Summer weekend at the prestigious Geneva luxury Hotel La Réserve
Stay & dine in style in Switzerland’s most cosmopolitan city:
Quite some time ago, my husband and I headed quite often to Geneva. In recent years, we never managed to get there again. So, when friends asked us to join them two days at the renowned Hotel La Réserve, we did not hesitate long. First, we had never been to this hotel. Second, we could make use of a special offer to lower the considerable cost of staying here. Furthermore, it is also a foodie destination with its Michelin restaurant. And Hotel La Réserve is certainly the ideal accommodation if you visit Geneva in summer for leisure purposes with its lakeside location a bit outside the city and its large swimming pool amidst a park. All in all, it appeared like a safe bet to stay and dine in style in Geneva.
Before going into details of La Réserve Geneva, a few details about the city and the hotel group of which it is part, Michel Reybier Hospitality.
About Geneva
Geneva is a one–of–a–kind city, also for Swiss people. It almost feels as not being part of Switzerland as it is so different from other comparable places. This because of its status as worldwide center for diplomacy. Numerous international organizations are present here, amongst them the headquarters of many agencies of the United Nations and the Red Cross. And this shows, diplomats are omnipresent in the city’s streets und you hear people chatter in almost every language you can think of.
Geneva lies on the banks of Switzerland’s largest lake, Lake Geneva. This is also the place where you find the city’s most famous landmark, the “Jet d’eau”, a 140 m/460 ft water jet.
And no, Geneva is not Switzerland’s capital (Bern is it) and it is not the country’s largest city (Zurich is it).
So much for that now. Some more details follow at the end of the post when I talk about things to do in Geneva.
About Michel Reybier Hospitality
Michel Reybier is an immensely rich industrialist from France, where he became known as sausage king of Lyon. After selling the business end of the late 1990s he began investing in luxury hotels. And he started with La Réserve Geneva in 1999, which he bought for 24 million SFR/US$. After a renovation, it reopened in 2003. Later on, others joined the La Réserve group: Ramatuelle (France) in 2009, Paris in 2015, Eden au Lac 2020.
Apart from the La Réserve Hotels, other hotels in Switzerland are part of his collection: Victoria Jungfrau in Interlaken, Bellevue Palace in Bern as well as Mont Cervin Palace, Hotel Monte Rosa and Schweizerhof in Zermatt. It seems that the sausage king mutated to a high-end hotel king!
About La Réserve Geneva
Since its opening in the late 1960s this hotel has the reputation of being a place of sophistication and elegance where the local jet set meet, and this with corresponding prices.
Location
La Réserve Geneva is located on the shores of Lake Geneva in the residential Bellevue area a bit outside the city center and very close to Geneva’s airport. While it is idyllically set in a vast park, be advised that it is not directly on the water. There is a busy road between the hotel and the lake. Although you hear the road you do not see it as it is cleverly shielded behind a group of trees.
Facilities
While the hotel building is not overly attractive, they made the best out of it by decorating it in an appealing way. In terms of interior design it is rather special, kept very dark and with an African safari theme. Jacques Garcia, a known architect and designer, is responsible for the place’s overhaul.
On site there are four restaurants: The Lodge, a summer restaurant, with sea food and grill specialties; the Loti a 14 points Gault Millau dining-outlet with Japanese and Southamerican inspired food (closed in summer), the spa eatery Cafe Lauren with healthy options, the Bar with classic dishes and the Tse Fung, a high-end Chinese venue, awarded one Michelin star and 15 Gault Millau points. Our party of four had dinner at the latter, you find more about our experience under the corresponding paragraph.
In addition, the hotel has a 2,500 sqm wellness complex, a kids club – La Réserve is very kid-friendly – a large swimming pool and – the best feature in my opinion – a courtesy speed boat in the warmer months to the city center.
Apparent is that the pool is quite crowded on hot weekend days. This is not necessarily due to the number of hotel guests but to another curious fact. If you have lunch at the La Réserve as an outside guest, you may not only use the speed boat to come here from the city center but also the pool. Further, it exits an exclusive club where members are allowed to make use of all the amenities except of a hotel room of course.
