Top choice in The Jura Mountains
Every imaginable luxury is available at La Mainaz: chic chalet-style rooms with coffee machines, ultramodern anthracite-walled bathrooms, and a high-gastronomy restaurant (menus €100 to €145). But it's the panoramic views of Lake Geneva and Mont Blanc that make the soul soar. Skis affixed to the bedroom walls wrench you out of your reverie, reminding you to head out on the mountain.
It's 20km south of Les Rousses (direction Geneva).
12.39 MILES
When landing by plane, this lakeside fountain is your first dramatic glimpse of Geneva. The 140m-tall structure shoots up water with incredible force –…
9 MILES
Founded in 1954, the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), 8km west of Geneva, is a laboratory for research into particle physics. It…
Conservatoire et Jardin Botaniques
10.93 MILES
Geneva's premier botanical park – renowned for its Botanical Conservatory – boasts over 12,000 species of plants from around the world, meticulously…
Musée d'Ethnographie de Genève
12.55 MILES
Admission is free to the permanent collection of this excellent hands-on museum, which examines the similarities and differences of our planet's myriad of…
29.2 MILES
The 30-million-year-old Grottes de Baume are secreted away in the cliffs 2km south of Baume-les-Messieurs. On guided tours, visitors can weave their way…
14.43 MILES
Slumbering in the shadow of a 14th-century castle and enclosed by walls, the Jardin des Cinq Sens is designed to be experienced through sight, touch,…
12.68 MILES
A stroll around Geneva's beautiful Old Town is a must. Its main street, the Grand-Rue, shelters the Maison de Rousseau et de la Literature at No 40, where…
12.6 MILES
Geneva's cathedral is predominantly Gothic with an 18th-century neoclassical facade. Between 1536 and 1564 Protestant John Calvin preached here; see his…
1. Maison du Parc du Haut-Jura
2.66 MILES
Part-museum, part-tourist office, the Maison du Parc is an excellent place to learn about the Jura's flora and fauna, as well as browse old-fangled skis…
2. Parc Naturel Régional du Haut-Jura
8.4 MILES
Rippling along the border between Switzerland and France is this 1780-sq-km regional natural park, a peaceful, under-explored slice of the Jura Mountains…
8.57 MILES
This is the former home of Jacques Necker, Louis XVI’s banker and minister of finance, before it was handed down to his daughter, Madame de Staël, after…
9 MILES
Founded in 1954, the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), 8km west of Geneva, is a laboratory for research into particle physics. It…
10.39 MILES
Since 1954, this nautically themed museum on the waterfront has documented the history of all things Lac Léman, or as most know it, Lake Geneva.
10.4 MILES
In the foundations of what was a 1st-century basilica, the multimedia display of the Musée Romain lends insight into Nyon’s Roman beginnings as Colonia…
10.43 MILES
Nyon’s castle was started in the 12th century, modified 400 years later and now houses the town’s historical museum and a rare collection of fine…
8. Musée International de la Croix-Rouge et du Croissant-Rouge
10.74 MILES
Compelling multimedia exhibits at Geneva's fascinating International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum trawl through atrocities perpetuated by humanity…