Neuchâtel
Neuchâtel is 125 km from Geneva Airport, around 1 hour 25 minutes by the A1 and A5 motorways along the shores of Lake Geneva and Lake Neuchâtel, without crossing any border. The capital of the canton of Neuchâtel is a compact, elegant city on the lake, with a castle, a collegiate church and an old town built of yellow limestone. AirportsTransfers.ch takes you there in comfort, whether you are visiting for business, study or leisure.
- Distance from GVA: 125 km
- Drive time: about 1 h 25
- Border crossing: none, Switzerland only
- Best for: culture, business, lakeside stays, watchmaking heritage
- Getting there: A1 via Lausanne and Yverdon, then A5 along the lake
Getting from Geneva Airport to Neuchâtel
The car takes the A1 along Lake Geneva to Lausanne, continues north to Yverdon and then follows the A5 along the northern shore of Lake Neuchâtel, through vineyards and villages, to the city. The motorway passes through tunnels beneath the city centre, with exits close to the old town and the lakeside. Outside rush hours in the Lausanne area, traffic is generally light.
Neuchâtel is also well served by direct trains from Geneva, which run along the same route, making the train a good option for light travellers. A private car is preferable for families with luggage, groups, and business travellers who want to work during the journey or go straight to a meeting.
Old town, castle and collegiate church
Neuchâtel's old town is built of the local yellow limestone, which gives the city its warm colour; the writer Alexandre Dumas famously described it as looking as if it were carved out of butter. Narrow streets, fountains and squares lead up to the castle and the collegiate church, which stand together on a hill overlooking the lake. The castle, which houses the cantonal government, can be visited on guided tours, and the collegiate church contains a monumental cenotaph of the Counts of Neuchâtel. The views over the rooftops and the lake towards the Alps are excellent from the terrace.
Below the hill, the market square and the streets around it are lined with Renaissance and eighteenth-century houses, and on market days the square fills with stalls of local produce. The Maison des Halles, a sixteenth-century building with turrets and an ornate façade, is one of the most photographed in the city. Several fine town houses and patrician residences, built by merchants and bankers who made fortunes in trade, recall the wealth of the eighteenth century, when the city was linked to the Kingdom of Prussia.
Museums and culture
The Museum of Art and History houses the famous Jaquet-Droz automata, eighteenth-century mechanical figures capable of writing, drawing and playing music, which are demonstrated on certain occasions. Just outside the city at Hauterive, the Laténium is one of Switzerland's largest archaeology museums, devoted to the La Tène culture named after a nearby site, which gave its name to a whole period of Celtic history. The Natural History Museum and the Ethnography Museum complete the offer.
Neuchâtel is also a university city and a centre of research in microtechnology, with ties to the watchmaking industry in the nearby Jura mountains. Business travellers visiting companies or research centres often combine the city with La Chaux-de-Fonds and Le Locle, the watchmaking towns listed by UNESCO for their urban planning.
Lakeside life and day trips
The lakefront promenade, with its parks, beaches and marina, is the place to walk in the evening. In summer, boats link Neuchâtel to the villages of the lake and to Lakes Murten and Biel through canals, forming the Three Lakes region. The surrounding vineyards produce Chasselas and the local rosé, Œil-de-Perdrix.
- Creux du Van: a spectacular natural rock amphitheatre in the Jura
- Val-de-Travers: absinthe heritage and asphalt mines
- La Chaux-de-Fonds and Le Locle: watchmaking towns and museums
- Murten / Morat: a walled medieval town on its own lake
In winter, cross-country skiing in the Jura is close by, while summer is ideal for hiking, cycling along the lake and swimming.
Booking your transfer with AirportsTransfers.ch
Book online and you will see your fixed price per vehicle before paying by card, Apple Pay or Google Pay. Your chauffeur monitors your flight, greets you in arrivals with a name sign and waits at no extra cost if your flight is late. Choose from a Mercedes E-Class for up to three passengers and three bags, an S-Class for executive trips, a V-Class for up to seven passengers and ten bags, or a Sprinter for groups. Child seats are available on request, and skis or bikes should be declared at booking. Return trips, chauffeur by the hour and invoices for companies are available. Reach us 24/7 on +41 78 346 56 77, by call or WhatsApp.
