Coach Hire Across Switzerland

Coach and Driver in Geneva for Clubs, Schools and Tours

Geneva publishes almost nothing for coaches. The city keeps no list of coach parking and no booking system, and the one published coach park serves the Red Cross Museum. Every stop in the centre is therefore agreed with the operator before the day.

Plan the stops, not the parking

Public car parks are built for cars, and a coach cannot get a permit for the blue zones. The Gare routière at Place Dorcière, five minutes from Cornavin, serves international lines, ski services and city tours. At the station front and in the Old Town no official set-down exists, so the driver uses the point the operator has confirmed.

One confirmed point for both set-down and pick-up keeps a city day simple.

Mercedes-Benz 59-seat coach, exterior
Mercedes-Benz 59-seat coach, exterior

The Nations quarter

The Palais des Nations and the Red Cross Museum share one coach park, where Avenue de la Paix runs out below the Place des Nations. From there the museum is a 10 to 15-minute walk. Its guided tours take up to 25 people per guide and are booked 14 working days ahead.

UN tours are booked on the UN Geneva website. Each visitor needs a ticket, a digital badge and a passport or Schengen identity card, and is at the gate half an hour early for security. The Palais is under renovation, so tours are limited and sell out. Tram works around Nations bring diversions until the end of 2028.

Airports for a group arriving in Geneva

  • Geneva Airport (GVA) — about 5 km by road to the Pont du Mont-Blanc, in the centre of Genève, about 15 min by coach in light traffic; longer at peak times

Stadiums and arenas a coach can reach

  • Stade de Genève — Home ground of Servette FC; international football (three EURO 2008 matches, Swiss national team) and large concerts. 30,000 seated, covered places; opened in 2003. Located in Lancy beside the La Praille shopping and leisure centre, directly at motorway A1 exit "La Praille" (access by Route des Jeunes / Route de Saint-Julien). On big event days the area around the stadium is closed to cars and the tpg stop "Stade de Genève" is closed before and after matches; the club points to Léman Express stations Lancy-Pont-Rouge and Lancy-Bachet. No coach parking for visiting groups is published.
  • Patinoire des Vernets — Ice rink of the Ville de Genève and home of Genève-Servette Hockey Club (ice hockey). Car parks nearby: the rink car park on rue Hans-Wilsdorf, the upper car park of the Aligro store on rue François-Dussaud, Parking de l'Etoile (Route des Jeunes) and Parking Uni-Mail (Quai Ernest-Ansermet). Trams 15 and 17 (stop "Acacias") and bus 80 (stop "Queue d'Arve"). On match days the side road along the rink is closed 1 hour 15 minutes before the game. No coach parking is published.
  • Geneva Arena — Indoor arena for concerts, shows and sport events at Route des Batailleux 3, Grand-Saconnex, beside Palexpo; up to 9,500 spectators.

Coach day trips from Geneva

  • CERN Science Gateway (Meyrin) — about 8 km, about 20 min
  • Nyon — about 27 km, about 30 min
  • Yvoire (France) — about 27 km, about 45 min
  • Annecy (France) — about 43 km, about 55 min
  • Évian-les-Bains (France), by road around the lake — about 44 km, about 1 h
  • Lausanne — about 63 km, about 1 h
  • Cully (Lavaux vineyards) — about 77 km, about 1.25 h
  • Chamonix-Mont-Blanc (France) — about 82 km, about 1.25 h
  • Montreux — about 93 km, about 1.5 h
  • Château de Chillon (Veytaux) — about 96 km, about 1.5 h
  • Gruyères — about 120 km, about 1.75 h
  • Bern — about 158 km, about 2.25 h
  • Täsch (Matterhorn Terminal Täsch, shuttle train to Zermatt) — about 229 km, about 3.5 h

