Geneva's nightlife is concentrated on a few specific areas. The Pâquis quarter — between the train station and the lake — is the most active and the most varied, with cocktail bars, dance clubs, and the city's red-light street running parallel to the bars. The streets around Place du Bourg-de-Four in the old town stay busy in summer when terraces fill up. Plainpalais and Carouge to the south have a younger, more bohemian crowd — Carouge in particular has a quiet Sardinian charm and a clutch of good wine bars.
For coffee, the old town has several solid cafés along Grand-Rue, but the speciality-coffee scene is centred in the Pâquis and in the streets around the Plainpalais market. Look out for Boréal Coffee, with multiple locations across town.
The Swiss tradition of the aperitif — a glass of white wine or a vermouth before dinner around 6:30pm — is followed seriously in Geneva. Bars along the lakeside Quai du Mont-Blanc and the Quai Wilson host the post-work crowd; views across the water to the Alps on a clear evening are the reward.
The clubs at the more upmarket end (along the lake and around Pâquis) are notoriously expensive. Free entry is rare; expect to pay for a drink at twice the price you'd pay elsewhere.