Lake Geneva is the largest body of water in Switzerland, and greatly exceeds in size all others that are connected with the main valleys of the Alps.

The crescent form was more regular in a recent geological period, when the lake extended to Bex, about 18 km (11 mi) south of Villeneuve.

On the south side, the mountains of Savoy and Valais are for the most part rugged and sombre, while those of the northern shore fall in gentle vine-covered slopes, thickly set with villages and castles.

From Vevey to Bex, where the lake originally extended, the shores are enclosed by comparatively high and bold mountains, and the vista terminates in the grand portal of the defile of St. Maurice, cleft to a depth of nearly 2,700 m (8,900 ft) between the opposite peaks of the Dents du Midi and the Dent de Morcles.

[11][12] The average surface elevation of 372 m (1,220 ft) above sea level is controlled by the Seujet Dam [fr] in Geneva.

[20] In 563, according to the writings of Gregory of Tours and Marius Aventicensis, a tsunami wave swept along the lake, destroying the fort of Tauredunum and other settlements, and causing numerous deaths in Geneva.

[29] In 2011, in a collaborative operation led by École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, two Mir submersibles were used for ten weeks to conduct extensive scientific research in Lake Geneva.

[30] French mathematician Jacques Charles François Sturm and Swiss physicist Daniel Collodon used two moored boats, separated by a measured distance, as the transmitting and receiving platforms for the sounds of exploding gunpowder.

The lake is rich in wildlife, especially birds: both the common buzzard and the red kite breed here in considerable numbers.

Several competitions for swimmers are organised yearly, the longest of which spans the length of the lake from Chillon Castle to Geneva (70km) and is known as The Signature.

[38] Mary and Percy Shelley and Lord Byron holidayed by the lake and wrote ghost stories, one of which became the basis for the novel Frankenstein.

[40] Actor Charlie Chaplin spent his final years and died in Vevey (there is a memorial statue of him along the promenade; his home at Corsier-sur-Vevey is now a museum of his life and career).

Actors Noël Coward, James Mason, Sir Peter Ustinov, Richard Burton, and Audrey Hepburn all lived in villages on the shores of or in view of the lake.

David Bowie moved to a chalet to the north of Lake Geneva in 1976, which inspired him to take up painting and informed the first stages of the "Berlin Trilogy".