The Aire riverside path at Confignon
A flat, wide gravel path that follows the river for several kilometres. Runners, horses, bikes, strollers and dogs all share it without getting in each other's way, and you can stop wherever you like — the bank has been laid out with pergolas, tables and steps down to the water. The Aire was returned to its natural bed between 2002 and 2023 and now winds freely alongside the path, work that won the project the Council of Europe Landscape Award. Park in Confignon village or on the hill below, and walk for as long as you feel like it.
To make a day of it, the Auberge de Confignon on the church square is a superb place to eat. Three young hoteliers took it over in May 2026, and the kitchen does modern bistro cooking rooted in Geneva produce: perch fillets, homemade cordon bleu with béarnaise, farmer's sausage and mash, gnocchi in a roast pepper cream. Sunday lunch is served, and there is a play area in the garden.
The Salève, from La Croisette to the cable car
It stands in Haute-Savoie, but here everyone calls it Geneva's own mountain. You drive up to the Col de la Croisette at 1,178 metres and set off across the plateau on foot. On days when the city is shut under fog, you leave it down there and come out into sunshine above the cloud. The view takes in the whole of Geneva and the lake, and the path runs along the paragliders' launch. At sunset it is magnificent.
There is a short climb at the start, then it is level all the way to the cable car, about five kilometres away. Easy ground, a wide path, and an out-and-back: nothing obliges you to reach the end, and you can turn round whenever you want. It makes a proper family outing for children who already walk well; babies travel in a carrier rather than a stroller, which will not get through. Keep dogs on the lead: there are herds grazing, and the plateau ends in unfenced rock.
Three hundred animals and Geneva's biggest playground
The animal park at the Bois de la Bâtie is free and open every day: some 300 head of native wildlife and farm breeds across 2.5 hectares, 8:00 to 20:00 from April to October and 8:00 to 18:00 the rest of the year. The playground beside it, rebuilt in 2021, is the largest in the city — water and sand, a course for toddlers, two slide towers for older children. The paths are gravel, a stroller goes everywhere, and the wood is big enough that walking round it takes a good while. Dogs run loose in the part nearest the Rhône; they are not allowed into the animal park at all.
Lunch is at the Sadara buvette, reached by a ramp, where the menu changes every fortnight — fondue and braised pork were on it when we went, so a proper meal rather than a snack. Open March to October, and shut in bad weather.
Which one to pick
With a stroller, the Aire or la Bâtie. With a dog, any of the three, on the lead on the Salève. With small children who want something to do rather than something to look at, la Bâtie. And when Geneva disappears under fog, the Salève.
