La Barje – Associative Bar-Terrace Project

Among the good terraces Geneva has to offer, this one is probably the less known (of which I know, at least, for obviously I wouldn’t be able to tell you about the ones I don’t know!).

You access “la Barje” (it means “crazy woman/girl” in french slang, and plays with the phonetic proximity to “berge” which means “(river)bank”) either by the stairs of the Coulouvrenière bridge, or by crossing a little bridge found right before the old powerhouse.

You’ll arrive on a place surrounded by the Rhone. It’s very calm, with an old caravan in the middle. That’s the bar. You can get many different local drinks – a Calvinus (a Genevan beer), natural apple juice, or whatever you want – and can even eat homemade pie.

The concept of the terrace is to promote the associative life in Geneva: to offer summer jobs for young people, to promote the cultural scene in Geneva by organizing events, and to show it is possible to run a place with solidarity principles. The project also has ecological ambitions, using for instance compostable dishes.

Aside from its great ambitions, the bar is a nice place to go to. The people are very sympathetic, and the place is refreshing when the temperatures are too high. You can even wet your feet in the Rhone!

Check out the website for special events!