Switzerland is a small country with lot of luxury hotels ; find the best for your stay is not so easy. If you are in couple and want to relax in a pleasant and peaceful city, you should book the Beau-Rivage Palace at Lausanne.
First, location is just perfect because straight on the lake Geneva shore with stunning views over the lake and french mountains. Then the hotel itself is a true 5-star property with an unbeatable service and impressive facilities. Finally, lot of packages exist in their website which allow you to book some nights + dinner + SPA treatments… Do not hesitate !
I had the chance to book through Leading Hotels of the World website ; so upon check-in they offer me a very good upgrade from Superior room to Deluxe room with lake view. So thanks to this upgrade it was worth it a lot ! However be careful with the exchange rates with CHF as it is currently (end of 2012) very expansive ; now you are warned.
The Beau-Rivage Palace has been built in 1857 and had been renewed the last time in 2009 when Anne-Sophie Lapic arrived to manage the 3-star Michelin restaurant. It is composed of 169 guest rooms including 33 suites and have been visited by many celebrities, from Victor Hugo to Nelson Mandela… My original book before upgrade was a Superior Room – 28sqm – at 600 EUR/night in a package including a riverboat dinner.
Living
Very top notch, there is absolutely no bad comments to say about public areas. Everything is perfect from the location – straight to lake Geneva shore – to the facilities quality: a designed SPA, the glass lift, the infinity pool, the gleam building frontage… You understand quickly that you are in Switzerland.
All the hotel area (building + parking + restaurant) is delimited from the city by barriers and once you enter in the perimeter you feel both VIP and lucky !
The 2 main buildings are visible far away from lake Geneva and are really a known place for everyone in the region ; it is an old lady still at the top !
Room
Because of our upgrade I will show you only some pictures of the Deluxe room with lake view ; we never saw the Superior room.
It is very large, well furnished but I don’t like the traditional style of the sofa, bed and curtains… Well, maybe I am too young for that. The bathroom is also very spacious and bath products – Bulgari – are very classy.
The view is simply amazing: you can see the lake Geneva with french mountains and city in the background. When it’s sunny it looks like a dream view ! I would appreciated to have a balcony with chairs but unfortunately this room didn’t have any.
Dining
I though very long but the result is inevitable: this the BEST breakfast I had so far in a city hotel. It seems Anne-Sophie Lapic herself came to cook our breakfast ! Plenty of choices, foods are very-well cooked even for the smallest verines, you can find all fresh fruit juices existing upon request, homemade croissants and bread, meringues… And all of these taking place in La Rotonde, the impressive 3-star Michelin restaurant of the hotel.
I highly recommend to book a package including breakfast as it would be a mess to miss it !
Unfortunately, because of the price and the late booking, we didn’t experiment the restaurant for lunch or dinner. But our inclusive riverboat dinner was very nice on a boat associated with the hotel as cookers and waiters on board came from Beau-Rivage !
Level of exigency
Top of the top, once again I can’t say anything bad about Beau-Rivage service quality. Receptionists are smily and helpful, concierges are all Clef d’Or and room-service people are fast, effective and constant.
Of course from the check-in we were happy because we received a very good upgrade – two categories higher than original booking – thanks to my Leading Hotels of the World membership. For sure when a stay begins like that you cannot complain !
As we booked a package including a riverboat dinner, they arranged everything for us one day before and we had nothing to do to prepare that romantic evening.
Stay from August 13rd to 15th 2011
