If you’re looking for discounted clothing, shoes, and accessories, you don’t have to wait until the semi-annual “Soldes” in Geneva. As I recently discovered, bargains can be had at the Aubonne Outlets, located about 30 minutes away from Geneva.
I first saw an advertisement for the outlets a couple of years ago, and last month I decided to make a day of it and check out what was on offer at Aubonne. The outlets were easy to find (see “Getting There”, below) and, on the weekday morning I went, not very crowded. There is a main building with many clothing, shoe, and accessory stores, plus two cafés and items for the home; a separate structure with a Nike outlet and Navyboot store is across the street, and IKEA is adjacent to both (you can find a list of Aubonne’s stores here). I spent a couple of hours wandering through the stores, seeing what was available and looking for a few things in particular.
In all, I found the shopping experience at Aubonne fairly standard for outlet shopping in general. There were deep discounts at most of the stores, though not a lot of selection in all sizes, so I had to hunt a bit to find my size in some things (such as shoes). I found some great bargains on outdoor clothing at the Ochsner Sport Outlet, just in time for the start of warmer-weather hiking in the area, and found several pairs of shoes at 50% off at a couple of the other stores. Even when factoring in the costs of my train ticket, I saved nearly 40% over what I would have paid for the same items at a non-outlet store in Geneva.
Getting There
The Aubonne outlets are a short distance from Geneva. By car, take the Allaman exit from the A1 autoroute and follow the signs to the parking area. Depending on your departure point in Geneva, it is about a 30-minute drive. Parking is free. I took the train from Gare Cornavin to Allaman, a 29-minute ride costing CHF 14.60 round trip (second-class, using my half-fare card). If you arrive by train, exit the station and look for IKEA – the Aubonne outlets are on the other side of IKEA, a 5-minute walk from the station.
Find out more information by visiting the Outlet-Aubonne website.
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