Set the scene
Geneva has several centres: historic, commercial, the banking bit, the UN and NGOs bit, and so forth. Yet if you asked the present reviewer where exactly the middle of town was, he would say here, on the steps outside the H\u00f4tel des Bergues. It is a curious kind of crossroads, at the point where the lake becomes a river again, with various bridges heading off in different directions, making it seem connected to everywhere else.<\/p>\n
The backstory
The present reviewer\u2019s schoolboy French having become a little rusty, at some point he got it into his fat head that the name H\u00f4tel des Bergues was an antique corruption of bergers, meaning shepherds, a reference, he fancied, to some grassy bank hereabouts along which weathered rustics with crooks in their hands and blankets over their shoulders would, in olden times, drive their sheep. What, he wondered idly, would these shepherds of his imagination make of the place if they were to revisit it today? For one thing, they would probably be quite annoyed at having to steer their bleating flocks among all the Ferraris and Lamborghinis and black limousines that now line up outside the hotel. But the reviewer need not have wondered about any of that, since it turns out the hotel\u2019s name has nothing to do with shepherds. It merely commemorates a former owner of the land on which, in 1834, the hotel was built. That H\u00f4tel des Bergues has remained the H\u00f4tel des Bergues ever since. In 2005, a Four Seasons flag was raised above the door, following a complete renovation; and there was a further growth spurt in the upper storeys in 2013.<\/p>\n
The rooms Food and drink The spa The area The service
The original architect\u2019s brief was to create a \u2018simple\u2019 building \u2018of pure style and free of superfluous ornamentation\u2019. Grand interiors panjandrum Pierre-Yves Rochon, who oversaw the 2005 Four Seasons transformation, apparently got a different memo. The rooms are wonderfully opulent in a loosely neo-classical, Louis-Philippe-inflected style, with lots of brocade and toile de Jouy in shades of Wedgwood blue and almond green. The present reviewer would go so far as to say that certain of the medium-sized lakeside suites \u2013 rooms 110, 210, 310 \u2013\u00a0are among the loveliest rooms of their kind in Geneva. But if that sort of heritage-heavy thing is not your hustle, there are some startlingly different Loft Suites on the sixth floor that you might prefer instead. These were unveiled in 2013 and embrace a\u00a0\u2018contemporary Swiss<\/a> chalet\u2019 aesthetic. This is the thing with the best of the Four Seasons hotels, and indeed with Rochon, who designed these newer rooms as well. The moment you think you have got them all figured out, they surprise you with something delightfully unexpected.<\/p>\n
A triumph, with Michelin-starred<\/a> Il Lago, on the ground floor, and Izumi, on the roof. In the one Massimiliano Sena dishes up quintessential southern Italian comfort food; in the other Mitsuru Tsukada performs discreet Japanese miracles. Le Bar des Bergues, meanwhile, which is not only a fantastic bar<\/a> but also serves breakfast to guests and an all-day menu thereafter, is a ravishingly pretty space with a coveted lake-facing terrace. The present reviewer has spent much of his adult life in search of the world\u2019s best French toast; here he may have found it \u2013 even though his waitress on that memorable morning raised a sharply disapproving eyebrow at his request for a side-dollop of cr\u00e8me de la Gruy\u00e8re, which she clearly felt was de trop alongside the jug of maple syrup. She was, however, simply wrong and the extra cream was transcendent.<\/p>\n
A big draw for many guests. Much of the space created in the 2013 expansion of the top two storeys was devoted to wellness<\/a> facilities (including a decent-sized pool, a rarity in Geneva hotels). Treatments by Biologique Recherche, Dr Burgener, Subtle Energies and the seemingly definitive Swiss Perfection are all on the menu.<\/p>\n
Around here it bustles in a way that is unusual in Geneva. As mentioned above, this impression has much to do with the unique combination of a geographically fairly central location and a coming together of lots of roads and bridges. Though the hotel itself is glitzy as all get-out, the neighbourhood around it is, if you look closely, more mixed than you might expect. Not edgy, just nuanced. Of course the high-rollers are thick on the ground and the billionaires look down on the millionaires. But there are signs of real life going on too, which is always a good thing.<\/p>\n
A winning combination of New World enthusiasm and Old World courtesy. The liveried doormen hop to it like tree frogs, as if your every arrival and departure were a matter of the utmost urgency and significance.<\/p>\n