Rick Steves Thinks This Boring Major City In Europe Is One Of The Worst Places To Visit

If you're familiar with travel expert Rick Steves, you know he has tons of enthusiasm and ideas for visiting cities in Europe. However, there is one city he doesn't seem to have much love for. While Switzerland has some great tourist attractions that you can't miss, Steves doesn't think Geneva is one of them. In a post on his website about the best and worst places to visit in Europe, Steves calls Geneva one of Switzerland's "most sterile cities" and gives it his "nice place to live but I wouldn't want to visit" award. He adds "It's pleasantly situated on a lake — just like Buffalo is. While it's famous, name familiarity is a rotten reason to go somewhere. If you want a Swiss city, see Bern or Luzern instead." Geneva is also absent from his post on Switzerland's great cities, which focuses on Luzern, Bern, Zürich, and Lausanne.

Geneva Airport (GVA) is only about 3.5 miles from the city center, so even if you're not staying, spending a little time there, especially if you're tired from your flight, isn't a bad idea. There are some interesting things to see, including the Palais des Nations, home to the United Nations Office at Geneva; the particle physics lab CERN, home of the Large Hadron Collider; and Parc des Bastions if you simply want to enjoy a picnic before moving on to other things. If you choose to spend some time here, you won't be left without things to do.

If you do choose to visit Geneva, or you're spending a day there after a flight, there are a few things that you may want to check out. Geneva sits on the shore of Lake Geneva, where you'll see the Jet d'Eau, a water fountain that shoots over 459 feet into the air. You walk out onto the nearby pier to see it up close for free. If the weather is good, it's worth hitting a grocery store for snacks and having a picnic in Geneva's Parc des Bastions. You can check out a giant chess set, see the pretty Palais Eynard, or take your kids to the playground. You can get a great view of the city from the top of the 12th-century St. Pierre Cathedral in Old Town. The cathedral is free to visit, and you can climb the tower and explore an archaeological site underneath, with Roman ruins and items from other eras.

The Palais des Nations houses the United Nations Office at Geneva, which offers a guided tour. Make sure to take a pic of the Broken Chair statue in nearby Place des Nations as well. If science interests you, it may be worth stopping in Geneva for a tour of CERN alone. You can learn about CERN's first accelerator, its history, and the discovery of the Higgs boson. Demand for guided tours is high, and CERN advises getting there early in the morning to increase your chances of getting a spot. Registration opens two hours in advance on a first-come, first-served basis. Have a backup plan, though, since only a limited number of visitors get tour spots. Unfortunately, the Large Hadron Collider tunnel itself isn't open to visitors.

Just because Steves isn't particularly fond of Geneva as a destination doesn't mean he doesn't think you should visit the country. In fact, he recommends quite a few places in Switzerland. As mentioned earlier, he suggests visiting Bern and Luzern, also known as Lucerne in English, instead. Bern is Switzerland's federal city and the de facto capital, and you can check out the Old City's centuries-old Zytglogge clock tower, with its charming figures that put on a show shortly before the bells chime the hour. You can also take a tour. The UNESCO World Heritage-listed Old City has the Bern Minster to explore, and near the city center, you can see thousands of plant species at the Botanical Garden of the University of Bern. 

In Lucerne, you'll find the evocative 14th-century Chapel Bridge, one of the oldest wooden bridges on the continent, and the picturesque water tower next to it. You can also walk along the medieval Musegg Wall, erected around 1400, for some lovely views of the city, lake, and surrounding mountains.

Additionally, Steves suggests some places around Lake Geneva in another post, calling the area "Switzerland's Riviera." One place he calls his "favorite destination in the area" is the Château de Chillon, a castle on an island where you can take a self-guided or guided tour. He also suggests a boat cruise from Lausanne to the château. If you're heading to Switzerland and looking for alternatives beyond ski chalets and the destinations and sites Steves recommends, here is the only map of Switzerland you'll ever need. Finally, Steves is similarly blunt about southern Scotland, so you may also want to know why he thinks you should skip this boring region in Europe.