Geneva City Tour: United Nations District & Old Town

The Palais des Nations and the international district

Geneva hosts more international organisations than any other city in the world. The Palais des Nations was built between 1929 and 1936 for the League of Nations and has been the United Nations Office at Geneva since 1946, the largest UN centre after New York. Around it are the headquarters of the World Health Organization, the Red Cross and dozens of other bodies.

Your coach drives through this green district of embassies and parks while the guide explains why neutral Geneva became the capital of diplomacy. A United Nations Geneva tour on your own requires booking and security checks; on this tour you stop outside the gates for photos of the flags that line the entrance.

The Broken Chair on Place des Nations

Opposite the UN stands the Broken Chair, a 12-metre wooden sculpture with one shattered leg. Created by the Swiss artist Daniel Berset and installed in 1997, it was meant as a temporary protest calling for a ban on landmines and cluster bombs, but it became so iconic that it was never taken away.

Place des Nations, with its playful fountains that shoot straight up from the ground, is also a favourite gathering place for demonstrations and celebrations. It is one of the best free things to see in Geneva, and the photo stop gives you time to capture the chair with the Palais des Nations behind it.

The lakefront, Jet d'Eau and Flower Clock

Leaving the international district, the tour follows the shore of Lake Geneva, lined with grand hotels and promenades. You see the Jet d'Eau, the city's symbol, shooting water about 140 metres into the air from the end of a jetty, and the snowy Alps behind it on clear days.

In the English Garden stands the Flower Clock, created in 1955 to celebrate Geneva's watchmaking tradition. Its face is planted with thousands of flowers that change with the seasons, and its second hand is one of the longest in the world. These lakeside sights are best enjoyed in the afternoon light, which is when this tour runs.

Geneva Old Town and St Pierre Cathedral

The Old Town sits on a hill above the lake, with cobbled lanes, fountains and quiet squares. At its centre is St Pierre Cathedral, begun in the 12th century and later the church of John Calvin, whose preaching made Geneva the Protestant Rome. From its towers, reached by a separate paid climb, the view over the city is superb.

You also pass Place du Bourg-de-Four, the oldest square in Geneva, the Old Arsenal with its cannons and mosaics, and the Town Hall, where the first Geneva Convention was signed in 1864. Depending on weather and season, this part of the Geneva Old Town tour runs by mini-train or on foot.