General Information » Getting Around » Getting Around

Even with an excellent public transport network and efforts to limit the use of personal vehicles for environmental reasons, cars are still a popular mode of transport in Geneva. For those who just can’t stand the frustration, congestion and road rage involved in driving, or afford the rising costs of petrol and parking, it is quite possible to get wherever you need to be without a car. The easiest ways to get around in the centre of Geneva are walking, cycling or public transport. There is a vast network of trams and buses, as well as boats (the ‘Mouettes Genevoises’) in the summer months. If you do prefer to drive the road network is good, but with roads constantly being dug up to lay new tramlines, and many lanes being reserved for buses and taxis, traffic congestion is on the increase.

The roads are fairly well signposted. Green signs are used to indicate motorways, blue signs indicate main roads and white signs are used for secondary roads and different areas of the city. Hotels are indicated by smaller signs with a yellow background, which are placed under other road signs at crossroads (but you have to get up quite close before you can read them, by which time, if you’re driving, you usually discover that you’re in the wrong traffic lane!) Brown signs show places of interest.

Geneva is relatively easy to navigate especially if you rely on the prominent landmarks, like the mountains and the lake, to get your bearings. Take time to familiarise yourself with the area, using a map, before setting out. Basically, the city is divided into ‘rive gauche’ (Left Bank) on the south side of the lake and river, and ‘rive droite’ (Right Bank) to the north. The main bridge for crossing the lake by car is the Pont du Mont-Blanc. The next two bridges (to the west) are for pedestrians and cyclists only. The other two road bridges are the Pont de l’Ile and the Pont de la Coulouvrenière. The city is divided into districts (‘quartiers’), such as Eaux-Vives and the Old Town on rive gauche and Pâquis, St Jean and Cornavin on rive droite. On the outskirts of the city are Carouge to the south, Lancy to the west and Petit-Saconnex, Grand-Saconnex, Vernier, Meyrin and the airport (Cointrin) to the north. If you want to head east on the north bank, follow signs to Lausanne, and to travel east on the south bank, follow signs to Evian. In Geneva, every road, path or passageway has a name that is usually well indicated at each end by a small blue sign.

A motorway runs around the outskirts of Geneva. The speed limit on this section of the motorway is 100 km/h, and it is liberally dotted with speed...