"It's been a while since I've travelled. It's been a quarter of a century since I've done it alone. Mrs. Etranger my wife and travelling companion passed away recently so this was my first trip solo for a long time. How would I cope as I spent New Year's Eve in Geneva, Switzerland ? And why is the Montbrillant a great base ? Read on and find out ...
Tourist Tax and Geneva Pass
Just so you know, in all hotels in Geneva you have to pay a Tourist Tax per night of stay in advance when you check in. Prepare to pony up (I think) 7.5 CHF per night when you arrive. Don't get pissy with reception, it's not their fault you're being charged. But do budget for it in advance ...
When you check in they will give you a Geneva Pass that lets you ride the trams, buses, mouettes (little ferry boats) in the Geneva area and the train back to the airport for free. So that saves you a bit of money at least.
Location
If you're like most people visiting, you'll probably either fly into Geneva Airport or arrive by train to the main station. I arrived by plane, got help from a friendly train employee and lugged my case onto the 7 minute shuttle to Geneva Station (It looks like it's called Geneva Cornavin on most tourist maps).
I was worrying about how far I'd have to carry my case through Geneva itself when I saw the hotel through the train window as it was pulling in. You literally go down the steps from the platform, head along the corridor towards the back door near international arrivals and it's right there in front of you.
So if you have someone in a wheelchair with you it's great because you can get to the hotel in literally a minute or so. There's no need to worry about getting in taxis or pushing them along the busy pavements with the cases to get to your hotel.
In case you didn't know, Geneva is ridiculously expensive, so if you're like me you will get there, see that Fondue is £50 a pop, a subway sandwich is about £18 and think "Daaaammmn, I didn't budget for these prices".
Fortunately, Geneva Station - next to the hotel, remember ? - has a plethora of shops, including a couple of supermarket chains. I frequently went to one called Migros, where you can get a sandwich and drink for less than £10. Its open until 10pm 365 days a year. So with the money you've saved you can piss it all away on fresh Seabass for two at Hotel L'Anglais 120CHF / £120. Or not, as I didn't.
If you've come to Geneva, you're probably looking to the jet d'eau as one of your top sights. If you leave the station and go down Rue des Alpes (filled with tourist shops) you can get there in about 10 minutes. The street itself is a big, busy street and I didn't ever feel unsafe going down it late at night.
Hotel ambience
The hotel itself is quite nice, with a marble reception area. The lift is quite small and I dont know if a wheelchair would fit in it or if there are rooms on the ground floor itself. So, im not sure what the disabled rooms (if any) and facilities therein are like.
What I really liked was coming in from the cold going up in the lift to my floor and the corridors being lovely and warm as you head to your room. My room itself wasn't huge but I didn't need it to be. It was well laid out so I never felt like I was tripping over myself moving around. It had a big picture of the jet d'eau next to the bed. The TV only had two English speaking channels, so I mostly watched the French channels, but the WiFi in the room was good so if you had a tablet or phone you could watch things in that.
The bed was very comfortable and I didn't ever have trouble falling asleep. You would think being next to a train station and close to a major road intersection it would be noisy but I didn't find it to be so, possibly due to the electric trains moving silently and the ton of security officers patrolling the station 24/7. Every day I got a still and sparkling water in my mini fridge.
Bathroom was a bit small but again it was a single room so you're not going to be dodging past anyone where you'd need that extra space. Toilet paper was a bit rougher than I'm used to. I'm not sure how I'd be 10 days in with it, but at least it wasn't the one-ply shatterhand stuff.
Breakfast
I imagine it is quite Swiss centric in that there were a lot of boiled eggs, cheese slices, cereal mini boxes, fresh fruit and pastries. The 3 hot plates had scrambled egg, hot dog sausages and bacon in them (bacon had often run out) and I would have liked to have had a bit of variety there ... maybe they could have done rosti / cubed roast potatoes, a different kind of sausage or something like that to break things up a bit. You might get tired of it if you were staying for two weeks. The breakfast lady was very nice and kept offering to get me hot milk for the hot chocolate, more eggs, pastries and such.
And let's not forget front desk Alain !!!
I enjoyed my stay at the hotel, and one significant thing that made it great rather than just good was Alain at the front desk.
Do you have a European power adaptor for your electrical gear ? That's great but sorry Charlie, you're in Switzerland now and it won't work here. But don't worry, Alain has a spare Swiss one that you can borrow.
Want to send a postcard to your friends ? Alain will draw on the map where the post office is, realise you're hopelessly out of your depth and offer to get you one when he goes out. Ah ha Mr. Bond ! you've now managed to buy one but can't find a post box ... don't worry, he'll post the card for you.
Will Migros be open on New Year's Day or do I need to stock up on sandwiches now ? Alain will find out for when you come back later on. Or you could just ask the cashier when you get your morning sandwich like I ended up doing. But don't tell him since he went to all that trouble. But my point is sometimes it's just the little things that make a big difference and he contrbuted a lot with that.
In Summary
It was a good hotel, reasonably priced, and in a good location. I would stay there again."
