Geneva Airport is somewhat unusual in that it is divided into two sectors – French and Swiss, with the latter considered the ‘International’ sector. The upshot of this is that if you hire a car from one sector but return it to another, you may well find yourself facing a nasty surcharge. As for the companies themselves, there are an impressive eleven waiting to greet you at Geneva Airport, where visitors come to experience one of the most picturesque cities in Switzerland.
The main terminal building at Geneva Airport (Photo: Riex via Flickr)
The car rental desks in the airport’s Swiss sector are situated on the same level as the Airport Terminal Arrival lounge. For visitors arriving in the French sector, you need to go up to the check-in level and follow the “destination France” signs. However, only domestic French flights arrive on the French side, so if you’re traveling from anywhere else, you’ll land on the International side. Confused? Don’t worry, it’s far less complicated than it sounds once you’re there!
Our car rental company search results
Most people don’t put any more thought into their car hire than finding the best rate, but for maximum reassurance you may want to check out other factors such as customer reviews. After all, it’s a sad fact that a number of lesser-known companies are always looking for a way to scam people who don’t know any better. To help you avoid this fate, we’ve done the work so you don’t need to, by taking a deeper look at the rental companies based at Geneva and picking out the ones we recommend most highly.
Europcar offer a great choice of cheap car hire delivering exceptional value for money. Among the compact and affordable cars in their fleet are the Seat Ibiza, Volkswagen Polo and Hyundai i10, all of which can usually be hired for under £200 a week at the cheapest. These types of car tend to have space for 5 passengers and 2 pieces of luggage. As well as top notch value, other benefits of Europcar include access to a key-box for drop-offs, so you can bring your car back out of hours if you want. Daily, weekly, monthly, short and long term car hire is available.
What first caught our eye about Sixt was the great deals they have on right now, including an all-inclusive weekend special and ‘super staycation’ offer. A number of these deals would suit families, as they include larger cars such as the Mitsubishi Lancer and Skoda Octavia Estate. Of course, we can’t guarantee the same deals will be available for your dates of travel, but it’s certainly worth checking out. Sixt also come with consistently excellent customer reviews and their rental desk is open from 7am to 11.30pm throughout the week.
We must confess, we were a touch disappointed with our search for luxury car hire and sports cars from Geneva Airport. But the best of a relatively uninspiring bunch was Alamo, who offer the prestigious Mercedes-Benz C-Class along with the Volkswagen Tiguan SUV, the latter being a good choice for those planning to traverse Switzerland’s mountainous landscapes by car. All of the customer reviews for Alamo were ‘excellent’, so even if you don’t quite get the car of your dreams, you can at least expect to receive top quality customer service. Alamo’s desk at Geneva Airport is open from 7am to 11.30pm daily.
