École d’Apnée Scuba-Shop

École d'Apnée Scuba-Shop in Villeneuve, on the shore of Lake Geneva, is Switzerland's only professional freediving centre. It's run by Instructor Trainer Phil Simha — also a teacher of yoga, pranayama and meditation, a breathing coach, and a published author and photographer whose books include "L'APNÉE, Techniques, secrets et philosophie de la plongée libre."

Courses year-round

Training runs all year: in an indoor pool through the colder months, and from June to September at the summer lakeside base with a 50 m pool and lake access. The programme spans everything from Freediving Basics for beginners to full Freediver Instructor Training, with the PADI Freediver course starting from USD 412 over roughly two days.

The philosophy here favours practice, pleasure and patience, letting performance arrive on its own — as the motto goes, freediving is less a sport than a state of mind. Facilities include an onsite training pool and classroom, free Wi-Fi, a retail shop and parking, with instruction offered in English, French, German and Italian.