Heatwave! Where to cool off at day trip distance from Geneva or Vaud?
With temperatures like these, you need water, shade, or the frozen food section of a supermarket! But if you don’t want to spend your days shopping, here are some quick suggestions to cool off
1. A day trip to Zoo et Piscine Les Marécottes in Salvan in Wallis
About an hour and a half by car from Geneva.
In Salvan, near Martigny, is a zoo and swimming pool in a nice natural environment. The zoo is the highest zoo in Europe, and it only hosts animals that you would be able to find in Switzerland. It is a zoo with fairly big spaces for the animals who live here and it has a lot of trees for shade, and so on warm days, the picnic tables will be very convenient so that you can eat outside. There is also an on-site restaurant and all you need for refreshments.
The swimming pool is quite extraordinary because you could think for a second that you are in a more exotic place! The pool has a sort of natural look with rocks on the side where some bigger kids and adults jump off. The water can be a bit cold, so the best day to visit the Zoo des Marécottes and enjoy the pool would be on a hot summer day! When it is busy it is sometimes a bit difficult to find a spot to put your towel down as the space around the pool is not very big.
Their website: http://www.zoo-alpin.ch/fr/piscine.html
2. Lac de Montriond and Ardent waterfall, Haute Savoie, near Morzine
About an hour and a half by car from Geneva.
Lac de Montriond is near Morzine in France. You can swim in the lake. Walk around the lake through a forrest and near the Ardent waterfall which is beautiful. Close by to this lake you will find the ‘goat town’ Les Lindarets where goats walk around the village freely. To see the website of the lake: https://en.valleedaulps.com/montriond-swimming-area.html and for information about the town with the goats: https://en.valleedaulps.com/lindarets-village.html
3. Mountains
When you go higher up, it usually gets a bit cooler! Read my suggestions for family hikes at day-trip distance from Geneva:
4. Go Camping in the lake region of the Jura
About 2 hours by car from Geneva.
The French part of the Jura has some nice lakes, towns and caves to visit. We loved camping around the ‘Lac de Chalain’, on a camp site with direct access to the lake and a nice swimming pool. It is close to the ‘Cascades du Hérisson’ which makes a beautiful walk in the shade with waterfalls (less water in summer of course). The town called ‘Baume les Messieurs’, a bit further away is beautiful as well and has really nice caves to visit and to cool off in. Website of the camp site near Lac de Chalain: https://www.chalain.com/fr/
And of the caves in Baumes les Messieurs: http://www.baumelesmessieurs.fr/les-grottes-de-baume/
5. Swimming
If you do not want to go too far away… there is swimming around Geneva of course… The lake, the beaches. When sometimes on the weekends it gets a bit busy, you can also escape to the rivers, either the Versoix river or the Allondon river, depending on where you are located. And the beach in Divonne-les-bains in France could be good as well!
Stay cool everyone!