I should only have to mention the word “Switzerland” for you to think of “winter.” Or at least, a fashionable winter. From the elegant main pedestrian street of Gstaad to the chocolate shops of Zürich and the peaks of the Alps, Switzerland is one long ode to snow and winter.

But maybe you want a chic urban experience as a retreat after a few days on the slopes. Maybe you want cozy restaurants and walking streets lined with cute stores and a lake in the middle of it all.

Maybe you want Geneva.

I know this because last year at this time, I checked into the elegant Hotel d’Angleterre and began to actually enjoy my least favorite season. Every morning, I took breakfast in the hotel’s lovely dining room (pictured at left) at a table overlooking Lake Geneva across the street. Nothing like Bircher muesli served with a view of Mont Blanc.

Fortified, I donned coat and scarf and walked the bridge to the other side of the city for a stroll through the old hilly part of town whose cobblestones, if they could speak, would tell of Celtic tribes, Roman armies and a series of conquerors too numerous to mention until the city finally, following the defeat of Napoleon, affiliated itself with the Swiss Confederation in 1815.

Geneva, of course, is part of the French sector of Switzerland—the border of France is just outside of town—so you’re never far from a café or smart shop. Take a 12-minute tram ride from the center of town to the suburb (once a village) of Carouge, the Greenwich Village of Geneva. Artists’ workshops, galleries, boutiques and bohemian cafes encourage you to stay awhile, perhaps for lunch. Try ô calme for a casual, homey ambiance that suggests you’re dining in someone’s kitchen.

If you must take a day on the slopes, it’s no problem. Around the corner from the d’Angleterre is a discreet station where buses offer day trips for skiers—it’s only an hour to Europe’s highest mountains. You may pay for your lift ticket when you buy your bus fare, and rental equipment is available on the slopes.

The first time I met the Hotel d’Angleterre, before I know of its luxe rooms and heavenly bedding, was several years ago when a local invited me for drinks at the Leopard Room Bar, the hotel’s lounge that’s decorated as if Ralph Lauren had been sent to Africa with an unlimited expense account. Plush sofas, a roaring fire in the winter, some live music, dark bookshelves in a corner of the room . . . it has been where I’ve ended each Geneva evening ever since.

The least expensive drink at the Leopard Room might be that $18 New Zealand sauvignon blanc I had last year, but the people watching is worth every Swiss franc. And you’ll have enough for a second round of drinks because, as I noted when I checked the hotel’s Website while writing this post, the d’Angleterre is currently offering three nights for the price of two.

Make that a martini, garçon.