The Original Guide to Geneva
The slopes are still in play, and an Alpine spring is on the way. That’s why we’re heading to Switzerland’s finest lakeside city to help travellers make the most of both
03/02/2025
Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s epistolary novel, published in 1761, is a seminal work of Romantic literature
Genevan rapper, singer and producer Varnish La Piscine (aka Jephté Mbisi)
Chin Han and Marion Cotillard in Contagion
PRE-TRIP CULTURE CHECKLIST
READ: Julie by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
If you’re of a philosophical bent, then 18th-century writer Jean-Jacques Rousseau is the Swiss free-thinker for you. His most famous treatises – The Social Contract, A Discourse on the Origin of Inequality — may be heavy reading for a holiday, but his novel Julie, or the New Heloise channels the Mills & Boon vibe of a new Romantic movement and is the closest you’ll get to a page-turner. For more on Rousseau while in Geneva, the House of Rousseau and Literature (MRL) is a meditative museum inside his birthplace home.
LISTEN: Varnish La Piscine
Let Geneva-born rapper, singer and producer Varnish La Piscine (real name Jephté Mbisi) provide the peppy soundtrack to your trip. Blending electronic, pop and experimental sounds, the musician is signed with French dance label Ed Banger, who also represent Justice and Mr. Oizo. Have a listen to his seven-track symphony, This Lake is Successful, or the more recent Metronome Pole Dance Twist Amazone – which is also the soundtrack to an accompanying short film shot in Geneva, Les Contes du Cockatoo, co-directed by and starring Mbisi himself.
WATCH: Contagion
Not for lack of beauty, Geneva rarely makes it on to the silver screen. Perhaps its most well-known appearance is in Steven Soderbergh’s medical disaster movie Contagion, focusing on a series of narrative threads connected to a Covid-type pandemic. The all-star cast includes Matt Damon, Jude Law, Kate Winslet and Gwyneth Paltrow, but it is Marion Cotillard who spends time at the actual World Health Organisation headquarters.
Gourmet grocery Nature en Vrac. Opening image: Temple Unique Église du Sacré-Cœur with Not Vital’s Moon in foreground (November Studio)
A LOCAL’S VIEW
“When I take visitors on tours, I tend to start with the classics – the majestic Jet d’Eau, St Pierre Cathedral, or the international district. But what I love most is revealing the hidden treasures. For instance, there’s nothing quite like the view at the Pont de la Jonction, where the blue Rhône river meets the yellow Arve without blending their colours.
“When I’m looking for a quieter spot, I head to Carouge, a small town with Italian Riviera charm, or I wander through the Plainpalais market. Two favourite alternative shops are Lili Tulipe and gourmet grocery Nature en Vrac for unique souvenirs. And, of course, there’s the food. I can’t resist a traditional rösti at Café du Bourg-de-Four or the cheese fondue at Bains des Pâquis.”
THE NEW VIEW
Landlocked Geneva is a sailing hotspot, particularly during the Bol d’Or du Léman, the world’s largest inland regatta. Come to ogle the racing yachts, stay for the parties and special events. This year’s high stakes bunfight takes place from 13-15 June.
Delectable chocs at Favarger (November Studio)
RAINY DAY SAVIOUR
Though visitors to Switzerland tend to savour silky truffles and chocolatey kirsch-filled batons, Geneva’s best-kept secret is its delicate Avelines, an exquisite praline blend of chocolate and hazelnuts, which first appeared at Geneva’s markets back in 1922. Favarger, on the north side of the Rhône, is the award-winning chocolatier to visit to sample them.
Fine timepieces at the Patek Philippe Museum
A traditional workshop at the Patek Philippe Museum
A complicated Patek Philippe mechanism (November Studio)
THE ORIGINAL WATCHMAKERS
Time weighs heavy in Geneva. More than 500 years ago, a torrent of clockmakers, artists, engravers and jewel-setters fled France during the Protestant Reformation for sanctuary in Geneva, and the city’s watchmaking traditions began to take root. In order to safeguard this heritage, the Geneva School of Horology eventually introduced the Geneva seal, a stringent set of 12 criteria, and this is now the hallmark of the world’s capital of time.
At the Patek Philippe Museum, you’ll find some of the most complicated watches ever made, alongside regal timepieces worn by kings and queens, watches made of wood, watches shaped like harps and Spanish guitars and watches designed to let the wearer feel the time. There’s so much to grasp that time will fly, so make sure to keep an eye on your own
BIRD’S-EYE VIEW
Scale the heights of St Pierre Cathedral, which packs in more than 850 years of history and stories of protestant reformer John Calvin, who adopted its magnificent altar as his spiritual soapbox.
The Fondation Martin Bodmer heritage library (November Studio)
ON THE PAGE
Frankenstein was dreamed up when Mary Shelley visited Lake Geneva in 1816, and there are plenty of nods to her Gothic classic if you know where to look. A rather gruesome statue of the zombie-like monster threatens on Plaine de Plainpalais, while Villa Diodati is where Shelley wrote the first draft of the manuscript. Elsewhere, Fondation Martin Bodmer has an unrivalled archive of material pegged to the book’s creation – it’s reopening this year after a Frankie-worthy facelift.
Geneva Cornavin, the city’s main train station
ACCESS ALL AREAS
SBB, the Swiss National Rail operator, and Geneva’s metro network Léman Express have special services for passengers with reduced mobility.
