GENEVA & INTERLAKEN, SWITZERLAND

Updated: May 27, 2022

My first official abroad trip complete with a road trip, the most beautiful place I've ever been, & fondue

Our first official trip, Switzerland was absolutely incredible and definitely worth seeing! We purposely did this trip early on while it was still winter since we wanted to save the places where warm weather is crucial (like Italy, Spain, etc.) for later in the semester.

The stereotype that Geneva is all designer stores & banks could not have been more accurate - every single storefront was either those or a restaurant. Switzerland was probably one of our more expensive trips, which is good to keep in mind if you do decide to rent a car as the gas was more than we anticipated. But! A nice perk is you get a free public transportation pass with any hotel/hostel reservation.

Our itinerary looked like this:

FRIDAY: Flew into Geneva at sunset, checked into our hostel, & then went to our dinner reservation. We went to a bar afterward but bailed early given that Geneva is far from known for its nightlife
SATURDAY: Roadtripped to Interlaken for the day
SUNDAY: Walked around & explored Geneva

What We Would've Done Differently

Definitely should have researched the car rental more - The person putting their license down for the official rental has to be over 21 & own a credit card (they didn't accept debit cards for some reason). You also need to not only show a driver's licence, but a passport as well. Maybe that's all obvious information, but none of us had any idea and it dragged our rental process out awhile.
Switched the days that we did each city - We roadtripped to Interlaken on Saturday & planned to spend Sunday walking around Geneva. This was a mistake since European cities completely shut down on Sundays, something we didn't think of since this was our first trip. We couldn't even get into the museums, the only places that were actually open, because we didn't have the official EU COVID pass.

STAY

Meininger Hotel Geneve Centre Charmilles

Really nice inside, and a great value for what we paid
Hotel bar has a happy hour special which was really nice for the night we decided to go out since Switzerland was expensive
Like a knock-off TSH (the student living we had in Barcelona), even in regard to location; the fun/cool parts of Geneva are definitely walkable, but not right near the hotel

EATS

Must Try

Cheese Fondue
Swiss Hot Chocolate
Toberlone - Maybe I'm just dumb, but I had never tried it before going to Switzerland and seeing it everywhere, & now I'm obsessed with it.

Restaurants - Interlaken

Vanini Swiss Chocolate - We all agreed this was some of the best gelato we have ever had; I also tried a block of the milk chocolate - absolutely incredible
Ristorante Vacanze Romane - The pizza & pastas looked absolutely incredible (not any gluten-free options though so I had a weird soup)

Restaurants - Geneva

Au Petit Chalet - Where we went for fondue, so good
Black Tap - We’re so lame but we literally went to an NYC burger chain for our last night here; pricey but SUCH a good burger & hit the spot
Tavolone - Such a good find! Right near the university so some of the cheapest food we were able to find & it was SO good; even had gluten-free pasta :)
Chou - A little bakery a couple blocks off of the Lake Geneva boardwalk; I still dream about this hot chocolate

THINGS TO DO

Brienzersee Viewpoint, Interlaken - PLEASE, whatever you do, go here at sunset - this might be the most beautiful place I’ve ever been
RIDE THE FERRY!
- You should get a free transportation pass with your hotel/hostel room, & the Lake Geneva ferry counts as public transportation. We did it at sunset - so pretty
- We went to a cute bar on a pier in Old Town while we waited for the ferry at the Port Noir stop; it had outdoor picnic tables and a beautiful view of the water
Cable Car - There’s apparently one that you can get to from downtown Geneva via the free bus, but it wasn’t open when we went
UN Building - We did Geneva on Sunday so it was closed when we went to check it out; apparently the tour of the inside is worth it & so neat though
Red Cross Museum - Also closed since we tried to go on Sunday, but would’ve loved to check it out