Quartier des Bains

Art galleries and hip bars in Geneva's regeneration success story

Noteworthy for: The area is one of Switzerland's best places to explore contemporary art.
Talk of the Town: The Quartier des Bains has its own art prize, which in 2012 was won by a banner depicting a giant doner kebab.

Twenty years ago, this area wedged between the back of Geneva's old town and the River Arve, was considered a bit of a dump. Since then, however, the area has been turned into boho heaven as its ex-industrial spaces have become art galleries and its humdrum streets have started to silt up with cafes.
Once the Museum of Contemporary Art opened here in 1994, other galleries began to flock nearby, forming the Quartier des Bains Association and pioneering the hugely popular Nuits des Bains, the thrice yearly mini-festival where art galleries open new shows to the public until late at night. To discover the many exhibition spaces here, the Quartier des Bains webpage is a good place to start, while interesting places to eat and drink are also common, notably along the Boulevard Carl Vogt.