Beau-Rivage Neuchâtel

The Beau-Rivage stands on the shore of Lake Neuchâtel, in the centre of town.

A week here, month by month

I come to the Beau-Rivage for the lake outside the window: the Junior Suite Deluxe rooms face it, with the Alps beyond. The Standard rooms, though, look onto Rue du Môle, and a Superior may too: for the lake, I would start from a Deluxe.

The hotel website

Is it for you?

For 2, I book the hammam, which the hotel keeps for private use: it is best to fix a time slot in advance.

I’d ask for
A massage, then the hammam.
Worth knowing
Massages are booked in advance, subject to availability.
The hammam lined in blue mosaic

Like a regular

The lobby, with wooden columns and pale sofas

10 min readHow we write the guide

  1. Before 3pm

    Rooms are ready from 3pm and must be vacated by 12 noon. Before 3pm a room is guaranteed only if you also booked the night before or paid for early check-in in advance.

  2. Charging the car

    Arriving by electric car, you will find charging stations for every type of car at the hotel, and Wi-Fi is free throughout the building.

  3. What the housekeeper brings

    On request the housekeeper brings a shaving kit, a dental kit, an iron and ironing board and extra pillows, and takes on small sewing jobs too.

What the Beau-Rivage Neuchâtel is

Until 1929 the building was the home of the industrialist Alfred Borel. In 1989 the Beaufort International chain bought it, and after extensive renovation the hotel reopened in October 1993 with interiors by the Paris-based American decorator Ed Tuttle. Today it has 66 rooms, junior suites and suites and is open all year. There are 8 categories, from the 3 suites to the Standard rooms; the 60 rooms range from 28 to 44 m².12

In the Lumina Guide

Lumina Guide 2027

In the guide because it is my choice for staying in Neuchâtel’s historic centre: the port and the station are 5 minutes from the hotel.

How we choose the hotels

The 5 things that matter, as guests tell them

What do Beau-Rivage Neuchâtel’s guests say? They write it in their reviews, even those who only came for a drink or dinner: we read every one and tell the 5 things that matter, from the location to the bill.

  1. Location

    Nearly every guest who mentions it is happy with it. One guest walks in from the car park through a well-kept park and finds the Old Town a short way off. Another compares the setting to Lake Como, only cheaper and less crowded.

  2. Room

    7 in 10 guests who mention it are happy with it. One guest has a 44 m² room with a lake view. Another finds the rooms in need of a refresh.

  3. Staff and service

    6 in 10 guests who mention it are happy with it. One guest finds the staff attentive to every detail from arrival. Another, on the terrace, waits half an hour before a waiter takes the order.

  4. Breakfast

    One guest has a ham and cheese omelette made to order. Another finds breakfast very basic, with no cooked dishes.

  5. Price

    One guest pays CHF 39 for 6 perch fillets and finds them very dear. Another finds the price reasonable, perhaps because they travel off-peak.

How we count
Beau-Rivage Neuchâtel in numbers
WhatGuests’ scoreGuests who mention itHappy
Location9.05298%
Room7.14470%
Staff and service6.29760%
Breakfast6.82162%
Price–1520%

123 guests said so on Google, from 15 November 2024 to 20 October 2026. The reviews include visits to restaurants and bars without an overnight stay. The other hotels are assessed on the same 5 themes. The score is the average of what they say, from 0 if they speak of it very badly to 10 if they speak of it very well. Where only a few mention something, the score stays close to the guide’s average: a handful of voices does not make a reputation.

The hotels we weigh it against among Swiss five-star hotels:

Price: for 2, the night of 8 November 2026, from 210 CHF on Google Hotels on 23 October 2026.

What a night costs, period by period

Until April 2027 nights cost less; from late April prices rise.

PeriodCHF a night
25 October 2026 to 21 April 2027210–326
22 April to 9 June 2027255–263
10 to 17 June 2027263–383
18 June to 18 September 2027236–263

One night searched alone for 2 adults, at the lowest seller on Google Hotels; room category, meals and taxes unspecified, read on 23 October 2026. The calendar ends on 18 September 2027. Booked together as 7 nights from 16 to 23 November 2026 for 2 adults, the lowest seller asked CHF 255 a night; the hotel’s own Google Hotels listing showed no rate.

Inside Neuchâtel’s Beau-Rivage

The room, lakeside tables and breakfast filmed by Luxe Flight & Suite.

