Fairmont Grand Hotel Geneva Review: Luxury in Switzerland

I recently had the pleasure of travelling to Geneva for a short weekend trip. There are a pretty large selection of luxury hotels in Geneva. Some like the Four Seasons look incredible but come at the slightly unnobtainable price of £700-1000 per night. Others like the Intercontinental have all the amenities you could need but are a bit too far from the centre. Ultimately I opted for the Fairmont Grand Hotel, it seemed at a reasonable price point, and I had an Amex offer for £100 off so it seemed like a no brainer. (if you want to sign up to American Express feel free to use my referral link here for extra points). Read this review to find out what £375 (CHF 430) can get you in one of the world’s most expensive cities: Fairmont Grand Hotel Geneva Review: Luxury in Switzerland.

Watch my detailed review on Youtube below:

If you would like to stay at the Fairmont Grand Geneva, please consider using my affiliate link through Booking.com.

Also for more from me during this trip check out my:

Review of the British Airways Galleries Club lounge at Heathrow Airport
And my full review of British Airways Club Europe flight from London to Geneva (and back) (coming soon!)
And my review of another 5 star hotel in Corfu, the Domes Miramare

Check-in Experience and Hotel

The Fairmont Grand Hotel Geneva is pretty centrally located along lake Geneva, just a 5 minute walk from the central old town, train station and shops. It is (according to my research) the largest 5 star hotel in Geneva and is in quite an impressive building. The street Quai du Mont-Blanc is also home to many of the city’s other best hotels such as the Ritz-Carlton, Mandarin Oriental and Beau Rivage. If you fancy a river cruise, the boarding point for cruise boats is just accross the street too.

Interestingly enough the building seems quite dated. It was very reminiscent of old Hollywood movies from the ’60s. The lobby especially kind of reminded me of old footage I’ve seen of Pan Am and the golden age of aviation. It certainly isn’t ugly or anything, but I felt it could do with a bit of a revamp.

I think a factor that perhaps made it feel old were the low ceilings. Even for me, a relatively short man it felt overly restrictive and hemmed in.

Fairmont Grand Hotel Geneva Reception — Image via fairmont.com

The Room

The rooms were a bit disappointing to be honest. Perhaps I had built my expectations too high but I was expecting lavish luxury and instead got what I would consider a very standard city room. In fact, I’ve stayed in nicer 4 star hotels for half the price. Like the Arte’ Boutique Hotel in Florence for instance.

We booked the standard courtyard view room. It was packed with amenities however, such as coffee machine, mini bar, iPad etc. You can get a better look in my video above. The room itself did feel a bit small considering it is one of the largest hotels in Geneva. The bathroom was very nice however, with a large bathtub, plenty of space, soft towels and luxurious granite(?) cladding.

Overall we weren’t blown away by the room, but neither were we overly disappointed.

One of their lake view suites. The standard rooms have identical decor, just much smaller.

The Food

There are 3 restaurants at the Fairmont Geneva. First the Italian restaurant Il Vero that we went too, I’ll talk more about it in a moment. Then a Chinese restaurant called Lou One and another called Le Grill. From what I can tell all restaurants were good, but as is becoming a theme in this review, very expensive.

Il Vero Italian Restaurant

Il Vero has a relatively limited menu of Italian food. Below you can see the dishes we had including “The Perfect Egg”, fish tartare, prawn gnocchi and tiramisu. The food was all tasty and well beautifully presented. However, none of it was especially mind blowing.

Service was fantastic as well, all our servers were friendly and explained each dish in exquisite detail. There were only a few tables of guests though so they weren’t overly busy. It was also nice that they remembered us the next day when we went to the bar.

I’ll also just make a note that the first picture below is what they describe as a “deconstructed tiramisu”. It consisted of blueberry sponge and hazelnut cream. It was delicious, but did not even remotely resemble tiramisu in taste, texture or looks (unless you count the brownish colour).

The bill came to 250 CHF (£220) for two people. This included 3 courses and one bottle of wine. That’s a bit steep in my opinion. But 5 star hotel restaurants are typically very expensive compared to local restaurants so I wasn’t overly shocked.

Breakfast

Breakfast was also served in the Italian restaurant. I’ll start off by saying that you should definitely ensure breakfast is included in your room booking otherwise you’ll be in for a shock when you pay the bill. Breakfast is 75 CHF per person, per day. I’ve never seen a hotel breakfast this expensive and frankly it’s not worth the price.

That being said, it was nice and there were plenty of options. We opted for the smoked salmon eggs benedict which was delicious. There is also a wide variety of buffet options including cooked, cereals, fruits, pastries and more.

Breakfast was extremely busy when we went at 10am though. Staff seemed a bit overwork and service was a bit slower than I would have liked.

Spa & Pool

The hotel has a very luxurious spa called the Spa Valmont. You can read more about their products and service on their website. We had originally planned to get some massages but after seeing the prices decided against it. Their signature 60 minute massage is 220 CHF (£195) and “Signature Valmont Facial” a whopping 320 CHF (£285). I’m sure the treatments were good, but not worth it to me.

The pool on the other hand was free, and in pretty good shape. It was quiet early in the morning, but became crouded later on. It can also be used by local members so this is probably why it became busy. Changing rooms were pristine with sauna and hammam. The only downside is that, though we were assured it was heated, it was very chilly. Especially on a cool November morning this made it hard to muster up the courage to get in. It was perfectly fine to go straight from the room to the pool in the bathrobe and slipper provided too.

Finally there is a gym too which while I didn’t use it did look perfectly adequate.

The City of Geneva

Geneva is a beautiful city with snow-capped peaks in the background and the crystal clear lake in the foreground. There is plenty to see including the old town, Patek Philippe museum, lake cruise and United Nations. However, it is possibly the most expensive city I’ve ever visited as a tourist. Living in London I thought I was used to steep prices but it’s not even close. A 30 minute taxi ride to the airport cost £55 and even cheaper restaurants felt about 50% more expensive than London.

Fiarmont Grand Hotel Geneva — The city centre and surrounding buildings.

Just accross the street from the hotel are some tourist cruises. There is a larger cruise operated by CHN, Geneva’s public transport company. Unfortunately these only run on Friday and Sunday in Novemeber so we opted for a smaller cruise company called Swissboat. We opted for the 50 minute cruise and it was a great time. The weather was calm and clear and it was very relaxing. For 15 CHF per person it was also nice and affordable. The operator was also very friendly. He sits in a kiosk selling tickets and then when it’s departure time closes up the kiosk and hops on the boat as the captain.

One of the CGN cruise boats at night and during the day

Conclusion

Overall I would say I was simply satisfied by the Fairmont Grand Hotel Geneva. For the price I feel you don’t really get that much. On the other hand, everything is functional and the service is very friendly. I just feel the overall vibe of the hotel is too dated and they could really do with a refurbishment.

I would give them a 7/10