With more than a thousand restaurants in the city, you can eat and drink your way around the world in Geneva – at a price. The most visible establishments might give you the impression that you could afford nothing more adventurous than a baguette, but Genevois café culture is alive and well, and inexpensive diners do exist. If you’re prepared to splash, you could dine as grandly in Geneva as in Paris, London or New York.

The city’s excellent Swiss restaurants are somewhat overshadowed by a plethora of French places, drawing on influences from haute-cuisine Lyon just 160km away, but the Old Town in particular (around the Place du Bourg-de-Four) has a host of atmospheric Swiss eateries. Carouge is a foodie’s paradise, with plenty of sometimes pricey choices. Eaux-Vives is much more down-to-earth and features many quality inexpensive Italian joints. Cosmopolitan – and occasionally tense – Pâquis has dozens of low-priced, authentic Arabic, East Asian, South American and African cafés and restaurants.

Other pages of interest:

Geneva : Expensive restaurants Geneva : Inexpensive and mid-range restaurants Geneva : Cafés and café-bars