Rooms/Pricing
All the 102 rooms are housed in long two-story buildings. Most of them have either a terrace or a balcony.
My husband and I opted for a Deluxe Lake View Room, the most expensive double room category. The one we had was not exactly large yet sufficient for our needs. It had an African-ish feeling as the rest of the hotel and was on the second floor. Even with a lake view we did not see much of it. Instead, we heard some noise from the road between the lake and the hotel. I found the furniture appealing with a dressing table for the lady and a writing table for the gentleman on both sides of the bed.
The bathroom was rather small with a tub only,
however the separate toilet was rather generous in size.
The balcony with table and chairs was adequately sized
but needed sweeping. And this was still the case on the second day! But otherwise we were satisfied with our lodging.
Breakfast was not included in our room rate. There is a breakfast buffet at The Bar, which is priced at 55 SFR/US$ per person. That is in my view much too expensive for what you get. In addition, there were no precautions taken to make the buffet safer in these Corona times. Not wanting to help myself from the breakfast buffet, I was able to order a smallish and overpriced birchermuesli, with much effort. After this underwhelming experience, my husband and I decided to skip breakfast at the hotel the second day.
In normal times (not Corona times) room rates start at about 790 SFR/US$. Ours was 738 SFR/US$ without breakfast. As we could profit from a special offer (Hop Suisse!), we only had to pay for one night, the other one was on the hotel!
Ambiance/Staff
On our weekend stay in mid July, the hotel’s public spaces were busy. I could not say for sure whether this was due to hotel guests or to lunch guests respectively club members (see also last paragraph of section “facilities”). I assumed there were quite many locals around, members of the upper echelons of the Geneva society. Small kids were plentiful, especially in the pool area. And it was quite noisy, too, on both days of our stay. We did not really mind it, but if you look for quietude, this is not the ideal place to go.
Indoors, it is darkish, everything is kept in dark red and brown in the style of an African lodge. While I did not dislike it, I found the approach here on the Lake Geneva maybe a bit far-fetched. I also had the impression that the interior design has not changed much since 2003. Notwithstanding that, the premises are kept in a good condition (except our room’s balcony).
Staff was polite yet not always seamless. On one occasion, we were seated at the bar and afterwards had been ignored for a quarter of an hour. So we left and had an aperitif at the restaurant instead. At breakfast, I had a hard time ordering an item from the a la carte menu. Clearly, you are expected to go for the (overpriced) breakfast buffet instead, which I did not feel the right thing to do in these Corona times.
Dining at the Michelin starred Tse Fung
Having dinner in the outdoor area of this upscale Chinese restaurant was one of the better experiences we had at Hotel La Réserve.
While some menu items are priced exorbitantly (for instance black cod at 88 SFR/US$), you can avoid the risk of overspending by choosing thoughtfully.
Service was kind and accommodating yet at times not quite spotless. Food was immaculately prepared and nicely arranged. I read that it is the only Chinese restaurant in Switzerland with a Michelin star and I can claim that it is the best Chinese food I have ever tasted in my home country! The chef, Franck Xu, knows how to prepare reinterpreted Cantonese cuisine.
Here are some impressions of the dishes I liked best. Great choices for starters were marinated beef shin with chive pancakes,
slow cooked meat from the leg (enough for two), as well as salmon and shrimps dim sum.
As to main courses, my favorites were sweet and sour sea bass as well as crispy prawns with garlic and chili pepper. A super-tasty side dish were stir-fried chicken noodles and bean sprouts.
And the dessert, chocolate mousse with jasmine tea and crumbled shortbread, was a real treat (and again enough for two).
Of course, we also explored foodie restaurants in Geneva’s city. Unfortunately, this proofed to be a difficult task as many venues were closed either due to Corona or only open from Monday to Friday.
