City edition
Where to stay in Geneva
Geneva is a small city that runs on long stays, and it barely publishes a price. This edition is about how to ask. Every entry ends in the address’s own contact, at the address’s own price.
Swiss Luxury Apartments
Rue Philippe-Plantamour, right bank, two minutes from the lake
Serviced apartments
One to three bedrooms, 50 to 150 m² (538 to 1,615 sq ft)
The nightly rate is not published; ask the address.
The Hamlet
Rue Etienne Dumont, in the Old Town
Apart-hotel in an 18th-century townhouse
Six categories, 37 to 120 m² (398 to 1,292 sq ft)
The nightly rate is not published; ask the address.
Starling Hotel & Residence
Route des Acacias, Acacias, south of the Rhône
Apart-hotel
Studios and apartments, all with a kitchen
from 117 CHF a night
Staying in Geneva
Geneva is arranged around the end of a lake. The right bank holds the grand hotels, the lakefront and the Jet d’Eau; the left bank holds the Old Town on its hill, the banks and the museums. The whole of the centre is a twenty-minute walk end to end, and the main station, Cornavin, is on the right bank five minutes back from the water. You will not need a car, and parking one will cost more than it does in Paris.
The city is full of serviced apartments because it is full of people staying for three months: the United Nations, the missions, the banks, the watch trade and the hospitals. That is good news — the stock is genuinely built for living in, with real kitchens and daily housekeeping. The bad news is that almost nobody publishes a rate, and the long-stay price is always a negotiation. Every entry here tells you which is which.
Where to sleep, and what it means
- Pâquis and the right bank lakefront
- Between the station and the water, one street back from the grand hotels. Central, walkable to everything, and where the serviced apartments are. Busy and slightly mixed in character, which is why it is good value for the position.
- The Old Town, left bank
- Up the hill: cobbles, antique dealers, the cathedral, and the only genuinely old streets in the city. Quiet at night. Ten minutes down to the lake and back up again, which you will feel with shopping.
- Eaux-Vives, left bank lakefront
- East along the water past the parks. Residential, calm, the best place to run in the morning, and a tram into the centre.
- Acacias and Plainpalais
- South of the Rhône, where the offices and the new buildings are. Not scenic, well connected by tram, and the one part of Geneva where a long stay costs noticeably less.
What a visitor asks first
- How do I get a price, if nobody publishes one?
- Write, do not book. State your arrival date, your departure date and the number of bedrooms, and ask for the monthly rate including cleaning and laundry. In Geneva a stay of a fortnight or more is quoted by hand, and the figure you are given first is rarely the figure for thirty nights. Ask what is included, because unlimited laundry and daily cleaning are worth several hundred francs a month.
- Do I need a car, and what about France?
- No car. The trams and buses reach everything and your accommodation usually includes a public transport card — ask for it. The French border is fifteen minutes away and the airport sits on it, which is worth knowing if you are renting a car for the Alps rather than for the city.
- Is the airport really that close?
- Yes. Geneva airport is six minutes from the main station by train, and the train is free from the machine in the baggage hall. It is the shortest airport transfer of any city in this Collection, and it is the reason Geneva works for a stay of one week in four.
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