Jet d'Eau
Four hundred and sixty feet of water thrown up at 125mph, visible from all over the city.
Duration
30 min – 1 hr
Best time
Late in the day
Open
March to October
Entry price
Free
The jet d'eau was not conceived as a monument. In 1886 it was a safety valve for the Coulouvrenière hydraulic works: when the craftsmen shut down their machines in the evening, the pressure had to escape somewhere, and it shot out at the end of the main.
The city turned it into an ornament in 1891, then moved it in 1951 to its present position on the lake. It throws five hundred litres a second to a hundred and forty metres, at two hundred kilometres an hour. The seven tonnes of water in the air at any moment fall partly onto the jetty: you get soaked depending on the wind.
Getting there
On the lake, at the end of the Eaux-Vives jetty. Twenty minutes on foot from the station, or the small lake shuttle from the left bank.
What to bring
- Walking shoes
- Windbreaker
- Dry bag
Rules on site
It is switched off in high wind, in frost and for maintenance several weeks a year. The jetty is soaked and slippery depending on wind direction: do not walk out with sensitive gear.
