Day Trip From Geneva

think about going to Chamonix (Mont Blanc) via France and return to Geneva via Switzerland (Martingny Montreux ).
I would rent a car and I would stop on the return at Chillon , Montreux and Culy or Lully on the shore of Lake Geneva

So you are suggesting driving all the way around Lake Geneva in a day h5n5 plus sightseeing along the way. ie. 2 hours or so at Chilon. I think that is too much for a day.

I would suggest just taking a train to Laussane and Montreux for the day. If timetables work out it would be nice to train one way and take the lake steamer back from Montreux to Geneva or vice versa.

or #'2, take the boat over the lake from Lausanne or Montreux to Evian on the French side of the lake and then a train back to Geneva via Annemasse

I'd recommend taking the train. Sightseeing is beautiful on on the Swiss trains. Check out www.bahn.de for timetable or www.sbb.ch/ for timetable and ticket prices

First I would like to thank all of the remarks and suggestions made to the post. They were certainly taken into account.

We were to take both a trip along Lake Geneva and to Mont Blanc, but not on the same day.

On the day of our arrival after a four hour flight and getting organized in the hotel. we left about 1200 in the afternoon on the train for Montreux. We took a local bus to Chateau Chillon and spent time there.

We took the same bus back to the train station and then went to Lausanne.

In Lausanne , we had a walk from the train station to the Olympic museum. The lady in the tourist office said it would be about 15 minutes, but it was closer to half an hour. Coming back we took the Metro past the train station to the older part of town. We walked around there and headed back to the train station, where we caught a train back to Geneva.

Lucky for us our hotel was located across the stree from the train station. We got back at about 1930-2000, tired but satisfied.

For our full day trip to Mont Blanc we rented a car.

Please note this tip - I had walked into their agency's office and asked for a car with automatic transmission. I was told that there were none available. After stating that I had seen a selection on the internet, the gentleman told me if I booked the car through the internet, I would be guaranteed to receive it. That is exactly what happened.

Please note that there are two tolls along the way that need to be paid in Euro and not Swiss Francs. One stop had a manned both which was able to give change, but the first one which cost 1.70 EUROs needed change

Our first stop at Chamonix/Mont Blanc was the Aiguille Du Midi cable car. This is a must. The cable car had a long que , but it moves fast. We were fortunate to have excellent weather. In Chamonix it was close to 30 degrees Centigrade but up top it was nice. Checking the weather before hand is imperitive.

While the view on the cable car and up top are incredible , it is a bit difficult to stay up top for a long time unless you are in good condition.

After coming down we walked around in Chamonix which is a nice little town , but nothing spectacular.

There are a lot of sites and things to do around Chamonix.. We went to Parc de Merlet which is a nature reserve with animals in their natuaral habitats. The park sit up on a mountain about 1,500 meters above sea level.There easy walking trails to enjoy. However with your car you can only come to about 300 meters from the park entrence and than it is a steep climb. It seems to me that arriving by public transportation would be very difficult. You need to come to Les Houches and then hitch hike a lift.

To close I would suggest to any one visiting Switzerland and planning to use the train to plan and print his tickets from the internet _www.sbb.ch_ ahead of time. This saves both money and time waiting in line at the cashiers in the train station