The university quarter, and the obvious first choice if you can afford it. UNIGE buildings are scattered around the plaine itself, the flea market is on your doorstep on Wednesdays and Saturdays, and you can walk to almost everything. Competition for rooms here is fierce for exactly that reason.
Landlords in Plainpalais ask for the same file as anywhere in the canton: a debt-collection extract, proof of income, and a guarantor who lives in Switzerland. Two of those are impossible before you arrive, which is why flatshares and private landlords are the realistic route from abroad.
Your deposit is capped at three months of net rent — up to CHF 4'200 at the top of the range here — and it is blocked in your own name, not the landlord's. How the deposit works
We co-sign leases so the file gets accepted, and we search the market when our own rooms are full.