Geneva eSIM
In Geneva you connect to Swisscom or Salt, whichever is performing better where you are standing. The typical speed across the country is 112 Mbps. Your data starts working the moment you land, before you reach the immigration hall.
- Networks
- Swisscom and Salt
- Typical speed in Switzerland
- 112 Mbps typical, 39 Mbps at busy times
- 5G
- yes, standalone and non standalone
- Throttle
- None on metered plans
- Tethering
- Allowed on every plan
Plans that cover Geneva
| Data | Validity | Price per GB | Price | Buy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 GB | Never expires | $5.89 | $5.89 | |
| 3 GB | Never expires | $2.63 | $7.89 | |
| 5 GBMost travellers | Never expires | $1.98 | $9.89 | |
| 10 GB | Never expires | $1.49 | $14.89 | |
| 20 GB | Never expires | $1.19 | $23.89 | |
| 50 GB | Never expires | $0.94 | $46.89 |
How Switzerland compares across Europe
- Regional typical speed
- 71 Mbps
- Upstream networks
- 2, Swisscom, Salt
- 5G
- Yes, standalone and non standalone
- Next fastest nearby
- Kosovo, 158.7 Mbps
- Next slowest nearby
- Finland, 102 Mbps
- Cities with their own page
- 4: Zurich, Geneva, Interlaken, Zermatt
Landing at Geneva Airport (GVA)
- Airport
- GVA / LSGG
- Distance
- 4 km from the centre of Geneva
- Wifi on arrival
- Free wifi in the terminalThe free network is Free_Wi-fi_GVA. Swiss surveillance law requires users to be identifiable, so you authenticate with an SMS code sent to your phone number, by scanning a boarding pass at a terminal, or with ID at the Visitors Centre.
- SIM on arrival
- SIM counters or vending in the terminalChange Helvetic currency exchange counters sell international SIM cards alongside money transfer, with desks in the public area and after security control.
Getting into Geneva
- Rail to Geneve-Cornavin station (GVA)
- CFF train, Geneve Aeroport to Geneve-Cornavin (GVA), about 7 minutes
- tpg line 10 to Gare Cornavin and Rive (GVA)
- tpg aerobus free early morning shuttle to the airport (GVA)
Worth knowing about Geneva
- Geneva Airport has a French sector (Pier F) created by a 1960s agreement between France and the Canton of Geneva, so it is possible to leave the airport into France without passing through Swiss customs - and to end up attached to a French network.
- The airport is only about 4 km northwest of the city centre and has its own railway station with trains to Geneve-Cornavin.
- Visitors staying in Geneva accommodation travel free on the Geneva Transport Card for the whole stay, covering zone 10 unireso: tpg buses and trams, CFF trains and Mouettes Genevoises boats.
- The Geneva Transport Card is digital. A link arrives by email up to three days before arrival and the card sits in the Hello Geneva app, so it already covers the ride from the airport.
- Geneva Airport states the Geneva Transport Card covers the airport to Geneve-Cornavin journey. Twelve tpg lines serve the airport, from stops at check-in level next to the CFF railway station.
- The City of Geneva runs a free public wifi network named ville-geneve, with more than 635 access points across 78 sites. You connect with an account, or get one free by SMS.
- tpg machines on board vehicles accept all contactless bank cards plus tpgPay, Twint, Google Pay and Apple Pay. Machines at stops also take cash and give change.
- A Tout Geneve ticket is valid 60 minutes in zone 10. Day passes run until 5 a.m. the next day. The cross border Leman Pass ticket is valid 180 minutes.
- Trains link Geneve Aeroport station with Geneve-Cornavin in 7 minutes, up to seven trains an hour. Some run on without a change to Lausanne, Fribourg, Neuchatel, Bern and Zurich.
- tpg runs free aerobus shuttles to Geneva Airport from the main urban areas in the early morning. No transport ticket is needed, an airline ticket or same day boarding pass is enough.
- Swiss law requires operators to identify everyone who buys a SIM card with an identification document. Salt accepts Swiss and foreign passports, Swiss and foreign ID cards, and L, B, C and G work permits, and keeps a digital copy.
- SBB FreeSurf gives free internet on IC and IR long distance trains, but it needs the separate FreeSurf app, and SBB tells passengers from abroad to get a Swisscom or Sunrise SIM or eSIM.
- The Leman Express opened on 15 December 2019 with 45 stations over 230 km of railway, so ordinary suburban trains out of Cornavin cross into the French departments of Haute-Savoie and Ain.
- The World Wide Web was invented in 1989 by Tim Berners-Lee at CERN, on the edge of Geneva. CERN made the WorldWideWeb source code royalty free on 30 April 1993.
- More than 40 United Nations system organizations are based or have a regional office in Geneva, the biggest UN duty station outside New York, servicing more than 8,000 meetings a year.
Sources for this page
Other cities in Switzerland we cover
- Zermatt
- 125 km from Geneva, nearest airport LUG
- Interlaken
- 142 km from Geneva, nearest airport BRN
- Zurich
- 224 km from Geneva, nearest airport ZRH