YouTube
2:39
The room and sitting areafrom 2:39 · Luxe Flight & Suite · 5 October 2024Watch on YouTube
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4:02
The bathroom and showerfrom 4:02 · Luxe Flight & Suite · 5 October 2024Watch on YouTube
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5:32
Tables facing the lakefrom 5:32 · Luxe Flight & Suite · 5 October 2024Watch on YouTube
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6:24
The bar and bottlesfrom 6:24 · Luxe Flight & Suite · 5 October 2024Watch on YouTube
YouTube
10:08
The breakfast buffetfrom 10:08 · Luxe Flight & Suite · 5 October 2024Watch on YouTube

Where to linger

The round O’Terroirs dining room, with its windows on the lake

O’Terroirs

At O’Terroirs the cooking joins local produce to the head chef’s Mediterranean roots, and the dining room has its own terrace.12

The Véranda-Bar terrace, with parasols in front of the lake

Véranda-Bar

The Véranda-Bar looks out on the lake and the Alps; the menu lists fillets of Swiss Loë perch.12

Good to know before you book

  • The stay rules on this page come from the general terms of December 2025: food delivered from outside is not allowed, at CHF 50 per person for each delivery to the room, and dogs are the only pets accepted, at CHF 30 a night. Source: beau-rivage-hotel.ch

  • The basic rate leaves out the buffet breakfast, CHF 36, and the tourist tax, CHF 4.20 per person per day; breakfast in the room is served from 6.30am to 11.30am, at 20% more.

Choose your room

The Alfred Borel Suite living room, with dark blue sofas and the dining room behindAlfred Borel Suite107 m²Lake, Alps and garden views; bedroom and a living and dining room.View the room The Esplanade Suite living room, with striped sofasEsplanade Suite107 m²A spacious terrace facing the lake, the Alps and the garden; living room with dining area.View the room The Executive Suite living room, with green leather sofasExecutive Suite106 m²Lake, Alps and garden views; bedroom with a study area.View the room The Junior Suite Deluxe, with its desk beside the window on the lakeJunior Suite Deluxe70 m²View the room The Deluxe Room bed against the wood-panelled wallDeluxe RoomLake and Alps, or garden and lakeView the room The Deluxe Balcony Room, with its desk and French windowDeluxe Balcony RoomLake and Alps, or garden and lakeWith a balcony.View the room The Superior Room, with its striped sofa beside the bedSuperior RoomRue du Môle, or garden and lakeView the room The 2 single beds of the Standard RoomStandard RoomRue du MôleView the room

Getting here

AddressEsplanade du Mont-Blanc 1, 2000 Neuchâtel

Your day

In the morning

The gym from 6am

The gym opens at 6am and closes at 11pm.

When you go out

The room made up

Rooms are made up between 8am and 3pm, with an evening service from 6.30pm to 9pm: for a set time, tell the housekeeper.

At lunch

The menu of the day

In the brasseries, the menu of the day costs CHF 39 for 2 courses and CHF 49 for 3.

In the afternoon

A 50-minute massage

A 50-minute massage costs CHF 140, or CHF 190 for 75 minutes; Lomi Lomi and hot stone come only as 75 minutes, at CHF 200.

At aperitif time

The Esplanade aperitif

From April to November the Véranda-Bar serves the Esplanade du Mont-Blanc aperitif, with no booking: 2 glasses of wine and either an Alcala Brothers cured-ham plate or their country terrine.

Reviews of the Beau-Rivage Neuchâtel

Google

Guest voices

Google

The concierge’s advice

A guest spends 2 nights in a Double Deluxe with a lake view; the concierge tells them which Neuchâtel specialities to try and take home to friends.

Google · 2025-06-17Read the review
Google

A table in town

A guest has not booked dinner anywhere: the staff ring round the whole town until a busy restaurant fits them in. Another day, after a fruitless hunt for French onion soup, the chef makes one for them.

Google · 2024-12-15Read the review
Google

Bowls for the dachshund

A guest arrives with a dachshund and the hotel has bowls for it; in the Standard room the bed is very comfortable.

Google · 2026-05-13Read the review

Before you travel

How much is a night?

One night for 2 adults, at the lowest seller’s price: 17 November 2026, CHF 214; 16 January 2027, CHF 224; 16 March 2027, CHF 233. Room category, meals and taxes unspecified. Prices from Google Hotels, checked on 23 October 2026.

Do you need a car to get around?

No: hotel guests get the Neuchâtel network transport card free. By car, at the entrance the doormen take the luggage and park the car: the private car park in front of the hotel costs CHF 35 a night, and a public car park with 450 spaces has a lift straight into the lobby.12

Can you have dinner at the hotel?

The hotel’s own sources disagree. The brasseries page says that from 1 October O’Terroirs and the Véranda-Bar open from 7.30am to 6pm and serve food from 12 noon to 5.30pm. The general terms have O’Terroirs also open from 7pm to 9pm, except on Sunday and Monday evenings, and the Véranda-Bar from 11.30am to 10.30pm; the Véranda-Bar menu of August 2026 gives service from 6pm to 9.30pm, and the events calendar announces oyster and Champagne evenings from 6pm, November to February. In a review of 20 October 2026, a guest says neither the restaurant nor the bar was open. I would book dinner in town.1234

What is the wellness area like?

