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The revamped La Réserve Genève Hotel and Spa is Geneva's first contemporary five-star hotel. Some people say its the most inspiring hotel to re-open since Ian Schrager kick-started the boutique-hotel boom. This is despite the fact that La Réserve is inside a 1969 purpose-built building and stuck between a railway line, airport and the main road out of Geneva. The new interior design is by Jacques Garcia, the maverick behind Hotel Costes in Paris. The style is loosely inspired by African lodges, with animal-print carpets, woven rattan walls and a tented restaurant. Furnishings include clubby leather armchairs and plastic resin chandeliers in gaudy colours depicting jungle imagery. But to these elements Garcia has added a strikingly decadent touch, combining bordello reds with thick velvets, 'tapestry' wallpapers and more than 800,000 gold leaves. The cosy bar features black resin and back-lit onyx and the excellent Chinese restaurant, Tsé Fung, is covered in red lacquer and rich, olive-green silks. All 102 rooms are generously sized and deliciously tactile, with dark-leather desks, sleek granite bathrooms and perfectly crisp white sheets. There is a spectacular, 2,002-square-metre spa with an organic restaurant decorated in white leather.
WHEN TO GO
A spa weekend in winter - take a low-cost flight to Geneva - or summer for the outdoor swimming pool
WHICH ROOM TO BOOK
The nine Lake Suites offer the best value for money for size
CONTACT
La Réserve Genève Hotel and Spa, 301 Route de Lausanne, Bellevue, Geneva, Switzerland (00 41 22 959 5959; fax: 959 5960; www.lareserve.ch). Doubles CHF540-CHF690 (about £260-£330); suites about £425-£3,570
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