Where a coach can stop in Geneva, and other rules

  • Genève Aéroport (GVA) is about 5 km by road from the Pont du Mont-Blanc, about 15 min in light traffic. Journeys take longer at peak times.
  • Genève Aéroport (GVA): coaches (vehicles over 2.50 m high and/or more than 17 seats including the driver) may set passengers down at the terminal front on the Check-in (Enregistrement) level, on the coach bays of the tpg lane near "sas 1" (follow the "BUS CAR" lane; stopping only, no parking). Minibuses and shuttles set down in the "Navette" zone of the "transports professionnels" lane.
  • Genève Aéroport: all professional pick-ups must take place only at "Parking P6 - Gare Routière" on the Arrivals level (follow "Parking Courte durée", left lane). P6 is barrier-controlled and paid; it is only for passenger transport directly linked to the airport. Coaches without an annual access card take a ticket at the entry and pay per stay in 15-minute steps at a pay machine before leaving. P6 has 12 pick-up bays (bays 1 to 9 for vehicles up to 12.5 m long and 4 m high; bays 10 to 12 up to 10 m long and 3.5 m high), plus 4 extra coach spaces. Engines must be switched off for any stop over 3 minutes. Vehicles under 2 m high and/or with fewer than 9 seats (driver included) have no access unless the airport agrees. Coaches of Euro 2 and Euro 3 standard are refused access (airport rules of 1 December 2025). On winter weekends (December to April) P6 can be saturated and overflow areas are set up.
  • Genève Aéroport has a French sector (Secteur France) reached only by road from France via the customs road at Ferney-Voltaire (GPS: Ferney-Voltaire, "Route douanière"), then the signs "Aéroport Secteur France". Only passengers with a valid flight ticket for the same day (plus or minus one day) may pass between the French sector and the Swiss (international) sector inside the terminal; other people must change sectors by road via the Ferney-Voltaire customs.
  • The Gare routière de Genève (coach station) is at Place Dorcière, 1201 Genève, less than 5 minutes from Gare de Cornavin; international lines, ski-resort services and city tours leave from here. Its desks are open Monday to Saturday 07:00 to 19:00 and Sunday 07:00 to 16:00.
  • The Ville de Genève, the canton and Genève Tourisme publish no list of coach parking places and no coach parking booking system. The Fondation des Parkings manages the public car parks and P+R sites, which are designed for cars and motorcycles; coaches cannot obtain a parking permit (macaron) for the blue zones.
  • Stick'AIR differentiated traffic (circulation différenciée): since 15 January 2020, when the canton activates it during an air-pollution peak (smog), only motor vehicles showing a Stick'AIR sticker of an authorised category may drive inside the perimeter between 06:00 and 22:00. The perimeter covers almost all of the Ville de Genève and parts of Carouge, Cologny, Lancy and Vernier; outside pollution peaks there is no restriction. All motor vehicles are covered whatever their country of registration, unless exempted. The French Crit'Air sticker is recognised (same categories); other foreign stickers are not. The exemption list includes vehicles for professional passenger transport, including taxis, as defined in field 17 "Usage spécial" of the Swiss vehicle registration document. Activation is announced the day before (email alerts and the Air2G2 app). These rules are current in October 2026; check them before travel.
  • Place des Nations area: coaches for the Red Cross Museum and the Palais des Nations use the coach park at the end of Avenue de la Paix, at the foot of the Place des Nations (as published by the museum). Tram des Nations works (new tram line 13 from Gare de Cornavin via Place des Nations to Ferney-Voltaire) run from September 2025 to the end of 2028 on the Swiss side, with road closures and diversions; for example, from 14 May 2026 Avenue Giuseppe-Motta is closed between Avenue de France and Chemin Camille-Vidart, and for one year Avenue de France between Voie-Creuse and Rue de Montbrillant is closed in the direction of Nations. The section of Route de Ferney between Chemin du Petit-Saconnex / Avenue de l'Ariana and Route des Morillons will stay closed to cars after the works.
  • CERN Science Gateway (Meyrin): a coach park north of the Science Gateway is reserved for coaches of booked groups; other vehicles must use the paid car park behind the Globe; parking elsewhere is not allowed.
  • Palexpo and Geneva Arena: the Palexpo car park P12 has a 2 m height limit; no coach parking is published by either venue. Stade de Genève: on big event days the surroundings of the stadium are closed to cars.
  • International coach lines: the canton plans to move the international coach lines from Place Dorcière to a new coach station in the P+R P47 multimodal hub near the airport and the motorway (Grand-Saconnex), linked to the Tram des Nations; tourist and excursion coaches are to stay at Place Dorcière, which the Ville de Genève plans to redesign. No opening date was confirmed on an official page in October 2026.
  • Genève (Gare de Cornavin), Place de Cornavin 5: the main station, with SBB long-distance trains across Switzerland, TGV Lyria trains from Paris (about three hours) and the Léman Express (the CEVA line Cornavin - Eaux-Vives - Annemasse, in service since December 2019, with trains every 15 minutes between Coppet and Annemasse). The Gare routière at Place Dorcière is less than 5 minutes away. No official coach set-down point at the station was found.
  • Genève-Aéroport station: about seven minutes by train from the city centre (Lausanne about 40 minutes, Zürich about 3 hours); two minutes on foot from the Geneva Arena and about ten minutes on foot from Palexpo.
  • Lancy-Pont-Rouge and Lancy-Bachet (Léman Express): the stations closest to the Stade de Genève. Genève-Eaux-Vives (Léman Express): the station for the left bank of the lake and the Eaux-Vives district.
  • Cabotage: under Article 20 of the EU-Switzerland Land Transport Agreement, a coach operator established in an EU state may not carry passengers between two places in Switzerland. A group journey that starts and ends in Switzerland therefore needs a vehicle from an operator established in Switzerland. Coaches may carry groups across the border in both directions; these occasional services need no authorisation, but the coach carries a journey form (Fahrtenblatt).
  • Road charges: coaches and other buses over 3.5 tonnes pay the flat-rate heavy vehicle fee (pauschale Schwerverkehrsabgabe, PSVA) for every day they are in Switzerland, on all public roads, and need no motorway vignette; foreign-registered coaches pay the PSVA online through the BAZG "Via" portal or app before entering Switzerland. Minibuses and cars up to 3.5 tonnes need the motorway vignette (the e-vignette linked to the number plate, or the sticker) to use motorways and expressways (Autobahnen / autoroutes / autostrade).
  • Speed and driving bans: on motorways and expressways coaches may drive at up to 100 km/h (articulated buses and scheduled buses with standing places excepted); heavy vehicles are otherwise limited to 80 km/h. The Swiss night driving ban (22:00 to 05:00) and the Sunday and public-holiday ban for heavy vehicles do not apply to vehicles carrying passengers.
  • Drivers' hours: coach drivers follow the Swiss ordinance ARV 1, aligned with the EU rules: at most 9 hours of driving a day (10 hours twice a week), a break of at least 45 minutes after 4.5 hours of driving and at least 11 hours of daily rest, recorded by tachograph. Drivers of foreign-registered coaches must keep the same driving, break and rest rules in Switzerland. In domestic traffic, professional drivers of cars and of minibuses with up to 16 seats besides the driver follow ARV 2 instead.
  • Winter: Switzerland has no general winter-tyre obligation, but a vehicle must be fit for the road conditions and the driver must keep control of it at all times; the Federal Roads Office (ASTRA) recommends winter tyres from October to Easter. Where the sign "Schneeketten obligatorisch" / "chaînes à neige obligatoires" / "Catene per la neve obbligatorie" (sign 2.48) is shown, at least two drive wheels on the same axle must be fitted with snow chains.
  • Cross-border day trips: a coach based in Switzerland may take a group into a neighbouring country and back. The road rules, charges and any low-emission rules of that country apply on its roads, so the operator checks them before the trip.

