Shopping
Shopping Zurich makes shopping a pleasure – elegant boutiques, department stores and speciality shops are clustered in the Old Town, interspersed with cafés and bars for those necessary breaks. Most shops are open Monday-Friday 0900-1830 and Saturday 0800-1600. Many, except for the large stores, close for lunch. Late shopping on Thursday is until 2100. By law, shops cannot stay open longer than 2000 on weekdays and 1600 on Saturday. VAT is charged at a rate of 7.6% can be reclaimed for single items purchased for SFr400 or more.
The most fashionable shopping street is Bahnhofstrasse (website: www.bahnhofstrasse-zuerich.ch), which stretches from the Hauptbahnhof past Paradeplatz to the lake. High-quality Swiss goods and international labels can be found here. More boutiques tucked away to the east – the main streets (Rennweg and Limmatquai) are a good starting point. More alternative (and cheaper) shops are on Langstrasse, to the west of the Hauptbahnhof.
From May to October, on Saturday (0600-1500), Bürkliplatz fills with stalls during the weekly flea market (tel: (01) 216 7160). Interesting antiques and hand-made artefacts are sold at Rosenhof in the Old Town, Thursday 1000-2000 and Saturday 1000-1600 (tel: (01) 216 7161; website www.rosenhof.ch).
Uniquely Swiss gifts are fine chocolates, Swiss Army knives, watches, embroidery, linen and handmade clocks. Schweizer Heimatwerk, Bahnhofstrasse 2 (website: www.heimatwerk.ch), has a good selection of traditional and modern Swiss design especially wooden folk toys, while Confiserie Sprüngli, Bahnhofstrasse 21 (website: www.spruengli.ch), is renowned for its chocolates and is also Zurich’s oldest pastry shop and the first to permit women to drink coffee in public. The shop also serves dozens of salty hors d’oeurves and over 50 chocolates. Their ‘Luzemburgli’ biscuit is patented and only sold here. It is possible to visit the Lindt & Sprügli factory, situated south of Zurich at Seestrasse 204, Kilchberg, Wednesday to Friday. The S-Bahn 1 or 8 from the Haufbahnhof and bus 165 from Bürkliplatz go to the factory. The tour includes a museum, a film about chocolate making and a generous gift of chocolates.
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