The "Guides du Patrimoine"
Walk with the "Guides du Patrimoine" in Geneva, in the Pays de Vaud and in FranceCultural 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.
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”
Evelyn RIEDENER
Tel. +41 79 202 60 68
Emilie BISSARDON
Tel. +33 664 23 00 30
Tours in English
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...
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...
Geneva’s expansion under Guillaume-Henri Dufour
Born in Konstanz (Wurtemberg, Germany) of emigrated Geneva citizens, educated at the Ecole Polytechnique of Paris, after serving Napoleon as an officer until 1817, Dufour returns to Geneva where the local authorities entrust him with the first modernization of the...
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...
Meeting the History of Geneva in the Parc des Bastions
The Parc des Bastions is where many aspect of the Geneva history converge: history, religious history, academia, architecture, urbanism, botany, etc. Enjoy this guided tour under beautiful trees from all over the world!
Along the waterside of Geneva
Discover the remnant of Geneva industrial and agricultral past as you walk from the Rousseau Island to the Junction, where the rivers Rhone and Arve are meeting.
Interested in a personalized guided tour?
Registration
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
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. »
« 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. »
« Cité d’immigration et de refuge, résumé des nations. on peut le dire: Genève est une ville où nul homme n’est étranger. »
« Petite ville qui porte le monde »