Smog days and stickers

Stick'AIR is Geneva's smog measure, and the canton activates it only on bad-air days. Between 06:00 and 22:00 only vehicles with an authorised sticker may then drive inside a perimeter covering almost the whole city. It is announced the day before. Swiss vehicles registered for professional passenger transport are exempt, a French coach shows its Crit'Air, and other foreign stickers do not count.

Into France and along the lake

Annecy is about 55 minutes away, Yvoire about 45 and Chamonix about 1.25 hours. A coach based in Switzerland may take the group across and back. Over the border French traffic rules apply; the operator checks them beforehand.

On the Swiss shore, Lausanne is an hour away, the Lavaux terraces about 1.25 hours, Montreux and Chillon about 1.5 and Gruyères about 1.75. Lake boats leave from the Mont-Blanc, Jardin-Anglais, Pâquis and Eaux-Vives piers. Announcing a group to the CGN does not reserve seats, so be on the pier 20 minutes before sailing.

What organisers ask us

Can you arrange a visit to CERN?

No. CERN refuses requests from tour operators. The group registers with CERN itself, and schools apply from an official school address. Once the visit is confirmed, the coach can use the coach park north of the Science Gateway, which is reserved for booked groups.

Where does the coach collect us at Geneva Airport?

Only at P6 – Gare Routière. No other spot at the airport may be used for professional pick-ups. For departures the coach sets down on the Check-in level.

Can the coach park at Palexpo?

Not in car park P12, which has a 2 m height limit. Palexpo will open a drop-off zone at a main entrance if asked, and the operator makes that request.

More group trips by coach

Vehicles, each with a driver