Geneva in March

Plenty of travel guides still tell you that March in Geneva means the motor show. It doesn’t, and it hasn’t since 2024. For more than a century the Geneva International Motor Show was the city’s great spring event, filling Palexpo with concept cars and every hotel room in town with the people who came to see them. After the 2024 edition the organisers called time on it, and March has quietly become a different month. The hotels are easier and cheaper, the ski season is still going strong in the mountains, and the city waits for a single chestnut leaf on the Promenade de la Treille to declare that spring has begun.

Geneva in March is the turn from winter to spring: highs around 11°C, changeable weather with sunny days, showers and the odd late snowfall, and daylight lengthening fast, with the clocks going forward on 28 March 2027. The Geneva Motor Show no longer takes place; its successor, autoXpérience, is a smaller event at Palexpo in early March. The FIFDH human rights film festival runs from 5 to 14 March 2027, spring skiing is at its best in the high resorts, and in 2027 Easter falls at the end of the month.

01 — March at a glance.

When	What’s on	Worth knowing
Until 8 March 2027	The last French winter school holidays	Busy ski weekends at the start of the month
Early March	autoXpérience at Palexpo	The motor show’s successor, listed for 4 to 7 March 2027
5 to 14 March 2027	FIFDH, the human rights film festival and forum	Films and debates timed with the UN Human Rights Council
Usually in March	The first leaf on the official chestnut tree	Geneva’s official start of spring, recorded since 1818
Until early March	The outdoor ice rinks	Parc des Bastions and Carouge close for the season
26 to 29 March 2027	Easter: Good Friday and Easter Monday are public holidays	Shops close on Good Friday
28 March 2027	The clocks go forward	Sunset jumps to nearly 20:00

02 — The motor show has gone. Here’s what that means.

The Geneva International Motor Show was held at Palexpo, next to the airport, every March for generations. It was one of the biggest events in the European car industry and the one time of year when Geneva’s hotels were truly full. In May 2024 its organisers announced that it would not return to Geneva, citing a lack of interest from manufacturers and competition from other shows. The show’s brand moved to Qatar.

Geneva hasn’t completely lost its March car event. Palexpo and the Swiss motor trade association, UPSA, launched autoXpérience Genève in 2025, a smaller show aimed at people shopping for a car rather than at the industry, with the emphasis on seeing and trying the models on sale. The 2027 edition is listed for early March, around 4 to 7 March. It’s a pleasant visit if you’re a car enthusiast in town anyway. It isn’t a reason to plan a trip.

For visitors, the practical change is bigger than it looks. Early March used to be one of the hardest and most expensive times of year to find a hotel room in Geneva. Now it’s an ordinary spring fortnight, and often a good-value one. If you’ve been put off by old advice about motor-show prices, you can stop worrying.

03 — The weather: winter’s end, spring’s start.

March is a month of transition, and it can swing between seasons within a week. Early in the month it can still snow in the city, or the Bise can bring a raw, bright cold spell. By the end of the month there are days warm enough to sit outside on a café terrace in the sun. Showers are common. The French call them the giboulées de mars, sudden bursts of rain, hail or sleet between sunny spells.

March in Geneva	Typical
Daytime high	Around 11°C
Night-time low	Around 2°C
Daylight	About 11 hours at the start of the month, over 12½ by the end
Sunset	From about 18:15 to about 18:50, then nearly 20:00 after the clocks change
What to expect	Changeable: sunny spells, showers, a chance of late snow, the first warm afternoons

The light is the thing that changes most. Days lengthen by about three minutes every day, and when the clocks go forward on the last Sunday of the month, 28 March in 2027, the evenings suddenly open up. Sunset jumps from before 19:00 to nearly 20:00 overnight, and after-work walks along the lake become possible again.

Pack for all of it: a warm layer, a waterproof, and sunglasses for the bright days. Our Geneva weather guide has more on the season.

04 — The official chestnut tree: Geneva’s first day of spring.

Most cities decide that spring has started by consulting a calendar. Geneva consults a tree. Since 1818, an official of the cantonal parliament, the sautier, has watched a horse chestnut on the Promenade de la Treille, the terrace below the Old Town, and recorded the day its first leaf opens. That day is declared the official start of spring in Geneva, and it makes the local news every year.

The date varies a lot. In recent years the first leaf has appeared between 3 and 24 March, and in 2026 it came on 5 March. The long record is also a small climate archive: the first leaf now tends to appear much earlier than it did in the nineteenth century. In 2026 the city held a Fête de la première feuille in the Old Town to celebrate the tradition’s 209th year.

It’s a charming thing to know when you walk along the Treille, which also claims the longest bench in the world, a green wooden bench of about 120 metres looking out towards the Salève. If you’re in Geneva in March, go and see whether the tree has spoken yet.

05 — FIFDH and the Human Rights Council.

March is when Geneva’s international side is most visible. The UN Human Rights Council holds its longest regular session from late February into early April, and delegations, NGOs and journalists fill the city. Hotels near the Palais des Nations are busier than usual, and the city’s cafés are full of lanyards.

