If your banking business takes you to Geneva (pop: 200,000) for a day, it’s possible to nip out after lunch and get a fly in. Half an hour from Geneva airport the télépherique du Salève will whisk you up to one of the three take-offs in minutes for only €5. From here at 1,080m the whole city and Lake Geneva is yours. Actually, it’s not all yours, a lot of what you see is Geneva International airspace, and it’s taken very seriously. You have a height limit of 1,700m, stepping down to 1,050m past the motorway out front. If you bust airspace here you will cause a lot of trouble as it is used heavily by airliners. There are panels about the airspace on take-off that should be read before flying. However, despite being restricted, flying here is like flying everywhere: fun. Enjoy those smooth glass-off conditions before heading back to the airport to catch your flight home.
saleveairlines.com, telepherique-du-saleve.com
Photo: saleveairlines.com
Originally published in the 2017 Travel Guide, as part of an article called City Slickers. You can find the other urban getaways in the series, here.
