Evian & Geneva during a heatwave

Crossing to Evian in France

Today is my final move in Switzerland, hopping on the bus across the hotel at 0720 to take the train to Geneva.  But in a development that came up only yesterday, I decided to make a stopover in Lausanne for a side trip to Evian, across the lake on the French side.

At Lausanne station around 0800, it took 30 mins to find the lockers, buy breakfast to get the right change and actually store my luggage.  With that out of the way, I took the metro to Lausanne’s waterfront where I sat down for breakfast of pastries and iced coffee.

I had an hour to kill before the 0925 crossing to Evian.  Getting there at 1000, I took a short walk on the waterfront before walking inland and uphill to the small setup that Evian had it its historic building, telling their story about how their water cured someone’s kidney stone.

Behind the building was Source Cachat where there was a short queue to get Evian’s water for free.  I timed it right as the queue was much longer later, with some waiting with more vodka bottles than I could carry.  The water tasted really good, probably because it was nice and cold.

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Not far from there was a funicular station.  I wasn’t sure where it was going (apart from uphill).  After a brief wait, I hopped on the small old wooden railcar for the short uphill ride.  Apart from a nice park, there wasn’t much there to make me stay longer, in consideration of the next ferry at 1145.

I returned to the shoreline by foot for a rest and boarded the ferry back to Lausanne, arriving at 1215.  After changing to the metro for Lausanne’s main station I boarded my last intercity train bound for Geneva around 1330.

Around Geneva quickly

The walk to the hotel, while short, was hot and sweaty in this heatwave.  I was very pleased that my arrival coincided with the check-in time at the Les Tourelles.

But I didn’t stay in for long; my room was hot as it was outside as well. I did a quick round of sightseeing by bus to the United Nations Geneva site where tours run at the right times.  I was there at the wrong time obviously (perhaps being Sunday) and the place was all locked up.

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I had to return to the station to get groceries for dinner and breakfast.  Many supermarkets are closed on Sunday afternoon but not the ones at the station.

Back around 1530 I was ready for a swim.  It was around 30 degC but the occasional breeze didn’t feel cooling.  I decided to do a brief exploration around the area in case I saw some swim spots but, in the end, I had to settle for one further away reachable by bus.

Unfortunately, due to flaws in Google Maps’ bus routes, I hopped on the bus heading in the wrong direction.  Fixing that meant waiting for another bus in the opposite direction.  I finally reached Plage des Eaux-Vives around 1700, which coincided with the hottest part of the day.

The beach and waters here were packed!  I couldn’t wait to get in the water to cool off.  After a while, I explored a little and found that while the first beach was sandy, the second was more pebbly.  After a total of about 30 mins in the water, lightly slicked with everybody’s sunblock, I was ready to return.

 

Back around 1830, I ate my supermarket salad by the Rhone river, seated in front of the Mandarin Oriental which was next to my humble hotel.  I walked off my dinner in the direction of the lake (as opposed to the river).

As it was still so light after 1900, I thought I’d use the yellow ferries (included in my Swiss Travel Pass) to cross over to the other side of the lake.  I chose the first available one and it took me to slightly beyond where I had just returned from; Plage des Eaux-Vives.

Wary that the ferries may not be too frequent as it gets later, I immediately hopped to the one waiting to go as we arrived.  That took me to Chateaubriand where I then caught a bus back to my hotel.

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It was nearly 2000 by the time I returned.  I had certainly made the most of my morning going to France, then the short afternoon around Geneva.  The heat wave means that London will be 39 degC in two-days time while Paris will hit 41 degC and Geneva only 37 degC!

Funnily, the forecast for northern Spain will be in the mid-twenties, coming down from about 40 degC in recent days.  Lucky me!

Advice on the Swiss Travel Pass

The Swiss Travel Pass is pricey for most pockets but the cost of individual tickets added up for what I wanted to do came close to that price.  And the pass included most buses within key cities, discounts on trains that weren’t included.  On top of that, it included a number of boat trips which I hadn’t thought of taking.

I’d suggest that anyone considering the pass to add up all the likely rides they’re likely to do and add up the cost.  All this is available from the Swiss Rail “SBB Mobile” app (or their website).

It’s so easy to hop on a train not having to buy a ticket, knowing that one is fully paid up for the ride.  I’ve arrived at a station and hopped on the next train immediately without the hassle of buying a ticket at a kiosk (but it is possible to buy on the app as well).

I had to buy the 15-day pass for my 12 day stay because they’re sold for 3, 4, 8 or 15 days.  Note that some hotels in cities such as Lucerne and Geneva give out transport cards to their guests.  If one is staying a few days in such cities, then you may be able to buy the pass for a lesser number of days.

Planning for getting around

The SBB Mobile app is also good for getting train schedules; it also includes bus and ferries.  Google Maps does a decent job as well but I guess it isn’t authoritative though.

Google Maps does have the advantage of walking routes and mapping.  For example, I can search for travel from my hotel in Zurich to my hotel in Lucerne.  It will return with my walking route/time in Zurich, all the transport connections (local bus, intercity train and local bus again) and then the walking route/time in Lucerne.

Both apps have the ability to add the proposed trip to Calendar.  I put the Google Maps link in Calendar so I can click and recreate the search at anytime (and update my intended departure).

Conclusions on Switzerland

The country is incredibly beautiful but eye-wateringly expensive.  Switzerland is accessible beauty.  They make even the most remote peaks easily accessible at a price.  And with hordes of tourists, you have to share your nature experience with many others.  Being so easily accessible makes the experience less special.

Tourism is big here.  I noticed a lot of Russians and Indian when I started in Zurich and Lucerne.  But as I moved to the highlands, I hear a lot of Americans and Arabs.