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GENEVA NEWS AND GUIDES

7 essential apps that make life in Geneva easier for foreign residents

It is nearly impossible to function today without mobile apps that make life easier and more convenient. These essential apps will help international residents navigate life in Switzerland’s second-largest city.

Published: 22 November 2022 15:25 CET
Updated: 18 November 2023 10:02 CET
7 essential apps that make life in Geneva easier for foreign residents
A number of mobile apps make life in Geneva easier. Photo by FABRICE COFFRINI / AFP

If you own a smartphone, you probably have a number of applications on your phone already.

Chances are that most of them are the kind that people across Switzerland routinely use, such as the SBB and public transportation app, Twint, Swiss Post app, as well Coop and / or Migros app, among others.

READ MORE: Seven apps to make your life in Switzerland easier

You’ll also likely have food delivery apps like Uber Eats, Smood, or Eat.ch, all of which deliver in Geneva as well.

But if you have just moved to Geneva, or even have lived here for a while, you need some city-specific apps to make your life here more pleasant.

These are some very useful ones ranging from practical to fun — and you are likely to need and use them, even if occasionally:

‘Geneva in your pocket’

This very helpful app offers direct access to practical information about life in Geneva, including weather, maps, and calendar of sporting and cultural events.

It also contains a “street harassment” tab, which allows people who are victims of inappropriate gestures or comments in the public space to immediately report the incidents to the municipal police.

Download the application on Google Play or in the Apple Store

A woman with a phone

Here are apps that make life in Switzerland easier for foreigners. Photo by Paul Hanaoka on Unsplash

Public transportation

The city has a dense network of buses and trams that travel not just in Geneva itself, but also cross the border into neighbouring French towns.

You can see the timetable, buy tickets, and check for any disruptions with the Geneva public transport (TPG) app.

Download the application on Google Play or in Apple Store

Recycling

You know how obsessed the Swiss are about recycling their trash on the correct days and in a correct manner. This has become even more important since September, when Geneva’s parliament adopted new legislation which includes the sorting obligation for households, businesses, and public entities.

This particular app aims to facilitate the task of daily waste management: when to take out your trash, where and how to sort it, and what to do with your bulky items. It’s a must for anyone learning the rules of the country! 

Download the application on Google Play on in the Apple Store.

Cultural trails: walks off the beaten track

The Geneva Cultural Trails application includes seven audio-guided tours centred around various themes: museums and their collections, as well as monuments and their architecture and history.

Download the application on Google Play Store and in the Apple Store

Nature lovers: Geneva Parks

Thanks to the Parcs Genève mobile application, you will be able to geo-locate and recognise nearly 300 trees in the city’s parks.

This application also makes it possible to find the nearest locations of playgrounds, dog areas, public toilets, wi-fi zones, and police stations.

Download the application on Google Play or in the Apple Store.

Geneva airport

If you live in the Geneva area — including parts of Vaud and nearby France — you have likely used the airport on many occasions.

This app allows various travel-related functions, including flight and check-in information, the number of free spots in the various car parks — also keeping track of where your vehicle is parked — schedules of the buses and trains departing from the airport, and other functions.

Download on Google Play or in the Apple store.

Hop delivery

This service will deliver a variety of products right to your door anywhere in Geneva.

You can order food from restaurants, groceries from shops, flowers, from florists, health products from pharmacies, and many other items you may urgently need but forgot to buy.

Download the application on Google Play or in the Apple Store.

READ MORE: 10 essential apps that make life in Zurich easier for international residents

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TRAVEL NEWS

What are the chances of a Geneva to London rail route ever happening?

Following the positive feedback received in Switzerland over the proposed rail service between Basel and London, a similar move is now underway in Switzerland to ‘connect’ Geneva with the UK’s capital as well.

Published: 12 April 2024 13:56 CEST
What are the chances of a Geneva to London rail route ever happening?

Today, it takes at least seven hours to travel from Geneva to London (and vice versa) by train, and the trip is not exactly hassle-free.

The easiest way currently is to take the train from Geneva to Gare de Lyon in Paris. From there, they must take the Metro or the RER across town to Paris Gare du Nord and then embark on a connecting Eurostar train to London’s St Pancras station – after having gone through border and security checks.

At present, there aren’t more convenient connections between the two cities.

However, the momentum to create a direct railway link — which would allow people to travel between the two destinations in just over five hours — is growing.

Two lawmakers, one from Geneva and the other from Vaud, the two cantons which would benefit the most from such a rail link, have filed motions in their respective parliaments to approve this ambitious project.  

Their arguments focus on the importance such a rail link would have for environmentally-conscious business and leisure travellers, who would like to reduce the harmful effects of up to 45 daily flights between Geneva and the UK capital operated by several airlines.

Basel to London first?

A similar project, connecting the northern city of Basel with London, is also under discussion at the moment.

The plan calls for an Eurostar train from Basel to reach London in about five hours via the Eurotunnel.

READ ALSO: Could a Basel to London direct train really happen? 

However, as the two deputies point out, if only one direct train service between Switzerland and the UK  is feasible, then the one from Geneva would make more sense.

That’s because Geneva “is a more important economic centre than Basel,” according to the Vaud MP, David Vogel.

And in terms of tourism, Geneva also trumps Basel, because the mountain resorts  in Valais that British skiers favour can be reached more easily from Geneva.

Could Geneva-London link happen?

It is not only elected officials who are pushing for a Geneva-London link.

An online petition to this effect, intended for the Swiss national rail company  SBB was launched by Nadine McCormick, a dual Swiss-British citizen.

She too has been arguing that a direct link to and from Geneva makes more sense to British travellers than the one with Basel.

“Geneva and London are two of the world’s most important finance and banking centres, a further reason to enhance the transport links between these two cities,” she said. 

“And Geneva airport has more passengers going to London than Basel and Zurich airports combined,” McCormick added.

To date, almost 5,200 people signed McCormick’s petition, proving that interest in this connection is strong.

The petition points out there would be strong demand.

“It’s estimated that the journey would take approximately five and a half hours. The petition points out that there are 14,000 British citizens living in the Swiss cantons of Geneva and Vaud, with 5,000 in nearby French departements,” it said.

There is also approval for the Geneva-London train on social media.

Lonely Planet travel writer Nicola Williams, who is based in Lake Geneva said it the link is “such a logical rail route.”

She said: “Geneva’s train station, Gare de Cornavin, already has a huge border/customs area – manned to boot – already in place for high-speed TGVs to/from Paris in neighbouring France”.

Another mentioned how much faster the direct train would be than the current rail link.

Will this project actually get off the ground?

While there is no visible opposition to the project, and assuming that as yet undetermined budget could be allocated to this project, a number of challenges still exist.

And they are pretty much the same for both the Basel to London and Geneva to London lines.

For one, the infrastructure is expensive on this route – partly because of the journey through the Eurotunnel.

From the logistics point of view, since the UK has left the EU and only participates in the Schengen Agreement to a limited extent, boarding the train in Switzerland would involve both security and passport controls akin to those required at airports, which would require new checkpoints to be created in both Geneva and Basel’s SBB station.

And given its international reach, Switzerland can’t set up the connection on its own.

According to the Federal Council, the project can only proceed in close cooperation not only with the UK and France, but also with an operating company Eurostar.

Considering all the steps that still need to be taken, the actual launch of this direct rail link is still way off in the future.

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