont-Blanc, Geneva, Geneva, 1204, Switzerland
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Vieille Ville
The town hall is the seat of politics in the canton and has a rich history. Representatives from 14 of 16 countries present signed the first Geneva Convention in the ground-floor Alabama Hall on August 22, 1864, enforcing the action of the International Red Cross, which had been created in Geneva the year before. The League of Nations also convened its first assembly here on November 15, 1920. The canton's executive and legislative bodies meet here; until 1958 government functionaries lived here. But the history of this elegant vaulted compound begins in 1455, when the city built a large fortified tower, the Tour Baudet, to house the State Council Chamber. Its ramp, an architectural anomaly added during the Reformation, was used by the councilors to reach the third-floor meeting hall without dismounting from their donkeys, a practice that gave name to the tower: baudet means donkey in French.
2 rue de l'Hôtel-de-Ville, Geneva, Geneva, 1204, Switzerland
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Rate Includes: Free
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Centre Ville Rive Gauche
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, born in Geneva and the son of a Genevois watchmaker, is known to history as a liberal philosopher in part because the conservative governments in Geneva and Paris so thoroughly rejected his views. His statue on this former city bastion, erected reluctantly in 1835 (57 years after his death), was surrounded by trees and his face deliberately hidden from view until the 1862 construction of the Pont du Mont-Blanc gave Rousseau the last laugh. In 2012, for Rousseau's 300th birthday, the statue was turned so visitors can once again see his face.
Off Pont des Bergues, Geneva, Geneva, 1204, Switzerland
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Eaux-Vives
Old photos of Geneva show scores of black masts and graceful, cream-color sails crowding the lake. Now La Neptune is the only authentic traditional barge to still navigate Lake Geneva. Built in 1904, it hauled stone and sand between far-flung construction sites until 1968. Today, it can be hired out for day sails.
Off Quai Gustave-Ador, Geneva, Geneva, 1207, Switzerland
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Rate Includes: Office and reservations at 8 Quai du Mont-Blanc
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Vieille Ville
Vaulted cellars and ground-floor kitchens display medieval graffiti, 15th-century tiles, and a guillotine in Geneva's oldest house, now a museum focused on life in the city from 1334 to the 1800s. Seventeenth-century ironwork, doors, and other fragments of long-demolished houses fill the first floor; a bourgeois home complete with 18th-century wallpaper is re-created on the second. The enormous Magnin Model (which depicts Geneva as it looked before its elaborate defense walls came down in 1850) is housed in the attic. Audio guides are available in English, French, German, and Russian.
6 rue du Puits-St-Pierre, Geneva, Geneva, 1204, Switzerland
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Rate Includes: Free, Closed Mon.
