48 hours in Geneva: seek Le Corbusier, lakeside sauna, and Swiss chocs

In partnership with Richemont

The Watches and Wonders visitor experience at Geneva’s Palexpo exhibition hall is organised with the kind of clockwork expedience that only the Swiss can deliver. Around 50,000 guests are expected during the 2025 show’s seven-day run (1-7 April), and those who arrive via Geneva airport get to stroll the delightful concourse of RSHP’s polychromatic Aile Est terminal, clear customs and immigration and then amble just 800m across a concrete bridge to the lobby of the vast Watches and Wonders show space. No taxis, no shuttle, no excess baggage required.

When all 60 watchmaking marques – among them A. Lange & Söhne, Baume & Mercier, IWC Schaffhausen, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Montblanc, Panerai, Piaget and Vacheron Constantin – have been explored, exceptional novelties perused and brand ambassadors encountered, guests simply walk back to the airport and catch an evening plane home.

As for Wallpaper* watches and jewellery editors? We prefer to make the annual pilgrimage to Geneva more of a 48-hour thing, taking time to immerse ourselves in both show and city. During a two-night stay at the old-school Hôtel Longmalle or Hôtel de la Cigogne, we’ll take time to meander the streets, visiting the galleries, museums and creative landmarks that add to the cultural cachet of the city, which is known as the cradle of horology. And we’ll eat some fine Swiss chocolate along the way.

48 hours in Geneva: what to see and do

Take in an art gallery

Just by the Cirque tram stop, in the city’s banking district, is a good place to start. A cornerstone of both Swiss and international contemporary art worlds, Wilde gallery, established by curatorial partners Barth Pralong and Sébastien Mare, is a 1,000 sq m space whose white and airy storeys incorporate La Petite Librairie, dedicated to rare books and first editions, and the chic Anouch restaurant with a kitchen helmed by Tamara Hussain, formerly of the three-Michelin-starred Clos des Sens in Annecy.
Wilde Gallery Bd Georges-Favon 19, 1204 Genève, wildegallery.ch

Buy Swiss chocolates

Every Geneva local has their favourite chocolatier but when sweet-toothed Wallpaper* is in town for wristwatch business, we head straight to Auer, on the super-smart Rue De Rive, for a box of Pavés Glacés – cubes of fine, fondant chocolate dusted with cocoa powder, inspired by Geneva’s cobblestones and first produced back in 1940, soon after the business was established. Auer, now run by the founding family’s fifth generation, remains the high-cacao-content-seekers’ destination for chocolate-covered almonds, truffles, and other delights – all specialties homemade following original recipes. The packaging is beautiful.
Auer chocolatier, Rue de Rive 4, 1204 Genève, chocolat-auer.ch

Lunch at a traditional Italian

Lunchtime in Switzerland’s first city calls for a traditional Italian. Roberto, an institution since 1945, is Geneva’s best and buzziest Italian restaurant. In the bustling, central Rive district, a crew of bow-tied waiters serves loyal regulars and savvy visitors with platters of ravioli, osso bucco and mouthwatering saltimbocca. Since founding chef Roberto Carugati, five generations of the same family have had a hand in the restaurant’s day-to-day running. Accordingly, amid the delightfully distressed mirrors and patinated, wood-panelled walls, a distinctly familial atmosphere prevails.
Roberto, 10 Rue Pierre Fatio, 1204 Genève, restaurantroberto.ch

Brush up on Le Corbusier

Some nice clean, modernist lines to admire while you are munching on pralines? The Immeuble Clarté apartment block in the Eaux Vives parklands of Geneva is one of Swiss architect Le Corbusier’s early explorations of the residential idiom. It’s also a bona fide survivor. The design and proto-modernist disciplines at play here would later go on to inform Le Corbusier’s five-point, Unité d’Habitation (‘machine for living in’) housing principle, but the 1931 modernist apartment block had to stand firm against its detractors – escaping demolition in both the 1960s and the early 1980s, before being listed as a historic monument and, eventually, inscribed as a Unesco World Heritage Site in 2016. Grab a coffee, find a bench and look up in wonder at Immeuble Clarté’s roof gardens, open-plan living spaces, pilotis, long windows and expansive façades, and decide which storey you’d like to live on.
Le Corbusier Immeuble Clarté apartment building, Rue Saint-Laurent 2-4, Geneva, sites-le-corbusier.org, fondationlecorbusier.fr

Have supper at a cosy diner

Inspired by Edward Hopper’s iconic Nighthawks painting, Geneva’s Nomos Architects converted a drab pizzeria on a modern, urban apartment-block corner, into a fashionable bar-bistro, Bombar. The Genevoise interpretation of American diner design is more tactile, spare and much happier than Hopper’s. The interior features roughly cast concrete columns, op-art floor tiles and exposed, load-bearing walls, while the bar is all corrugated iron and stainless steel countertops. Head chef Victor Freiburghaus, formerly of the three Michelin-starred Épicure at Paris’ Le Bristol hotel, recommends the 12 hours-cooked, shredded pork shoulder and the roasted butternut squash with tahini, zaatar and lightly toasted pine nuts on the side – and a call ahead to book a table for dinner. Unlike the lonely scene in Hopper’s painting, Bombar is often packed.
Bombar, Place des Augustins 3, 1205 Genève, bombar.ch

Enjoy a post-dip fondue at Bains des Pâquis

Could Bains des Pâquis, just a few metres from the magnificent Jet d’Eau fountain, be any more Geneva? The city’s ‘beach’ – actually, the Quai du Mont-Blanc jetty on Lake Geneva – is perfect for a morning plunge off the art deco board, a quiet night swim, a yoga session, or a full-moon sauna. While you towel off, order Geneva’s most delicious fondue au crémant (fondue made with sparkling wine) from the cute little refreshment stall; best consumed with bare feet dipped in the lake.
Bains des Pâquis, Quai du Mont-Blanc 30, 1201 Geneva, aubp.ch

Also recommended…

More of the best dining and drinking, plus yoga, flea market shopping and book browsing in Geneva.

The Leopard Room bar at The Rubens hotel, rubenshotel.com/dining-and-drinks/the-leopard-room

Le Bologne Bistro, lebologne.com

Le Dorian brasserie, ledorian.ch

Sauvage bar and restaurant, sauvage.bar

Nagomi Japanese restaurant, nagomi-restaurant.ch

La Clémence terrace café, laclemence.ch

Kā Studio wellness and yoga, kastudio.ch

Plaine de Plainpalais flea market, geneve.com/en/companies/plaine-de-plainpalais

Librairie du Boulevard bookshop librairieduboulevard.ch and, a few doors down, second-hand bookstore/café Les Recyclables