Hotel Palafitte is amazing. The hotel is really nice. The decor is fantastic. The rooms are spacious, clean and comfortable. Everything was perfect. The team was courteous, friendly and welcoming. The food and drinks here are great. Nice place to stay and dine.

The main entrance facade of the hotel is the most modest facade of any hotel that I have ever visited, anywhere in the world. It definitely doesn't give a true impression of the hotel's 5-star status. The reception lobby is also very modest, but as you venture further and walk through the bar and sitting area, you will be greeted by a restaurant with spectacular views of Lake Neuchatel and the Swiss Alps beyond it. The architect who designed this property intended to reveal the true attributes of this hotel to visitors in a step-by-step process, and it is successfully done to great effect! Some hotels 'whack' visitors in the face with their over-the-top ostentatious flamboyance the minute your taxi pulls up at the front porch, but not this hotel. In fact, you wouldn't believe that this is a 5-star hotel when your taxi pulls up at the main entrance of this property. You might even question your taxi driver if he had brought you to the correct address. My friends and I visited Switzerland for the first time ever, and we landed at the Geneva International Airport. We were picked up by a private vehicle arranged by another party, and brought to this hotel, where we stayed for 3 nights. There were a total of 4 people in my group, we took 3 rooms on the lake. Here is a breakdown of my review of this property: 1) Accommodation - I stayed in Room 22 and it is one of the largest and most spacious hotel rooms that I have ever stayed in, anywhere in the world! The room has an entrance foyer with a coat stand and a large wardrobe, a sitting area, a writing desk in one corner, facing the lake, a pantry and minibar, a very spacious bathroom with Jacuzzi tub, independent shower cubicle and double washbasin vanity top, a separate toilet room near the entrance and a huge outdoor balcony overlooking the lake and mountains. I visited in October 2023 and the weather was beautiful during my stay. The room temperature was kept at a comfortable 23 degrees Celsius by the very efficient air-conditioning system. My room had a fold-up single bed concealed inside a large, antique-looking chest, but since I stayed here by myself, I didn't need to use it. The King-sized bed was very comfortable and the comforter was perfect, but I found the down pillows to be too soft and flat. So I piled 2 pillows onto each other, to sleep on. The amenities in the bath were adequate and what you would expect from a hotel of this calibre. There were a few small spiders on cobwebs at the corner of my balcony, but this didn't bother me at all. 2) Restaurant - Our rooms had a complimentary breakfast included, and it was a continental buffet offering, with several hot options in the form of bacon, scrambled eggs, venison sausages, potato wedges and grilled mushrooms, a few choices of freshly-baked bread, a fruit salad, some yoghurt, some fruit juice, some cereals, some cold cuts like smoked salmon and ham. The one thing I enjoyed the most each morning was; the fresh homemade butter, which was sublime with the fresh French loaf! The waiters will also offer guests a hot drink; coffee, tea or hot chocolate. This restaurant transforms into the elegant La Table de Palafitte for lunch and dinner. My friends and I had dinner here on one evening and we tried the 8-course degustation menu. It was a very good introduction to Swiss dishes! 3) Location - This is the only hotel that sits on the shore of Lake Neuchatel, which offers spectacular views(I have already mentioned this a billion times but I can't help it!). In the summer, guests can go swimming in the lake, directly from the room balcony. But I was here in October, and the water temperature was a chilly 20 degrees Celsius, so I didn't go swimming at all. Even if you don't swim, on clear-weather days,you can sit on your room balcony and watch the swans swim by, the people row by in kayaks, canoes & row-boats, and watch the sail boats in action on the lake. You can also sit on the outdoor terrace of the open-air bar beside the lake to enjoy a few drinks with your friends and admire the scenery. Guests can also hire a bicycle for CHF8 per hour to explore the area. There is a bicycle path which runs along the edge of the lake for several kilometres. One of my friends went cycling on her own and she enjoyed it tremendously. 4) Staff - The front desk staff are very courteous and they answered all my questions about the surrounding area. I found out that there is a small supermarket of the Denner chain, located nearby. The lights outside my front door which ran on timers wasn't working properly and I informed a service technician who was fixing something else nearby about this. He immediately came over to fix the lights in a cheerful manner. When we checked out of the hotel, the front desk offered my friends and me a complimentary jar of homemade strawberry jam and a bottle of drinking water each, to bring along on our journey. This was a very nice touch to end our memorable stay here! All-in-all, my friends and I had a wonderful stay at this hotel and I would recommend it to anyone who is visiting this part of Switzerland.

