Lake Geneva
The great crescent lake of the Alps, shared by Switzerland and France
Lake Geneva — Lac Leman to the French and Genfersee to the Swiss — is the largest lake in the Alps, a graceful blue crescent cradled between the Jura mountains and the snow peaks of Savoy. The Rhone enters it muddy from the glaciers and leaves it clear at the city of Geneva, polished by its long passage through deep, cold water. Vineyard terraces climb its northern shore, the resorts of the Swiss Riviera line its banks, and across the water the French spa towns face the famous fountain, the Jet d'Eau, jetting from the harbour of Geneva.
The lake bends through about 580 square kilometres in its distinctive boomerang shape and reaches a maximum depth of 310 metres in the broad central basin between Lausanne and Evian. Around 60 percent of its surface lies in Switzerland and 40 percent in France. The Rhone, pouring in from the Valais Alps, drives a slow circulation through the lake, and its deep waters stratify and turn over with the seasons. The Lavaux vineyards rising in terraces above the northern shore, warmed by sun reflected off the water, are a UNESCO World Heritage site.
The lake has long been a magnet for the European imagination. Byron and Shelley summered on its shores, where Mary Shelley began Frankenstein during the cold, storm-wracked summer of 1816, while Rousseau drew on its landscapes, and the Chateau de Chillon on its eastern shore inspired poets and painters. Geneva grew into a centre of diplomacy and finance, and the lake remains a working waterway plied by historic paddle steamers, a source of drinking water for the region, and one of the most studied lakes in the world for limnology.