The B-SPA has the hammam and massages, with the fitness room alongside; the menu lists 5 massages, including anti-jet lag, tonic and reflexology.12

Is the wellness area included in the stay?

Yes, for hotel guests: according to the 2026 events brochure, access to the B-SPA and the gym is included, while massages are charged separately. Visitors from outside pay to use the hammam.12

Can you get married at the Beau-Rivage?

Yes: the hotel hosts weddings, from intimate dinners to large receptions. According to the 2026 events brochure, the Great Hall takes up to 120 guests for a banquet and 300 for a cocktail, and is hired at CHF 2,200 a day or CHF 1,100 for half a day; the Véranda-Bar terrace takes up to 150 for a cocktail, price on request.12

Are there packages or offers?

Yes, sold as gift vouchers: Neuchâtel Escape is one night for 2 in a Standard room with a welcome aperitif and the buffet breakfast overlooking the lake; Good Flavours gives the same in a Superior room with garden and lake view; Casino & Luxury Stay, with a night in a Standard room, is made for those who want to try the Neuchâtel casino.1

Still choosing

A Palafitte pavilion on its stilts above Lake Neuchâtel

Hôtel Palafitte

Palafitte’s pavilions stand on stilts on Lake Neuchâtel.

Chenot Palace and its turreted villa seen from the lake

Chenot Palace Weggis

Chenot Palace stands on the shore of Lake Lucerne at Weggis, facing the Rigi and Pilatus: from its private beach you can swim in every season.

The Dolder Grand from the air at sunset: the turreted 1899 building between its two curved modern wings, on the wooded hillside above Zurich

The Dolder Grand

Curhaus towers above Zurich, art in the corridors and warm water facing the city.

The Belle Époque façade on Rue du Grand-Chêne: red awnings, wrought-iron balconies and the carved gable above the columned entrance porch lettered “Lausanne-Palace”, with flags; the brasserie’s green awning on the left

Lausanne Palace

Lausanne climbs behind the palace; from the right rooms, the lake appears beyond the rooftops.

Steam rising in the morning from the outdoor sports pool, with frost on the shrubs and the garden, the chalet wings with their wooden balconies on the right and rocky peaks against a clear sky on the left

ERMITAGE Wellness- & Spa-Hotel

At Ermitage, the afternoon means cake at Bärgblick.

The palace lit up at blue hour in winter, its towers above the snow-covered chalet roofs of Gstaad, with ski slopes on the mountain behind

Gstaad Palace

The palace Gstaad looks up to, from fondue in an old vault to music at GreenGo.

The Alpine Spa’s outdoor infinity pool at dusk: two bathers at the edge, a lit fountain bowl, and the lake and its shores under a pink and violet sky

Bürgenstock Hotel & Alpine Spa

From boat to ridge, Lake Lucerne returns in the view from the warm pool.

The view over the hotel’s roofs in summer: flags over the park, the Schanzengraben canal lined with boats, and Lake Zurich with the Alps on the horizon

Baur au Lac

Johannes Baur opened the hotel in 1844.

The tower and green roofs of Badrutt’s Palace under a pale pink sky, with a Swiss flag and the snow-covered Engadin mountains behind.

Badrutt’s Palace Hotel

163 rooms and suites in the Badrutt family’s towered grand hotel of 1896, with 11 restaurants, 2 pools and Via Serlas at the door; open in winter and summer

Park Hyatt Zurich exterior seen from above with the city and lake beyond

Park Hyatt Zurich

Classic rooms from 36 m² and new Deluxe categories; a redesigned Lobby Lounge between the financial quarter and lake, with refurbishment continuing.

Junior suite with a painted ceiling, frescoes and black armchairs beside the bed

Widder Hotel

49 individual rooms

Armchairs, sofas and tables around the Mandarin Lounge fireplace

Mandarin Oriental Savoy, Zurich

Paradeplatz below the windows, tea by the fire

Is this your hotel? See what people ask ChatGPT about your hotel.

16 photographs

The Beau-Rivage lit at dusk, with Lake Neuchâtel behind it
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The lobby, with wooden columns and pale sofas
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The round O’Terroirs dining room, with its windows on the lake
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The Véranda-Bar terrace, with parasols in front of the lake
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The Alfred Borel Suite living room, with dark blue sofas and the dining room behind
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The Esplanade Suite living room, with striped sofas
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The Executive Suite living room, with green leather sofas
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The Junior Suite Deluxe, with its desk beside the window on the lake
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The Deluxe Room bed against the wood-panelled wall
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The Deluxe Balcony Room, with its desk and French window
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The Superior Room, with its striped sofa beside the bed
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The 2 single beds of the Standard Room
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The hammam lined in blue mosaic
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The Sunday brunch buffet
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The Bureau du chef table, with its window onto the kitchen
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An O’Terroirs table by the windows on the lake
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