Free parking is a scarce commodity in GVA. You'll have to look in the suburbs to find "white" (i.e. unlimited) parking zones. If you want to park in the center you have to buy a "macaron" for CHF 200.-/year wich grants you the right to park freely in the blue zone of the place where you live. For more details, see the fondation des parkings web site (French only)

If i'm reading it properly .. http://www.ge.ch/parkings/plan/plan-ge.html 

This page seems to show blue zones and white zones .. Looks like everything east of eaux-vives is white zone, free parking?  

Look at the map and zoom out, seems the blue zones are really just the city center?

Hi John,

the plan seems to be limited to the the city of Geneva. Carouge where I live introduced blue zone & macarons (parking pass) the first of January 2013. Lancy, Vernier, Chêne-Bourg and Plan-les-Ouates did the same, but I don't know when.

Eaux-Vives is definitely not free. The problem is that 'white zone' can mean paid parking (normally at 1.50 per hour, for 1.5 hours max), or free parking. Both types of parking have white borders. 

I would try looking in Meyrin. Not in the town centre but toward Ferney-Voltaire, and close to the Migros (Avenue de Feuillasse). I'm pretty sure that's a white zone and it will be a 20 minute bus ride from there to the center of Geneva. Not ideal, but if you don't need your car often it will be fine.

Geneva has become a huge blue zone. To find a free zone, you have to go into small villages and take the bus/tram to go into town.

But it's becoming more and more difficult to find those places, as they turn to become blue due to the fact *frontaliers* use them to leave they cars during the work days (and villagers find this more and more annoying...)

@Lara. you might still find free white zone parking places just before the swiss border line, in Meyrin before Cern, in Moillesullaz by/near Caran d'Ache manufacturing facility or near Puplinge village. Your choice depending on your residence location.The TPG bus commutes to Geneva city center. Welcome back.

I posted a similar thread recently on this subject .. I'm bringing the car next month and will not have allocated parking.. I'm hoping i can leave mine at work because like Lara here, I'll hardly use it for the first couple of months while I (or the agent) finds perm place to stay, with parking!!

I wouldn't mind paying to leave it somewhere, not a fortune but if for example 1 or 2 hundred chf means i don't need to worry about it, i'd prefer that.

So any recommendation for paid places?  Eaux-Vives area prefered but anything considered. Somebody already suggested the baby plage, I've still to investigate that.