5 Days in Geneva and Beyond
Five days builds on the 4 day itinerary with a lighter fifth day: the Mont Saleve cable car, a half-day trip you can pair with whatever else you didn’t get to. Want more? The 6 day version adds Gruyeres. Staying entirely in the city instead? See the Geneva 5 day itinerary .
Book These Before You Go
- The Aiguille du Midi cable car for day 2, check availability on GetYourGuide , it sells out on clear summer days.
- An Annecy day trip for day 3, browse tours on Viator .
- Chillon Castle entry for day 1, buy ahead on the official ticket office .
- A central Geneva hotel, check rates on Booking.com .
The 5 Days at a Glance
| Day | Focus | Distance/time from Geneva |
|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | Lausanne, Montreux, Chillon Castle | 35-45min to Lausanne; ~1h total to Montreux |
| Day 2 | Chamonix and the Aiguille du Midi | ~1-1.5h, crosses into France |
| Day 3 | Annecy | ~45min-1.5h, crosses into France |
| Day 4 | Geneva city, stripped to essentials | in Geneva |
| Day 5 | Mont Saleve cable car, free afternoon | ~30-40min, crosses into France |
Day 1: Lausanne, Montreux, and Chillon Castle
Take the train from Cornavin to Lausanne, 35-45 minutes, for the Olympic Museum and the Ouchy lakefront. Continue to Montreux, about an hour total from Geneva, then a short bus or boat hop to Chillon Castle, entry around CHF 15. Pair it with a CGN lake cruise on the way back. Dinner in Carouge once you’re back in Geneva.
Day 2: Chamonix and Mont Blanc
About 1-1.5 hours away, worth the whole day for the Aiguille du Midi cable car above 3,800 meters. Book ahead in summer. France, not Switzerland, bring ID even on this open border. Dinner back in Geneva at a proper Swiss place.
Day 3: Annecy
45 minutes to an hour and a half into France, a genuinely lovely canal town and noticeably cheaper than Geneva for food. Walk the canals, climb to the château for the view, don’t rush it.
Day 4: Geneva, Stripped to What Matters
Collect your Geneva Transport Card at check-in, covering trams, buses, Leman Express, and the Mouettes boats. Jet d’Eau, five minutes, free. Old Town after, St Pierre Cathedral free to enter, about CHF 5 to climb. Then pick one: CERN or the Palais des Nations , CERN is free but needs booking a month ahead, the UN needs a passport plus advance booking through the official site, take CERN if you can only book one. Afternoon: Carouge. Dinner at Bains des Paquis, fondue around CHF 27 a head.
Day 5: Mont Saleve, the View Geneva Can’t Give You
Technically in France, a short bus to Veyrier followed by a cable car ride of under five minutes gets you to 1,100 meters and a panorama over the whole city, lake, and Alps on a clear day. A combined ticket on the official cable car site runs around CHF 21 and folds in a Unireso transport day pass, so it isn’t double-paying on top of your Geneva transit.
This is a half-day trip, don’t overbook the rest of it. Use the free afternoon for whatever got skipped, a second pass through Carouge, chocolate shopping on Rue du Rhône or its side streets, or just resting before you head home. Last dinner wherever you found the best value earlier in the trip, not the lakefront strip.
Is Mont Saleve Worth a Whole Day?
No, and don’t plan it as one. The cable car and the summit walk fill a morning or an early afternoon at most; pair it with shopping, a park, or genuinely doing nothing rather than trying to stretch it into a full day trip like Chamonix or Annecy.
What if the Weather Ruins the Chamonix Day?
Swap Chamonix and Mont Saleve if the forecast turns on day 2. Mont Saleve’s panorama depends on clear skies too but it’s a much smaller time investment to lose to weather, half a day instead of a whole one, and you can slot Chamonix into day 5 instead if the skies clear up by then.
Skip the rental car for the whole trip, trains, the transport card, and the odd short bus ride cover every leg on this list.