The coffee guide to Geneva

I just realized that I’ve been to Switzerland multiple times, without writing about it before on the blog! Such a shame, it’s such a nice country.

When you think about Geneva or Switzerland you might immediately think about chocolate or the UN. Or maybe Lake Geneva and the famous pocket knives. But did you know that of all place I’ve had the best coffee ever in Geneva?

I can’t believe it myself. I’ve had coffee in Melbourne, Amsterdam, London, Tokyo and Bali and those are all great coffee places, but the best yet I’ve had at a small cafe in Geneva.

I was visiting a friend so we had a lot of coffee because we were living the good coffee, food, sun life and moved around the city from place to place, so I thought it would be fun to create a small guide with these cafes because I believe these are some of the best lunch and coffee places!

If you follow me on Instagram you already know that I was kind of obsessed with this coffee, but if you don’t here’s my guide to coffee in Geneva.

Boreal

So my first time visiting Geneva, I was killing some time along until my friend was finished working, and I strolled around the city to see the sights. I made a pitstop to Boreal and had the best time ever! I remember it so well, that I screamed from joy when my friend brought me to this cafe again. I didn’t remember the name but I did remember the vibe and the layout, nothing had changed and looked at the table where I journaled made me smile.

There’s something about traveling alone, I never forget the moments and places I journal and enjoy my coffees alone.

So I will always love Boreal so much, it has a special place in my heart and to be honest, it’s the best cafe to sit, they have all kinds of seating, from high tables to low tables to couches and chairs, great for all sorts of meetings. We brought her baby and could sit in the chairs and he could crawl around, and another time we went to work a little bit and sat on the table. Ohhh how I love Boreal!! The coffee is great and if you order a large one like me (I needed to! First time sleeping in a tiny apartment with a newborn baby and oh my, I needed that coffee hihi) you’ll receive a LARGE one. haha so good.

The coffee is good so good to Boreal. They have multiple locations but I’ll list the one I was at.

Boreal

Rue du Stand 60, 1204 Genève, Switzerland

Laduree

We all know Laduree and their famous macarons. But their cafes are a little bit less visited, while they have locations all over the world. I had actually never been to a cafe because I was always too scared that it would be too much focused on macarons or too expensive, but this time I really wanted to visit Laduree. I bought some macarons to go and to eat in (ohh me!) and had some lovely tea to go with it (I mean, how much coffee can you order in a day right?).

It was all good and it’s a lovely vibe, but I’m not sure if I need to go another time to the cafe. It was indeed a little bit overpriced, crowded and ‘high-end’, something I’m not really. But the tea was very good and the macarons are to die for!

Laduree

Rue du Mont-Blanc 1, 1201 Genève, Switzerland

Les Filles Indignes

So what do you do when you’re super thirsty? You head to yet another cafe! Les Filles Indignes (I have no idea what that means…) is a small cafe with two different parts that are somewhat divided by a big wall, one side with a bar (see photo above) and the other side with couches and more cozy chairs. We ordered both a coffee and a carrot juice, and my friend was super hungry so got all their food lol. The soy flat white (see down below, in the black mug) that I ordered was way too fluffy, what I don’t like, so I would not recommend getting your coffee here unless you like it fluffy, but the juice was very good!

Les Filles Indignes

Rue de l’Arquebuse 10, 1204 Genève, Switzerland

Coutume

So my friend told me this is the absolute best coffee you can get in Geneva, and I was a bit skeptical at first, although I did believe here. Of course, as a coffee lover, you need to be careful what and whom you believe regarding coffee so I had to check it out myself. And oh boy, it was the best coffee I’ve EVER tasted!! I ordered a soy flat white as usual, and it tasted like gold!

Their seating is like any other super good coffee place – they focus on the coffee, not the interior so it’s very basic. Basic tables next to each other, a little bit too close and no fluff. Although I always like to drink my coffee from a cup over a cup to go, I do recommend you’d get it in instead of out.

They roast their coffee with caramel so their coffee has a very subtle caramel taste, amazing!! It’s literally so good I wanted to go there all the time and totally forgot the fact that the coffee is slightly overpriced. I’ve tasted coffee in many great ‘coffee cities’ like Melbourne, Tokyo, Amsterdam, London, Berlin and San Francisco but oddly enough this was the best so far!

If you’re visiting Geneva, make sure this one is on your list!

Coutume Coffee 

Boulevard Carl-Vogt 80, 1205 Genève, Switzerland

Alive

This vegan yoga-friendly happy place was a must visit for me, as my friend is a Geneva located yoga teacher that’s the owner of The Organic Fashion Utopia magazine, a vegan-friendly lifestyle magazine.

This wellness location offers all sort of happy things from yoga to healthy food in their cafe to personal training and life therapy. We went for lunch (and coffee, duh!) and the food was soo good!!

Eating here feels like nourishing your body and mind to the max, thanks to the white interior and inspiring things around you.

I would definitely recommend grabbing some lunch here and either get it to go to consume at the lake or to eat in.

Alive

Rue des Barques 2, 1207 Genève, Switzerland

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