Lake Geneva is the largest Swiss and French lake, located in western Switzerland on the border with France. The adjacent Swiss cantons are Geneva, Vaud and Valais. The southern shore of the lake belongs to the French department of Haute-Savoie. It is the largest lake in the Alps and the second largest in Central Europe after Lake Balaton. Lies between the Savoy and Bernese Alps in the south and east and the Jura in the north-west. Was formed as a resultant reservoir from one arm of the Rhone Glacier. It has an area of 580 km² (of which 345 km² in Switzerland and 235 km² in France). It is 72 km long and a maximum of 14 km wide. The lake reaches a maximum depth of 310 m (according to other sources up to 330 m). The volume of water is 89 km³. It lies at an altitude of 372 m.
Use of Lake Geneva
There is a local boat service on the lake. The historically important freight shipping is now negligible, while passenger traffic is always revived in the summer, when paddle steamers also run on the lines. Former cargo ships are moored at Geneva’s waterfront. Viticulture is important – especially on the slopes above the north coast, exposed to the sun and mild climate. The terraced vineyards, built mainly in the 18th and 19th centuries, are a clash of interests between real estate developers, heritage conservationists and winegrowers. Some wines are known only to connoisseurs, and highly prized by them, while others have only in recent decades emerged from the decline caused by the mass production of the 1970s (especially the federal subsidies pampered agriculture in Valais).
