Car hire at Geneva airport (GVA)

The airport is on the France/Switzerland border (see plan), so it is possible to hire a car from 6 car hire desks in the Swiss arrivals hall or 3 car hire desks in the French terminal. The French side is usually cheaper. In either case we recommend driving through Geneva, which is surprisingly easy if you follow our advice notes for driving to and from the french or swiss side of the airport.

Always book ahead by internet to save time and money and get more choice. Although we give links for the individual hire companies, (unless you have a company discount) we find Holiday Autos is the best provider:

• they select which rental company has the best deal and availability at that time
• they are cheaper than the rental companies because of bulk discounts including insurance
• in our experience they are cheaper than other agencies such as Expedia
• they protect you from hidden extras that rental companies invariably add
• their website and documentation are generally better than the hire companies

Use:

Holiday Autos low cost service that protects you against extras being charged by the rental companies.
Note: search both "geneva swz" and "france - geneva". The latter may be cheaper.

We list the companies below. You can also find these on the airport official website.

Finding the Swiss side car hire desks

The Swiss side car hire desks are in International Arrivals Hall. Turn left after coming out of baggage collection/customs and they are on your right (Remember to come back here when returning the car because there are no desks in departures).

Finding the French side car hire desks

The French side car hire is a bit more complicated. Normally, after collecting baggage, turn left out of customs then left again to take the escalator up to departures (opposite car hire desks and just before UBS bank). Turn right through departures to the end and go through the French control gate (beside KLM and AirFrance desks) into the French Arrivals/Departures hall. The hire desks are each side of the exit. However, if travelling with hand-baggage only, instead of queuing at swiss passport control it is much quicker to go up to the "transit lounge" (escalator to the left), walk through and enter the French arrivals customs that way.