THE SENSORY SIX
L’Horloge-Fleurie in Jardin Anglais park (November Studio)
Patek Philippe is a watchmaking institution (November Studio)
Sweet things at the Ottolenghi restaurant in Mandarin Oriental, Geneva
Fine wines at Chez Bacchus (November Studio)
The 140m-high Jet d’Eau fountain on Lake Geneva (November Studio)
CERN is unravelling the mysteries of the universe (Maximilien Brice)
Smell
A walk along the lake promenade brings you to the world’s largest floral clock, L’Horloge Fleurie, where the scent of seasonal blooms hangs soft on the breeze.
Hear
All manner of timepieces chime on the hour, including glockenspiels at salons dotting the most enviable address in the city, rue du Rhône. Highlights include Gübelin, Switzerland’s most famous bells-and-whistles boutique and, at number 41, Patek Philippe’s walk-in jewellery box. On the second floor, it hides a consultation room with fabulous views of the lake.
Taste
Newsflash: one of London’s most reassuring chefs is finally stepping outside of the UK. Yotam Ottolenghi has been running Nopi and Rovi, plus various delis across the capital for years, but he’s finally making the move, decades in the making, to dabble elsewhere. He opens this month at Mandarin Oriental, Geneva and the promise is pin-sharp vegetable cooking, a veg-centric menu and a focus on fire and fermentation. In a country maxed out on meat and dairy, that can only be a good thing.
Touch
Swiss wines are so delicious the country drinks almost 99 per cent of its production, with wines harvested on the terroir-rich slopes of Lake Geneva rarely exported elsewhere. Touch the grapes, feel the soil and shake hands with the winemakers crafting dynamic homegrown styles at Chez Bacchus or Bombar or, for a full day trip, take the road east for one hour to the Unesco-worthy Lavaux vineyards.
See
Jet d’Eau is Lake Geneva’s 140m-high fountain – the city’s signature spritz and the world’s tallest whoosh of water. On a windy day, the spray creates miniature rainbows that waltz across the surface as if one of nature’s greatest magic tricks.
The Sixth Sense
Just beyond the city limits in the suburbs of Meyrin, Geneva is ground zero for CERN, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research. It’s a colossal place of underground tunnels, cavernous chambers and the Large Hadron Collider, where scientists and engineers fill their days trying to solve unfathomable questions such as: “Why are we here?”, “How was the universe created?” and “Where did I leave my lunch?” The guided tours are mind-expanding.
Ski chalets in Megève
THE ROAD TRIP: Megève
From crystal-smooth Lake Geneva, the road south from Switzerland quickly crosses into France, with monochrome mountains and snakes-and-ladders ski resorts tucked in the high Alpine valleys. There are dozens to choose from, but Megève is the connoisseur’s choice for its super-chic hotels, swanky chalets, Michelin-starred restaurants and Champagne pistes. By car from Geneva, it’s a 43-mile (90-minute) trip.
Mont Blanc massif slopes above Megève; Savoyard specialities at La Taverne du Mont d’Arbois
To do
Go skiing – Megève is all about wide, groomed runs, soft mountains and quieter slopes than you’ll find elsewhere in the surrounding Savoie. Mont d’Arbois is the setting, but the romanticised scene is more complicated – there are four massifs to ski and almost 250 miles of pisted terrain, plus a trilogy of cross-country areas and ice rinks.
Eat and drink
For a charming alpine dinner, head to La Taverne du Mont d’Arbois. Nestled in the mountains, it serves traditional Savoyard cuisine, including oozy fondue and raclette, alongside a selection of local wines. Known for its warm, rustic ambience and gorgeous views, it’s a favourite among locals and tourists alike, who flock here to unwind after a day on the slopes.
Suite Mont D’Arbois at Four Seasons Hotel Megève; the village of Megève in winter
See
The Alpine charm of Megève village, a warren of cobblestone streets filled with picturesque wooden chalets, boutiques, bars, restaurants and even a small museum.
Stay
At the Four Seasons Hotel Megève, the only hotel on the sun-speckled slopes of Mont d'Arbois. In 1926, Baroness Noémie de Rothschild commissioned architect Henry Jacques Le Même to design the first ski chalet. He used a Savoyard farmhouse as his template, and added modern comforts. Fast forward to today, and Rothschild's grandson and wife have collaborated with Four Seasons to put a modern spin on Megevan style – in the form of three chalets, two that can be booked for exclusive use. The hotel is home to the region's largest spa, a white marble enclave that includes a snow- themed sauna and hammam, and heated indoor- outdoor pool overlooking pine-frosted peaks. There’s also the Emily in Paris-approved horse-drawn carriage rides and, for dining, Idéal 1850 (its trout Meunière is superb), plus Michelin-listed Kaito's Kagoshima Wagyu.
WHERE TO STAY IN GENEVA
Zürich Old Town
WHERE NEXT?
Zürich, Switzerland’s financial capital, is not solely defined by banks and insurance giants. It is more fashionable than Basel, more unbuttoned than Bern. What those in the know come for is its spectacular urban setting, chocolate salons such as Sprungli and factories such as Lindt and a terrific Old Town haunted by the ghosts of medieaval guilds and soundtracked by club-style lidos and LGBTQ+ festivals.
