About the area of Cologny

The Rive Gauche lakeside slopes, all the way from Geneva to the French border, are dotted with peaceful, attractive villages that can offer some of the most beautiful and relaxing walking in the vicinity. The first of these, COLOGNY, some 6km northeast of Geneva, has long been known as an exclusive and somewhat refined suburb, and the difference from Geneva is striking, with country lanes weaving between fields and open woods, and many large detached houses set back behind walls. From central Geneva, you can either follow the Rive Gauche road past the Parc des Eaux-Vives, and take a turn-off to the right, Rampe de Cologny, up the hillside into the village; or grab bus #A, which takes a different route through Frontenex up to Cologny, remaining within Zone 10.

Byron wrote the third canto of Childe Harold in 1816 while staying in Cologny at the Villa Deodati at 9 Chemin de Ruth, and waxed lyrical about the rarity of seeing Mont Blanc reflected in the lake from up here. Milton, too, came visiting in 1639. If you follow Chemin de Ruth north, you’ll come to the district of Montalègre, and the Maison Chapuis, where Shelley and Clairmont stayed in 1816 with Mary Godwin, who began writing Frankenstein here. The association with fame has stayed rock solid over the centuries, and Cologny has its fair share of resident big-names, including Isabelle Adjani, Charles Aznavour, various sheikhs and Petula Clark. True to form, the tourist office has obligingly dubbed the place the “Beverly Hills of Geneva”.

Cologny also has an esoteric museum attraction, the Bibliotheca Bodmeriana, at 19 Route de Guignard next to the bus stop (Thurs 2–6pm, also first Tues in month 6–8pm; Fr.5). One of the greatest private libraries ever assembled, it takes in 160,000 works of literature, many of unique historical value, including illuminated medieval manuscripts, one of the few copies of the Gutenberg Bible and the oldest surviving text of the Gospel of St John.