The trip

Switzerland falls into the category of countries that you can’t really plan a trip to without considering other countries. I spent a lot of time not considering Switzerland because I was planning on running as part of a trip to Liechtenstein to run the Alpine marathon there. However, as June 2026 (the date of the race) approached and I trying to make it work, but it just didn’t. Liechtenstein is just an expensive place to get to and I couldn’t make an efficient schedule with both countries that didn’t require much time off work. I also realised that this two in one with massive elevation in Liechtenstein might be tougher than other closely packed runs that I’ve done. So, I decided to park Liechtenstein for now and booked a cheap one night trip to Geneva.

This was our first time flying out of Southend Airport. We’d previously flown home from Spain into the airport, but not out of it before. It was so easy. Quick train to right outside the airport, through security in two minutes then sat in the ‘lounge’ right next to our gate. Couldn’t be easier. The actual lounge was being refurbished or moved (I don’t know what the original was like or where it was) so we were instead treated to a simple free breakfast and little separate section of the restaurant by the gate.

The general 2-3 hour before take off definitely felt excessive this time but we were on the easy jet plane soon enough and in the air. Once we landed in Geneva we were back on the next train into the central station. And then from there it was a 10 minute walk to what was pretty much the cheapest hotel I could find in the city. More on why the area is so cheap below…

It was a classic run for me and Nap for Ciara after we checked in. A friend of ours, Johannes, had lived in Geneva before and recommended running around the old town as a nice area of the city. My other plan was to effectively just run around lake Geneva, as generally lakes are flat. I thought I’d start with the lake option first to rack up some easy miles then explore the old town after.

I left the hotel and headed towards the water and turned left on Quai du Mont-Blanc. This then took me through Parc Mon Repos which was quite a nice way to start the run. There were a few more up and downs than I was hoping for but oh well. The path then brought me through to Rte de Lausanne. This road was great for running, flat, straight and no lights to wait at. However, it did not in fact provide any view of the lake. At least it didn’t up to the underpass near Chambesy where I turned around and came back.

What it did have was a lot of very ‘Geneva’ type buildings. Embassy type situations or political buildings with plaques, flags or gates. This was a general feeling that Ciara and I noticed in the train station and around town a few times. A lot of the city is very nice, clean and well run, but it does feel slightly soulless and not homely. As expected really.

As I came back through the park and back for a quick water break in the hotel, I considered my next options. I decided to cross the bridge towards the old town but carry on round the lake in the other direction. This went up towards Cologny and provided much better views of the water. My only worry when running was that I might accidentally cross into France in either direction. But once on the roads I realised it would be very difficult to take a wrong turn and a quick check of the map showed the borders weren’t actually that close.

I turned around again now with a fair few miles under my belt and headed back to the hotel for a final stop. Coming back out again and now quite tired as the evening and sunset were approaching, I once more decided to run along the water. I knew this was safe and now wanted the run done as soon as possible so opted not to run around the tighter busier streets of the old town. I went back up the Cologny side of the lake for some more miles, turned around and came back to the city centre. I then crossed the bridge back to the train station side for the last few miles.

The sky was now dark and I started to feel a little uneasy as I went through the park. I say through, one of the gates was closed so it was a quicker turnaround than I was expecting. Now on Quai Wilson, it was a case of get your head down and get it done on this section of open pavement about a quarter mile long. The motivation was needed even more once the rain started and fell hard.

Back and forth a few more times and it was job done, marathon complete. On the walk back I learnt why the area of town we were in was on the cheaper side. Turns out Geneva has a red light district where ‘service providers’ sit in windows and walk the streets. I had noticed the window situation when taking a slightly different route out of the hotel earlier. On the way back, I was coming back to the same corner and the lady stood outside started walking towards me. She mustn’t have had very good eyesight because if she could see how run down and covered in rain and sweat I was then she would have know I was the last person in Geneva she was going to get any business out of. I crossed the road and kept my head down and went to go wash up.

Ciara and I headed back towards the old town for dinner. Again, I didn’t really make the most of the old town. We were both exhausted and just wanted to go to bed. We walked past a Burger King and realised that was probably the best solution so grabbed a quick burger and called it a night. It was an early exit the next morning to catch our flight home. Another marathon with no days of work required but also not much of the country really explored. We will likely be back in Switzerland some time soon in order to get to Liechtenstein so the lack of time is more palatable here.

Evidence