From now until 7 April 2025, the Watches & Wonders Show will be welcoming watchmaking professionals and the general public throughout the first weekend of the month. It’s an opportunity to discover the city, enjoy its many activities and dazzle yourself with its fine restaurants and hotels.
After visiting the Watches & Wonders 2025 Geneva Watch Fair from 5 to 7 April – when it opens to the public – we’ll be heading for this sublime Swiss city, with its museums, lively districts, five-star hotels and restaurants serving up ultra-tasty cuisine.
Where to stay?
Geneva is full of charming five-star hotels. For the weekend, check into the Four Seasons Hôtel des Bergues, an emblematic address on the shores of Lake Geneva since 1834. The hotel boasts 115 luxurious and refined rooms and suites, decorated by Pierre-Yves Rochon, with breathtaking views over Lake Geneva. There are two restaurants, the star-rated Italian Il Lago and the Japanese restaurant on the roof of the hotel, as well as a cosy bar. The spa is just as elegant, with its hammam, swimming pool and wide range of treatments to suit every need.
Another possibility, and not the least, is the Mandarin Oriental Geneva. This five-star hotel offers 178 contemporary rooms and suites with marble bathrooms, as well as a range of restaurants including the Japanese Sachi, the Omakase bar, the Mediterranean Ottolenghi and the MO Bar with its summer terrace. In this chic hotel, with the mountains as a backdrop, the focus is on well-being, with intimate treatment rooms and a traditional wooden sauna.
The five-star Hôtel Beau-Rivage boasts 90 rooms and suites in a classic, elegant style, housed in a building that has been in existence for 150 years. For fine dining, head for the Michelin-starred gastronomic restaurant Le Chat-Botté, Albertine’s with its cosy atmosphere and refined cuisine, or its terrace for a brunch overlooking the lake.
On the shores of Lake Geneva, the 74-room Ritz-Carlton Hôtel de la Paix boasts a prestigious decor with large marble columns and Baroque-style ornaments. The five-star hotel, which welcomed Grace Kelly, is home to the Fiskebar restaurant with its Nordic flavours, the Living Room with its international cuisine and a Mediterranean restaurant where you can enjoy dishes in complete darkness.
Other hotels include the Intercontinental, Hôtel d’Angleterre, Hôtel Président Wilson, The Woodward Auberge Resorts Collection, Fairmont Grand Hotel Geneva, Réserve Genève-Hôtel Spa & Villas and Hôtel Les Armures.
Where to eat?
As mentioned, the gourmet dinner in the dark offered by the Ritz-Carlton Hôtel de la Paix is a unique and truly differentiating experience. Overall, the restaurants offered by the five-star hotels mentioned above are well worth a visit.
For meat lovers, Chez Philippe is Geneva’s only gourmet steak house. Inspired by New York, it is a paradise for first-class cuts of meat grilled over beechwood charcoal.
In the Woodward Hotel, the two-Michelin-starred Atelier Robuchon reinvents the emblematic dishes of the great chef Robuchon. A heritage of potato purée and langoustine ravioli with truffles and jelly, perfectly executed by chef Olivier Jean.
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In the centre of Geneva, chef Yoann Caloué’s Café des Banques elevates bistro dishes to gastronomic status. Crab meat is worked into a starter with avocado, Japanese radish and pomelo, while veal rice is accompanied by morels, sweet onion, fava beans and sabayon.
Les Armures, a restaurant in the Hotel de Suisse, is the oldest café in the city. Warm and historic, its atmosphere highlights traditional Swiss cuisine, with Zürich-style veal, grilled St Gallen schüblig or half-and-half fondue (Vacherin and Gruyère).
What’s on offer?
Those whose eyes have not been dazzled enough by the watchmaking marvels at the Watches & Wonders exhibition can visit the Patek Philippe museum, which offers a real insight into the history of the Swiss company. You can also visit the Musée d’Ethnographie de Genève, which houses a collection of over 80,000 objects from all over the world. From African pictorial art to European folklore and Asian writing, this cultural institution is a must-see on a weekend in Geneva. The Natural History Museum is perfect for a family outing.
In the heart of Geneva, the stroll takes in the Place Neuve, surrounded by the Grand Théâtre (the opera house), the Musée Rath and the Parc des Bastions. Further on, in an English garden, a clock made from 6,500 plants and flowers tells us that we are indeed in the land of timepieces. We lose ourselves in the Grottes district, the Carouge district with its small craft shops and the Bains district, and as we stroll along, we appreciate St Peter’s Cathedral, the Botanical Gardens and the Palais des Nations.
But the most essential and, in itself, most enjoyable activity to do in Geneva is a simple stroll along the shores of Lake Geneva. This is the perfect opportunity to appreciate its incredible jet d’eau and to take a boat trip, surrounded by the Swiss and French Alps. Not to mention the many small villages, wine-growing estates and ski resorts just a few minutes from Geneva, to be visited according to the season.
Read also : Le Château de Léognan: luxury stay and spa in the heart of the vineyards near Bordeaux
Featured photo : © Four Seasons Hôtel des Bergues
