The "Guides du Patrimoine"

Walk with the "Guides du Patrimoine" in Geneva, in the Pays de Vaud and in France

Cultural guided tours

Experimented lecturer-guides offer you their new program of cultural and sightseeing visits. You’ll find both the traditional guided tours for those who are new to Geneva and original tours.

If you wish high quality visits, don’t hesitate to contact the “Guides du patrimoine”, who have all followed the post-grad training “Cultural Heritage and Tourism” at the University of Geneva.

What amazing and exciting discoveries with the “Guides du patrimoine” since 2003!

Walk throughout Geneva history

Discover the multifaceted aspects of Geneva. More than two thousand years of history can be read along its streets and in the fields and vineyards of the countryside

Whether Roman boatman or refugee, wine-grower or theologian at the Academy, watchmaker or merchant, researcher or travelling writer, so many outstanding destinies have met here and still do so at the limit between the North and the South of Europe.

Our walks are designed for those, residents or visitors, who wish to experience Geneva in a more personal way in smaller, more intimate groups. Our philosophy is to provide a high academic standard while making the walks entertaining. We attempt to make the past seem real and are as interested in how the past is rediscovered, interpreted and transformed. Our goal is to make you feel as George Eliot did on her first visit to Geneva: “It seemed to me like an entrance into heaven” (The Lifted Veil, 1859).

The “Guides du patrimoine”

Find out about the guides’ background and the visits they can offer.

Evelyn RIEDENER

Art history studies, training in art restoration (SCR), certificate from the program “Cultural Heritage and Tourism” from the University of Geneva, member of the Swiss Touristic Guides Association.

 e.riedener@bluewin.ch

Tel. +41 79 202 60 68

Find out about her tours

Emilie BISSARDON

National Guide Diploma (University of Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée),certificate from the program “Cultural Heritage and Tourism” from the University of Geneva, member of the Swiss Touristic guides association , of the Guides Association in Auvergne Rhône-Alpes and of the guides association of Annecy

emilie.bissardon@visitalp.com

Tel. +33 664 23 00 30

Find out about her tours

Tours in English

Luxury in Geneva

Luxury in Geneva

When international traders became bankers at the beginning of the 18th century, luxury insidiously invaded  the most exclusive areas of the city in spite of the austerity specific to  the calvinist society. The front of houses are decorated, art collections are...

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Prestigious hotels around the bay of Geneva

Prestigious hotels around the bay of Geneva

Geneva was an international  city of traders since the Middle Ages. Accomodation was needed for businessmen and pilgrims on their way from northern to southern Europe. In the 19th century, after Jean-Jacques Rousseau and with the Romantic movement, the contemplation...

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The New Look of Geneva in the 18th Century

The New Look of Geneva in the 18th Century

French architects enjoy a European reputation which reaches Geneva. Several Geneva businessmen become extremely rich at the end of the 17th and beginning of the 18th century. For their families, they build mansions imitating to a certain degree the taste of the French...

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Interested in a personalized guided tour?

Registration
Theme visits according to your choice

Get in touch with the guide who does the visit, using the registration form on each visit page.

Cancellation at least 48 hours before the tour

Fees
  • 2 hours, starting at 200 CHF
  • 3 hours, starting at 250 CHF
  • 4 hours or half a day, starting at 300 CHF
  • A full day (8 hours), starting at 440 CHF
Paiement
Paiement are to be done in cash at the beginning of the visit or according to arrangement with the guide.

What they said about Geneva…

La première réaction de Calvin sur la révocation de l’arrêt d’exil des autorités genevoises:
« je préférerais mourir plutôt cent autres morts que cette croix sur laquelle mille fois par jour il me faudrait périr. »

Jean Calvin

dans une lettre à Guillaume Farel, 1541

« Mon père, en m’embrassant, fut saisi d’un tressaillement que je crois sentir et partager encore. Jean-Jacques, me disait-il, aime ton pays. Vois-tu ces bons Genevois; ils sont tous amis, ils sont tous frères; la joie et la concorde règne au milieu d’eux. Tu es Genevois: tu verras un jour d’autres peuples; mais, quand tu voyagerais autant que ton père, tu ne trouveras jamais leur pareil. »

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Lettre à M. d'Alembert, 1758

« Cité d’immigration et de refuge, résumé des nations. on peut le dire: Genève est une ville où nul homme n’est étranger. »

Robert de Traz

L'esprit de Genève, 1929

« Rose des vents au cœur de l’Europe »

« Petite ville qui porte le monde »

Georges Haldas