GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Happy (if a bit chilly) Easter weekend to all. The Lake Geneva region has a wealth of good events coming up in the near future and plenty of things to do. Here’s a sampler – start marking your April calendar now.
Indoor and outdoor sports – get fit or stay fit!
If you believe it’s still winter, you’re in luck in the Jura, where the snow cover is still good, with “excellent conditions” Friday morning for cross-country and downhill skiing: 170cm on top and 20-30 at the bottom for Alpine skiers and 110cm for Nordic. Details, Monts Jura
If you think it’s time to put away those skis, trying the walking paths that crisscross canton Vaud, especially the wine routes in Lavaux if you don’t mind hills. Wanderland.ch is a great source of information about hiking throughout Switzerland.
Bpa, the Swiss Safety Council, has just produced a report on the benefits walking offers , particularly for older people in helping prevent injuries from falls. Here’s a set of exercises, various levels, to achieve different ends. Good for your language skills, too – available in German, French and Italian, or just follow the moves.
New and very very cool but you’ll have to wait until 2017: an indoor sports centre for several sports in Lens, part of the Crans-Montana resort area. More on that later.
Film, wine, inventions, art, gardens, tunnels
The Geneva International Exhibition of Inventions – the world’s largest such fair – runs from 13-17 April at Palexpo.
Arvinis, Switzerland’s largest indoor wine fair and a superb opportunity to taste Swiss wines and meet the makers (also wines from elsewhere), is on in Morges from 13-18 April at the CFF Halles next to the train station.
Visions du Réel, 15-23 April, is 47 years old this year, and going strong: 180 films from 49 countries, 90 world premieres and 26 international ones – 30 Swiss films have made the cutoff this year. Don’t miss it! Programme
Jean Dubufett’s exhibition at the Beyeler Foundation in Basel is featuring special performances of two Coucou Bazaar characters over the Easter weekend. Even if you miss that, this is a wonderful art show, continues to 8 May.
The Beyeler will be hosting a new perspective on Alexander Calder’s work from 29 May to 4 September.
Spring will soon spring, a promise – and the annual Coppet garden fair, Jardins en Fête, takes place 6-8 May, with 100 exhibitors and events. Given Mother’s Day in there, family activities are part of the weekend. Medicinal and herbal plants are a special feature this year.
The Swiss Museum of Transport in Lucerne is one of Switzerland’s most popular museums, a favourite place to take children and grandparents. The museum’s new exhibit impresses by size alone, appropriately: it recounts the tale of the new Gotthard Tunnel, which opens 1 June as the world’s longest rail tunnel, 150km linking the north and south sides of the Alps. Technically rich exhibit for science and transport buffs. Runs 24 March to 23 October.