What to do in Geneva on a rainy day

Geneva's indoor list is short but strong, and it clusters around a few tram stops, so you can chain two or three without getting soaked. The Red Cross museum and the United Nations area sit together in the north-east; the Old Town museums sit above the lake on the south bank.

Start with the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum if you only do one thing. It is the city's most substantial indoor attraction and takes 2–3 hours (check). The Museum of Art and History is the free fallback: a large, quiet building in the Old Town with a permanent collection that runs from medieval panels to 20th-century painting (check).

For a smaller, sharper stop, the Patek Philippe Museum covers watchmaking and decorative arts in a townhouse in Plainpalais (check). The Natural History Museum suits children and rainy afternoons, and the Conservatory and Botanical Garden glasshouses give you a warm, green walk when the outdoor beds are unusable (check).

Geneva's museums split into two groups: free public institutions and paid private ones. The free group includes the Museum of Art and History and the Natural History Museum (check). The paid group is the Red Cross museum, the Patek Philippe Museum and the UN guided tour (check).

Most museums stop admitting visitors 30 minutes before closing, and many close on Mondays (check). Public transport is the main cost on a wet day: a day pass is around CHF 10 (2026 estimate) and covers trams, buses and city boats (check). The Geneva City Pass bundles transport with museum entry (check).

Budget roughly CHF 30–50 per adult for a full indoor day with transport, one paid museum and a café stop (2026 estimate, check).

Almost everything on this list is within a 20-minute tram or bus ride of Cornavin station, and the network runs frequently enough that a wet walk between stops is short (check). Buy a day pass rather than single tickets if you plan three or more stops.

The two clusters to remember: north-east around Place des Nations and Appia (Red Cross museum, UN, Botanical Garden), and the south bank around Rive and the Old Town (Art and History, library, Patek Philippe in Plainpalais). Pick one cluster per half-day and you will spend minutes outdoors, not hours.

Geneva museums are generally closed on Mondays, and several shut at lunchtime on the days they open, so check the day's hours before you leave the hotel (check). Many are free or cheap; the paid ones are the Red Cross museum, the Patek Philippe Museum and the UN tour (check).

Swiss museums often stop admitting visitors 30 minutes before closing. Coat check is normal and usually free or a coin deposit. Cards are accepted almost everywhere, but keep a few francs for lockers and small cafés.

If the rain is light rather than heavy, the covered arcades of the Old Town and the trams themselves make a decent half-day without committing to a ticket. The Bains des Pâquis sauna is the local answer to a cold, wet afternoon in the cooler months (check).

Geneva's wettest stretches tend to fall outside high summer, and lake-effect showers can arrive quickly in spring and autumn (check). Summer downpours are often short and warm; winter rain is colder and more persistent, which pushes the indoor list higher up your plan (check).

If your trip is fixed and the forecast is bad, front-load the museums on the first wet morning and keep the lakefront, the Jet d'Eau and boat trips for the clearest window. In winter, rain in the city often means snow higher up, so a wet Geneva day is a reasonable moment to reconsider a mountain day trip rather than cancel it (check).

Geneva Airport is a short train ride from Cornavin station, and the station is the hub for every tram and bus on this page (check). From Cornavin, tram 15 runs to the UN and Appia area; trams 12 and 15 cover Plainpalais; the Old Town is a short uphill walk from Rive (check).

If you are arriving by train from elsewhere in Switzerland, you will land at Cornavin, which is also where most hotels cluster. Unireso tickets cover trams, buses and the lake boats within the city network; the tourist office and many hotels issue a free transport card for guests (check).