Mussels at Playtime

There's a recently refurbished Leon de Bruxelles in Thoiry/St Genis. The restaurant has a small separate room is view of tables. The room has free table football and a few books. This place is so new we were the very first people to test the playroom and also the restaurant itself.  Location is adjacent to the Holiday Inn.

Pizza on the Terrace in St Genis

In St Genis Casanova is a pizzeria where you can eat on a terrace overlooking some grass and a climbing frame.

Update 24th September 2012: The previously broken playground has been replaced by a brand new area with a bouncy rubber floor. This is huge improvement allowing you to ignore your children.

Climbing at a Campsite near Seleve

This is a playground on a campsite in Neydens that we used while visiting the restaurant for a coffee. There was also a collection of rabbits to pet and a bouncy castle on the day we visited. Of course the real reason to visit this village is to buy beer from the Brasserie du Mont Saleve.

Hoover your Car and Play

This playground is just off of Route de Meyrin, a four lane road through Geneva with trams whizzing by. It only has one purpose - to occupy your children in safety while you wash and vacuum the car. I admire the owner for providing these facilities.

McLHCb Near Ferney

The new well-known Scottish restaurant is now open just inside France over the Mategnin border. The restaurant and outdoor playground are situated close to LHCb which is one of the four LHC experiments at CERN. You can eat your burger and watch them play while the big bang is recreated under your feet.

View Mt Blanc while climbing on Salève

The Salève is the 1400m mountain right next to Geneva. It's easy to reach with public transport and then can be scaled with the cable car or alternatively you can just drive up. Apart from the obvious walking and view-taking to do there is a small see-saw at the kiosk at the top of the cable car. The Auberge des Montagnards in Croisette has a terrace and small climbing frame (which is reassuringly close to the restaurant's tables) looking out to Mt Blanc, they also have chickens and rabbit as a useful diversion.

Bouncy Castles at Palexpo

Palexpo is the Geneva exhibition centre near the airport normally reserved for the likes of the Geneva Motor Show. In the winter months, however, one of the halls is taken over by Espace Junior.

The room is filled to bursting with bouncy castles, I counted at least 20 in total. There are also trampolines, battery go-karts and self propelled vehicles for the younger ones. This year the charge was 12 CHF for each child and adults were free, the go-karts require an extra token. There's a small shop selling ice-creams, coffee and beer. They have tables and benches to allow you to bring your own food or even host a children's birthday party.

Certainly this place has to be visited at least once over the winter season.

Indoor Play In Carouge - Wolfisberg

Wolfisberg is a laid back and sophisticated bakery and cafe, it's good for coffee, lunch or a drink. Children are well catered for with a climbing frame sensibly separated from the diners by a sheet of perspex - fabulous!

Playing in Geneva Airport

Geneva airport has some of the best facilities for babies and toddlers. As well as a play area there are children's beds and cots.  The room is open from 08:30 I believe but I have heard of it being opened especially over night for people stuck at the airport. It can be quite tricky to find and is flight side just after the security check.

This place is so good it is worthwhile coming to the airport a bit early in order to spend some time there.

Buvette on the Lake at Versoix

The buvette beside the yacht club in  Versoix has a small area in which children can play. There are cartoon books and graphic novels for older children and adults, building blocks, lego, some large toy trucks and a nice comfy sofa.

The buvette sells coffee, home-made cakes and bagels and even some very decent beer, which is made in Lausanne.

The buvette closes for the winter months.

Lunching and Climbing at the Chavannes Centre

The self-service restaurant at the Chavannes shopping centre has a terrace that runs into three climbing frames including a pirate ship.

Unfortunately, we always visit Chavannes Centre in the rain - its a good rainy day destination!

Squeaky New Ikea at Vernier

Ikea Play

Today was the grand opening of the new Ikea at Vernier and here is the play area. It's quite different to the Ikea at Aubonne. The best thing is the vertical pipes on the ground that are connected by mirrors.

The crèche also looked great through the window - Ballpit-tastic.

Get Interactive at Flunch

Flunch Interactive

Play table  coming away from the wall.

Flunch is the recently rebranded cafeteria at Carrefour in Segny. It has a toddler's area which is basically a pretty small copy of an Ikea cafeteria play area with interactive panels and those beads on wire things. It also has a tiny telly so far away you can't see it.  I noticed also that one of shelves was coming away from the wall which, given this is a new place, seems bad. The ball pit that used to be here in Cafe Cresendo has now long gone.