Where to dine as gourmet in Geneva
UPDATE: out of business in August 2020
After a thorough research I had found a venue that seemed appealing, and this was Restaurant Le Jardin at the luxury Hotel Le Richemond. It has 17 Gault Millau points and it is Michelin listed. I booked a table here only to read a few days later that the hotel would close down at the end of August. And this due to the Corona crisis! This was really bad news but at least we would be able to have dinner here before its closure.
Upon arrival, we were seated on the outside terrace
with view of the jet d’eau.
While the start was a bit slow – we were left waiting for a quarter of an hour without somebody came to our table – , this soon changed for the good. And afterwards the staff’s performance was immaculate. And this is even more true as to food quality and presentation! We opted for the degustation menu and got a delightfully balanced series of artfully composed dishes that surprised at every bite!
Framed by wonderful snacks, amuse-bouche, pre-dessert and petits-fours
we were treated to four perfect courses. The start made an eye-pleasing arrangement of lake whitefish and shellfish with a smoked onion broth and a seaweed brioche.
This was followed by grilled octopus, confit fennel and saffron sauce.
While octopus is normally not one of my favorites, I was thrilled by this one, which was prepared to perfection.
Next was roasted chicken with fire morels and green peas.
The seemingly simple dish was elevated to another level by a fabulous blend of morels and peas. Last but certainly not least, they serve us their signature dessert. It was a an absolutely amazing composition of cherry, black rice, roasted sesame and kriek (cherry flavored beer) sorbet.
The food guide Gault Millau named its creator, Sébastien Quazzola, as patissier of the year 2019, and I understand this very well. The cherry was not only a boundary pusher taste wise but also an art work!
On the whole, it was a fantastic meal in a pleasant ambiance. And the menu was reasonably priced at 130 SFR/US$. Hats off to the young chef Philippe Bourrel and his team! Such a shame, that the restaurant had to close down end of August.
After all this information about where to stay and dine in style in Geneva, now to some tips for activities in this city.
What to do in Geneva
As you know by now, there is Switzerland’s largest lake at your disposal. Make use of it, either as a swimmer, yachter, canoer, water skier or stand up board paddler. In the past years, Geneva has been upgrading its beaches, be it the “Baby-Plage” on Quai Gustave Ador, the one at Eaux-Vives or also the “Plage du Reposoir” with its stand-up-paddle center.
If you want to view Geneva from above, the Salève mountain is the place to go. I read that you can climb it in 1 to 2 hours but there is also chairlift (from Veyrier). In case you want to walk the vineyards, head to the area of Satigny, Dardagny and Russin. Go to SwitzerlandMobility to find a walk/hike to your liking. Unfortunately, we did not have time to do a walk or hike in Geneva’s vineyards but my husband and I did one in the Lavaux vineyards
near Lausanne while we were en route to Geneva. Come back later to check out my correspondent post.
Our party of four decided to make a tour through Geneva’s old town. It is one of the largest in Europe with a history that goes back 2,000 years! Go to one of the oldest squares here, Place du Bourg-de-Four,
and just stroll through the winding maze of little streets. Do not miss St Peter’s Cathedral (Cathédrale Saint Pierre) at the highest point of the old town.
Overall
Geneva has no shortage of places to stay and dine in style. However, in these Corona times, there seems to be dwindling opportunities in terms of luxury hotels and fine dining venues. A good however pricey option for a luxurious stay is Hotel La Réserve in the city’s outskirts on the shores of Lake Geneva. Especially in summer, with its vast grounds and large swimming pool, it is the ideal spot to go. If you are a foodie and love high-end Chinese cuisine, give its Restaurant Tse Fung a try. Another good address for gourmet experiences is Restaurant Le Jardin at Hotel Le Richemond in the city center. Unfortunately, its premises are closed for an indefinite period due to Corona. This is a shame, also with regard to the fact that there are few possibilities to dine in style in Geneva on a Saturday evening in summer time.
Date of stay: July 2020
Pin it for later
The post Summer weekend at the prestigious Geneva luxury hotel La Réserve first appeared on Swiss Traveler
Leave a Reply
Want to join the discussion?Feel free to contribute!