Travel: Geneva

CRUISING across Lake Geneva aboard a gleaming Venetian speedboat, the sun twinkling on the still water and majestic Mont Blanc towering in the distance like an oversized, slightly misshapen meringue, the dramatic cityscape begins to take shape. The waterfront is dominated by the iconic Jet d'Eau, which spouts an enormous fountain 459ft into the air, and when the sun hits the water droplets, it casts a magical rainbow over the jetty.

At the end there is, indeed, a pot of gold. For, impressive as Switzerland's natural beauty is, equally eye-popping are the names that adorn its second city's 24-carat real-estate: Cartier, Raymond Weil, Rolex, Patek Philippe, Omega, Mont Blanc. There's money dripping from every corner. Today there are also white-knuckle rides, carousels and blue balloons bobbing from the wrists of young and old. There are bandstands and DJs, and stalls selling pizza, churros, coconut milk and something called barbe a papa, which turns out to be candy floss.

The watch boutiques are closed for the night, but it seems all Geneva has descended on the lakeside for the final day of Fetes de Geneve, which has lasted all week and featured, in no particular order, a concert by Dr Feelgood, a Miss Geneva competition, a fireworks display and a waiter and waitresses race, complete with trays containing bottles of water and three glasses each.

I'd love to ride the chairoplanes hundreds of feet above ground and spin on a giant arm until I'm sick, but sitting with a mojito watching the world go by in the Jardin Anglais seems infinitely more civilised. Besides, I'll soon have another boat to catch, which will whisk me back to the haven that is La Reserve.

Set amid ten acres of private parkland, with its own helipad and private harbour, the hotel is a little slice of the Kenyan bush on the right bank of Lake Geneva. A design by Jacques Garcia - who is also responsible for the interiors of Hotel Metropole in Monte Carlo, Costes in Paris and the Spice Market restaurant in New York - has recreated the feel of a luxury safari lodge, with animal print rugs on the floors, raffia on the walls and brightly-coloured resin parrots and peacocks nesting in the light fittings. Tables have imposing lion's-claw feet and, in the grounds, languidly surveying the pool from behind some perfect topiary, there hangs a E70,000 life-size rhino, the work of Italian sculptor Stefano Bombardieri.

Each room features oiled wooden floors, plush velvet bedspreads, marble, mosaic and granite. A single, exquisite rose is left by my bed and carefully chosen books sit on the shelves. There's even a pillow menu, should I feel the need to change my goose down ones for the snore stopper, neck support, natural buckwheat or any number of other optional varieties.

All this luxury seems to yell excess and indulgence, and of course both are available in spades. The owner, as well as boasting three beautiful hotels (the other two are in Paris and Ramatuelle, in the south of France), has two vineyards, the fruits of which are available to sample in the hotel restaurants. And at night, as the sunset turns Mont Blanc a candy-floss pink, DJs play in the bar while we work our way through the cocktail menu.

But La Reserve's latest development has been designed specifically to counteract the effects of overdosing on modern life; effects such as stress, insomnia, smoking and putting on the odd extra pound. Better Ageing works over seven or 14 days, featuring a personalised programme devised by the in-house team of doctors and osteopaths. As well as treatments, wraps, training sessions and massages (ask for Sophie, a miracle worker and possibly even a mind reader, who swears she could shave off a dress size in a week), guests dine at the spa restaurant, Cafe Lauren. The chef there does a mean line in spirulina smoothies and egg-white omelettes.

Of course, the wellness concept is nothing new in Switzerland. People have been travelling to the country since Renaissance times to enjoy the therapeutic effects of the mineral-rich mountain springs. Today, it boasts numerous award-winning spas, from the Dolder Grand in Zurich - renovated by Norman Foster, himself now based in the Lake Geneva region - to Therme Vals, the high-style design hotel in the mountains. Clinique La Prairie in Montreux is renowned for its 12-day weight-loss programme, in part at least because it costs in the region of 10,000 to take part. Either way, you're going to lose pounds.

Back in Geneva, if spa treatments and high-tech gym equipment leave you cold, ask Marcello, the concierge, to direct you to the nearest jogging route. Even better, have one of the hotel cars deliver you and pick you up again when you've done enough sweating for one day.

Alternatively, if you catch the water-taxi, you could be in the centre of Geneva in a matter of minutes. It leaves from the private jetty on the hour every hour; in fact, you could set your Rolex by it. n

Factfile

Easyjet (www.easyjet.com) flies daily to Geneva from Edinburgh from 69.99 each way.

La Reserve, 301 Route de Lausanne, 1293 Geneva Bellevue, Switzerland ([phone], www.lareserve.ch). Double rooms from Chf400 (245), breakfast from Chf30 (18).

La Reserve Ramatuelle is running a Rethinking Boot Camp this month, with a five-day programme of yoga, walks, treatments and Eric Canino's Mediterranean Regime menu. From 15-19 and 27-31 September, price E3,600 (2,950) including accommodation in a deluxe room and full board. Flights not included. For details tel [phone] or www.lareserve.ch.

• This article first appeared in Scotland on Sunday, September 12, 2010