Tag: Annemasse

  • Annemasse – Ibis (Accor Hotel)

    Annemasse – Ibis (Accor Hotel)

    [I originally posted this in August 2018 about a visit from March 2016, but I’ve reposted it to fix the broken image links]

    ibisann

    One of the problems of visiting Geneva is that it’s very expensive, and so, since I had visited the city before I made the decision to go and explore some of nearby France. Annemasse is a town on the French/Swiss border and the prices are much cheaper. It’s about a ninety-minute walk or a thirty-minute bus journey (I walked, obviously) from Geneva to Annemasse, so it was a convenient place to stay on my first evening.

    The Ibis hotel (I pinched the above photo from the hotel) is towards the Geneva side of Annemasse, although it’s only a short walk into the town centre. It was a relatively cheap option and although it wasn’t particularly exceptional, it was clean and comfortable.

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    I stayed in the hotel twice during the week, once on the evening my flight landed and another time the night before my flight departed Geneva. I’m rather risk averse, so I like to be as near to the airport as possible, to minimise the possibility of any little disasters taking place….

    As can be seen from the photos, I had the same exciting view on both of my stays since they gave me similarly located rooms during my two visits.

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    Not the best of photos, but it doesn’t really matter with Ibis, as all the rooms look pretty much the same across the chain. Clean and comfortable, and I didn’t experience the construction noise that some people were complaining about when I visited.

    The breakfast, which rather unusually I didn’t take photos of, was adequate, although again, wasn’t exceptional. For visitors to Geneva though who want to save some money, this is a perfectly viable hotel and it’s within relatively easy distance of the Swiss city.

  • Annemasse – Annemasse Railway Station to Bellegarde

    I didn’t get long to spend in Annemasse as I was getting a train to Chambery but first I had to get a train to Bellegarde. The station exterior above looked modern and well presented. The railway station was first opened in 1880 when the line was introduced to run from Paris to the Mediterranean.

    In March 1944 the allies dropped aid parcels in the area, with many of them landing near to the railway station. Today most of the rail routes are regional, there’s also a TGV service running through the station from Paris to Thonon-les-Bains.

    A memorial to those who had died in the wars.

    The ticket wasn’t unreasonable priced. I also much prefer the French tickets to those issued in the UK, they’re larger and have far more useful information on them. The cramming in information onto the smaller UK tickets usually means that it’s not as clear as it could be.

    A map at the station of the local rail routes.

    The train.

    The view from the train, which varied and was often interesting.