What is this place

The English Garden and the Flower Clock are a lakeside park on Quai du Général-Guisan facing the Jet d’Eau. It is Geneva’s first English-style landscape park and one of Switzerland’s most photographed spots.

Key features

  • Park created in 1855 on reclaimed land after the city walls were dismantled. The Mont-Blanc Bridge reshape in 1862–1863 gave today’s ≈25,430 m² trapezoid.
  • Flower Clock from 1955, designed by landscape architect Armand Auberson. Replanted 4 times a year. Plant count varies in sources ~3,000–12,000. Time set via satellite.
  • The seconds hand is 2.5 m long – among the world’s longest for an outdoor mechanism.
  • National Monument 1869 – allegory of Geneva’s accession to the Swiss Confederation 1814–1815.
  • Bronze “Four Seasons” fountain installed 1863. Also a bandstand, La Potinière restaurant and century-old trees, incl. a purple beech from 1895.

What to see

  • The Flower Clock at the park corner and wide views to the lake and Jet d’Eau.
  • The National Monument at the park’s western edge.
  • The Four Seasons fountain and the music pavilion on the central axis.

History

The site was reclaimed from the lake after the bastions were removed in the 1840s–1850s. Opened in 1855 as the “Promenade du Lac”, it was Geneva’s first English-style park with curving paths and free-planted trees. The 1862 Mont-Blanc Bridge prompted a redesign and by 1863 a monumental fountain had been installed.

In 1869, the National Monument was inaugurated. In 1955, the Flower Clock was placed at the eastern corner as a tribute to watchmaking and mosaiculture. To manage crowd safety it was moved 8 m inward in 1992, and in 2017 its hands and irrigation were renewed. The clock remains a city icon with seasonally changing displays.

Practical information

Location: Quai du Général-Guisan, 1204 Geneva. Between Pont du Mont-Blanc and the CGN piers. Near the Jet d’Eau.

Getting there: to Métropole or Molard – lines 2, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 17, 25. Mouettes Genevoises boats to Molard.

Access: Free, open 24/7. Pedestrian area. Bicycles not allowed inside the garden, cycle lane runs along the quay. Wheelchair-accessible. Dogs on leash on paths only.

Visiting hours: 24/7. The Flower Clock is always visible, with plant designs changing by season.

Visit duration: 20–40 minutes for the park and clock. Longer with photo stops at the fountain and lakeside.

Best time: Spring and summer for vivid plant mosaics. Evenings for softer light and the illuminated Jet d’Eau.

Notes: Keep off lawns and do not cross the low barrier in front of the clock. Surfaces near the water can be slippery after rain.