White is free but if municipale police pass, max parking is 3days and could get a fine. Sometimes with foreign plates, they might escalate, depending of the parking location. Same for Blue zones, but zou need either a blue disc or a local sticker, called Macaron. So in blue zone, more than and hour is a risk, but simple, read the signs that mark the blue zones. So there is no free parking more that 3days, if unmaked, its then not a parking location and can be towed.

Or you have paid permanant parking. 

Safety for a car, its on the boarder of france, close to Lyon, clue if nice swanky car is never safe anywere, but Geneva is probably still the safest. 

Worst crimes here are petty crimes or domestic volence. 

Dave, thanks a million.  Yes, I know, blue (macaron) is out of question, same as yellow, etc - I am not going to make any (illegal) tricks, fake my parking time etc. Rules are rules.

So only white is Ok. However -

- I understand it goes only for those areas where there is no big "P" blue symbol + text that after X minutes you must pay, right? Only white lines. What about white BOXES?  If they are not accompanied by Parking symbol or any road sign, is this completely OK to park 3 days there? By the way, how does police know if this is 3 days already or what not?

- Not sure about boxes with numbers, this looks like a legit parking reserved for someone? 

- I have found a white line, without any Parking sign just around my block. But as it seems., some smart guys sprayed white paint themselves, to make it look like "reserved place", (with car plates on the small wall) but I think it is quite fake (there are only 2 plates on this wall, all the rest like 70 m is plate-free)  Do you think it is OK to park in such area? (I am attaching some photos)

Not free, but pretty convenient, the "Macaron multizones tout public" allows you to stay the whole day in the blue zone, even if you are not a resident:

https://www.geneve-parking.ch/sites/fdpg.ch/files/Multizones_GB.pdf

where is a very good site with the full explaination. and white zones , becarefuil, they are either using numbers for paying into a machine for say 90min.

http://www.geneva.info/parking/

Hubs,

A bit of friendly advice: do you and your friends want to enjoy their visit, at ease, without worries, and without a bucket of cold water at the end if you get a ticket? Just use the information found at the link provided by Lexa. For 20 francs a day you will get peace of mind. Do you really want to spend time looking for white spaces, which may or may not be for free, shooting photos, trying to determine whether they apply or not, or wouldn't you do better exploring for places which you will share with them?

Hi JR,

No, absolutely no :))   I rather pay 20/day and have piece of mind, indeed. I was just wondering why this system is so complex here, but I guess there is no point in dissecting this.

I will read the link carefully. 

I have also read (the link that Dave just provided above) that for 12 CHF a day you can park in P+R safely and even get a TPG ticket? Does anyone know if it applies also to overnight parking? I must check this as well.

Thanks for the info, Lexa! That looks very convenient, especially when you have 1/2 day options (in case you move around to Lausanne or such, and back etc). Scratching will also bring childhood memories, that's a bonus 

To answer your questions:

For blue zones, you need to either have a macaron or use the blue disc (short-term free parking). There will be a traffic sign to indicate that.

For white zones, you need to pay (short-term non-free parking). There will be a specific traffic sign and parking meters around.

Note that there are some white zones, mostly in the suburbs of Geneva, where you need to put the blue disc too. Again, this is clearly indicated by a traffic sign.

None of these options are suitable for you if you need to leave a car more than one day. For this, you need a white zone with no sign. These used to exist in Geneva less than 10 years ago (for instance in Route de Prégny, near the U.N.) but have been eliminated little by little. Nowadays the only white zone of this kind in Geneva is in Route des Jeunes, but finding a place there is very tricky so don't count on it -- most places are usually taken by trucks and trailers.

There are still free (white or unmarked) parking zones in the countryside, starting from the west part of Bernex and moving away from Geneva. You might park there and take a bus back home. I believe you can safely park there for 3-4 days; I'm not sure what is the maximum you are allowed to leave your car in the street, I think it is 1 week.

The picture you posted looks like a private place, do not leave the car there or it might be towed by the Régie.

Hello Hubs... If you are still searhing for a parking spot, I have a private parking place that I don't use all the time, and will not be using it from 1-4 June. It's in the commune of Le Grand-Saconnex, near the bus stop with the same name. I'd happily offer it to you for free duting that period.

If interested, pls send me a private message to arrange it.

Good luck

N.B. I agree with you, I find the parking rules in Geneva pretty complicated. Even after checking some othe links shared in this conversation, I still find it confusing :-)

Thanks everyone, in the end, I have found safe private parking for that weekend. But let's please keep this thread active, maybe some will find sugestions uselful. I will be adding also new info if I found any. (for example, someone told me you can park the car in big parking @ Tribune de Geneve for cheap, but I didn't check this yet). I will also check that P+R parking option (and supposedly you get a 1 day TPG ticket with it)

Some relevant information on the topic (albeit in French only) from the (official) websites of the Canton de Genève and of the Ville de Genève:

https://www.ge.ch/stationnement

http://www.ville-geneve.ch/themes/mobilite/voitures-motos/stationnement-parking/

I hope they are useful

Bonne lecture :-)