At last, a budget place worth writing home about! Just as we were losing faith in expensive Geneva, the 41-room Hotel bel Esperance shone at us like a beacon of hope.

Located on the fifth floor of an office building, the family-run Hotel Central is, as its name promises, a centrally located gem.

The no-nonsense Hotel Carmen does not evoke a certain operatic heroine, but it does offer clean, basic rooms at some of the lowest rates in Geneva.

Housed in a stone building that dates back to 1885 and managed by two generations of the same family, the 22-room Hotel des Tourelles is a classy budget spot with simple furnishings, a central location and some killer views of the river.

From its post in the university district, the family-run Le Prince Hotel hosts wayward students and professors in its 21 small, dated rooms.

The conveniently located Hotel les Arcades occupies a few floors in a residential building. The octogenarian we met on the elevator had lived in the building since the ‘60s and told us that the two-star hotel was “très correct.”

While it probably won’t be the most memorable part of your stay in Geneva, the two-star Ibis Centre-Gare is an eminently comfortable place with a convenient location.

Located five-minutes-and-a-world away from the bustling central station, the eminently comfortable Hotel de Geneve should be on the list of anyone seeking a “Swiss” experience within the city.