Don't be fooled by the nondescript exterior when approaching from the road. It looks like a council swimming baths but once through the doors you are in a chic country club style restaurant. The dark clubhouse interior and fixtures give way to spacious dining area which has no obstructions and the reward is a spectacular view of the lake and mountains in the distance. When I visited the weather was a little overcast but the marine environment was bustling. The meal was a delightful mix of French cuisine and German precision (52 minute lunch menu??!) with local wines which complemented each course. The service was superb - efficient without being officious and servers were very knowledgeable on the ingredients and accompanying wines. (They were also very elegantly dressed and poised.) The food itself did not let down the general ambience of the restaurant. It was really tasty. A mix of French meat dishes and an Italian dessert with local Swiss wine choices.

This was my second stay at this hotel, the first one being several years ago. The location and the fact that you are directly above water is truly fantastic and that is what makes this hotel exceptional. The rooms are spacious and beautiful, bring your sleep mask if you need complete darkness. And perhaps request a lifebuoy. Upon arrival I was pleased to see that everything had been well maintained but looking a bit closer there were a few things which needed a makeover. There were several small issues which were disappointing for a hotel in this category and we pointed them out to the staff, hopefully this will be remedied if we decide to go back. Cleanliness in the room was under par as well, and the breakfast buffet quite average. Dinner was good, and I would recommend the restaurant. The bar menu is basic and uninspiring. We are sensitive to electric hedge trimmer noises directly next to the breakfast buffet and therefore decided to have breakfast in our room on the second morning. I had a shocking - I weigh my words - experience with the monsieur on the phone from room service (online orders were not working) who rudely made it clear that we were ordering too much food, that it would be two trips to our room and that we could use the breakfast buffet etc, etc. The last straw which made me decide to bring attention to this matter was that breakfast didn’t even turn up and we had to call again, 20 minutes after the expected delivery time. Fortunately the rest of the staff handled this incident very well and I trust that the hotel management will spare future clients of such a disagreeable and unprofessional experience. Otherwise all members of the staff were friendly and pleasant. Especially the ladies at the reception were very friendly and professional in all our dealings with them. It is unfortunate that one single person can make or break an experience and thus the reputation of an establishment. I would objectively give five stars for the location, room aesthetics and the reception and four for the rest, without taking the “bad apple” into consideration.

we just stayed at Palafitte, and enjoyed our trip. First, let me mention the negatives since there are not many: - the hotel room is aging, a few places with chipped paint or veneer. for over 600CHF, I expect the room to be in perfect condition. - lots of bugs. little moths, in the evening. This wouldn't bother me, but it also means a lot of spiderwebs which detracts. The front, main window was clean but the side windows were pretty webby. and the railing on the balcony had some webs too. if you don't like spider webs, and their occupants, you should discuss this with the hotel. - to get into the lake from a lake room involves climbing a ladder. it's more work than you'd think coming up! otherwise, we had a fabulous stay. high points: - the location is amazing. the rooms/cabins almost sit on pillars in the lake, with fabulous views (we had a lake room). and looking down, we could see little fish and the seaweed (lakeweed?) which was lovely. - the modern architecture of the rooms is inventive and efficient. we loved it. - the rooms are nicely decorated in a contempory style. no frilly lace for us. - super comfortable beds. - in the time of covid, it's nice not to walk through hallways to get to the room. the door goes right outside, so we felt very safe here. - next door is a museum - the Latenium, which highlights people who have lived on the shores of Lac Neuchatel since the paleolithic. the museum is beautiful, we enjoyed both the inside and the outside. - a good meal at La Bocca, about 20 minute walk away (the hotel food is expensive and meh). all in all, would i go back? yes. but i'd want to know about the negatives listed above before paying the high prices.