Alongside it runs the FIFDH, the International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights, one of the most important festivals of its kind in the world. The 2027 edition, the 25th, runs from 5 to 14 March. It pairs documentaries and fiction with debates featuring activists, journalists, diplomats and the film-makers themselves. Screenings take place across the city, and most films are shown with subtitles. It’s serious, often moving, and an excellent way to see a side of Geneva that most visitors never do.

Our guide to visiting the United Nations in Geneva covers the Palais des Nations and its tours.

06 — Spring skiing.

For many skiers, March is the best month of the season. The snow base is at its deepest, the days are long and often sunny, and after the first week the school-holiday crowds have gone. It has its own rhythm, though.

• Ski early. Spring snow is firm, even icy, first thing, perfect by mid-morning and heavy and slushy by mid-afternoon on sunny slopes. Plan the best runs for late morning.
• Go high. Resorts at altitude, such as Val Thorens, Tignes, Val d’Isère and the upper slopes of Les Arcs, hold good snow long after the lower ones turn soft. Lower resorts can struggle by late March in a warm year.
• Protect yourself from the sun. Strong sun on snow at altitude burns quickly. Wear sun cream and sunglasses even on hazy days.
• Enjoy the quiet. From mid-March, lift queues shrink and prices for accommodation and transfers often fall, until the Easter holidays arrive.

Day trips from Geneva are easy in March, with longer daylight and quieter roads midweek. The closest resorts, such as La Clusaz, Morzine, Les Gets and Flaine, are about an hour to an hour and a half away. See our guide to skiing near Geneva, and our ski transfers guide for the airport end.

07 — Easter falls in March in 2027.

In 2027 Easter Sunday is 28 March, unusually early. Good Friday, 26 March, and Easter Monday, 29 March, are both public holidays in Geneva. Most shops close on Good Friday, and many businesses close on Easter Monday. Museums and restaurants keep their own hours, so check before you go.

Easter brings the chocolatiers into their own. Geneva’s shop windows fill with chocolate eggs, hens and bells, and it’s one of the best times of year for a chocolate walk. See our guide to Geneva’s chocolate shops.

An early Easter also means that the last week of March 2027 will be busier than usual in the ski resorts and more expensive for flights, as British and other European school holidays begin. If you want quiet slopes and low prices, aim for the middle of the month.

08 — Where to watch spring arrive.

Geneva is a city of parks, and March is when they come back to life. The first crocuses and daffodils appear early in the month, and by the end of it the magnolias and flowering cherries are out in a good year.

• The Conservatoire et Jardin botaniques, the botanical gardens beside the lake near the UN, are free to enter and full of spring bulbs, with glasshouses for a showery day.
• Parc La Grange and Parc des Eaux-Vives, on the left bank of the lake, have old trees, lawns running down to the water and views across to the Jura.
• The Parc des Bastions sits below the Old Town beside the Reformation Wall, and its paths lead up to the Treille and the official chestnut tree.
• The lakefront promenade, from the Pâquis to the Perle du Lac, is the classic walk on the first warm weekend of the year.

Our guide to Geneva’s parks and gardens has more.

09 — Day trips in March.

• Lausanne and Montreux: the lake towns are pleasant in spring sunshine, and the Château de Chillon is open all year. See our Montreux day trip guide.
• Gruyères: the castle, the cheese and the mountain views, before the summer crowds arrive. See our Gruyères day trip guide.
• Annecy: the lakeside town wakes up in spring, and the first warm days fill the canal-side terraces. See our Annecy day trip guide.
• Chamonix: spring skiing, or just the view of Mont Blanc on a clear day. See our Chamonix day trip guide.

The big lake steamers still run their winter timetable in March, with the full summer service starting later in spring.

10 — What March costs.

• Hotels: generally good value, now that the motor show has gone. Rooms near the Palais des Nations can be busier during the Human Rights Council session.
• Flights: busy at weekends at the start of the month, when the ski holidays end, and again at the end of March 2027, when Easter begins. The middle of the month is the sweet spot. See our guide to flights to Geneva.
• Ski trips: cheaper and quieter from mid-March until the Easter holidays.

11 — A March weekend in Geneva.

• Friday: arrive and walk up through the Parc des Bastions to the Treille, check on the chestnut tree, and take in the view from the long bench. Dinner in the Old Town.
• Saturday: a morning at the Musée d’Art et d’Histoire or the Red Cross Museum, lunch by the lake, and the botanical gardens in the afternoon. If the FIFDH is on, book an evening screening and debate.
• Sunday: a day in the mountains for spring skiing, or a train along the lake to Montreux and the Château de Chillon. Back in time for a fondue, which still makes sense in March.

Your hotel will give you the free Geneva Transport Card, which covers the city’s trams, buses and trains for your whole stay. See our Transport Card guide.

12 — What to pack.

• Layers. March can be wintry in the morning and warm by lunchtime.
• A waterproof jacket for the showers.
• Sunglasses and sun cream, especially if you’re heading to the mountains.
• Comfortable, waterproof shoes for walking.

Our seasonal packing list has the full list.

Frequently asked questions.

13 — Related Geneva guides.

• Geneva in spring
• Geneva in February
• The best time to visit Geneva
• Skiing near Geneva
• Geneva events and festivals
• Visiting the United Nations in Geneva
• Geneva’s Old Town