Geneva’s Mont Salève? Done!

Part cable car. Part legwork.

Mont Salève, part of the French Prealps, towers over the beautiful city of Geneva rising as high as 1,400 metres.  You can conquer the heights on foot, or like moi, you can opt for part cable car, part legwork.

Then the rest of the route is yours for exploring…

Equipped with some basic winter boots from Schuh (so nothing too technical), a warmish winter coat from H&M (definitely not high-spec), some woolly mittens from Harvey Nichols, and a vintage faux fur bag (admittedly just for show), I took on a miniature mountain adventure after doing nothing but shopping and indulging in cheese fondues in Geneva for the last few days.  It was time to work off that five-cheese gumbo I’d been dipping everything in – which included anything more solid than the sea of cheese.

Le Téléphérique Du Salève – 10 Euros

Le téléphérique du Salève (the cable car operator) can be found at Haute-Savoie by the Franco Swiss border.  It takes you up to the heights of around 1,000 of the 1,400 metres so you can still free-explore once you get dropped off.  The cable car gives you a fantastic view of the border below and one-way return tickets are about 10 Euros per person.

Fuelled by carbs, saturated fat and more carbs, I was ready for a very temperate trek.  And I assure you, it really was nothing too strenuous – more of a stroll as the téléphérique takes you so far up.  At the top you will find a café, a gift shop, a play area perfect for kids (yeah, even kids can do it!), and a few pathways winding up to the very top.

The views looking down at the rest of the world were of course totally incredible; covered in white, fluffy January snow, the mountain tops just looked so fresh and inviting. I’ve always had an uncontrollable urge to roll around in fresh snow, so the top of Mont Salève was a complete playground for me.

From the top of La Salève, you will also be able to eye up The Alps and Mont Blanc.  If you have panoramic settings on your phone or camera, this would be the perfect place to get a good shot.

Have fun! And don’t forget to make a snow angel!

Mags x