World City Guide

Hotels

The hotels below have been classed into four different pricing categories. The prices quoted are the starting prices for double rooms, including VAT and service charge but excluding breakfast, unless otherwise stated. Besides VAT at 7.6%, a compulsory 15% service charge is included in the cost of all hotel bills.

$ (up to SFr150 per night)
$$ (SFr150 to SFr300 per night)
$$$ (SFr300 to SFr500 per night)
$$$$ (over SFr500 per night)

Business

Hilton Zurich Airport
Located in the hills overlooking Glattburg, the Hilton Zurich Airport is just a 5-minute free bus ride from the airport and 15 minutes from the city centre. Renovations, completed in May 2001, have greatly updated the Hilton for business users and all 322 air-conditioned rooms and suites now include modem points and a CD player. Computers and printers are also available. The decor is high-class modern and the 46 new executive rooms have their own reception area and lounge. The two restaurants have been combined into a single excellent establishment. The hotel’s 22 function rooms can hold up to 320 people (220 for seminars, 280 for banquets) and state-of-the-art audiovisual equipment is available in all function rooms. The hotel has a sauna, solarium and massage facilities. Jogging through local meadows and woodlands is enjoyable, while golf, tennis and swimming are all available near the hotel. There are two restaurants, a piano bar with evening music and the underground car park has room for 300 cars.

Hohenbühlstrasse 10, Opfikon
Tel: (01) 828 5050.
Website: www.hilton.com
Price: $$$.

Swissôtel
One of the most convenient hotels for the Messe (trade fair centre) and the airport, the Swissôtel is also one of the best business hotels in the city. It can handle conferences for up to 800 and the ballroom holds 600 (520 seated). The 31st-floor seminar rooms are all equipped with ISDN, Dolby sound systems, video-conferencing and simultaneous translation facilities (one room also has DVD and a plasma screen) and the separate business centre includes video-conferencing. The hotel has 347 luxury rooms and 10 suites. Business rooms include dual-line telephones, voicemail, fax and ISDN facilities and 38 business executive rooms also have Lavazza coffee machines and CD players. The Abaris Wellness Club on the 32nd floor features a pool, sauna, solarium, steam bath, jacuzzi, massage and exercise equipment, with wonderful views of the city, the lake and the Alps. There are three excellent restaurants and the Nocturne Bar is an excellent place for patrons to both relax and have more informal business meetings. There is also a complimentary shuttle bus to and from the airport.

Am Marktplatz, Oelikon
Tel: (01) 317 3111.
Website: www.swissotel.com
Price: $$$.

Luxury

Baur au Lac
Located in its own private park on the shores of Lake Zurich, the city’s finest hotel is situated at the beginning of the fashionable Bahnhofstrasse. The same family has owned the hotel since 1844. All 107 rooms and 18 suites are different, although all feature triple-glazed windows and CD players. The hotel is light and welcoming and the decor continues to reflect the hotel’s 150 years of lasting values. The six meeting rooms hold up to 200 people and all are equipped with ISDN, fax and full business facilities, including video conferencing. Secretaries, hostesses, photographers and translators can also be arranged. A separate business centre includes two computers with printers, high-speed Internet access and fax facilities. The hotel also boasts a fitness centre that features Cybex Strength Systems and its own nightclub, Diagonal. During summer, meals (including breakfast) are served in the glass pavilion beside the canal. In winter, they are served in the elegant Restaurant Français. The Rive Gauche offers informal meals, with a bar featuring over 100 malt whiskies.

Talstrasse 1
Tel: (01) 220 5020.
Website: www.bauraulac.ch
Price: $$$$.

Hotel Eden au Lac
On the shores of Lake Zurich, a few steps from the Opera and a 10-minute walk from Bahnhofstrasse, the Eden au Lac maintains its position as one of the city’s finest hotels. Opened in 1909, the hotel’s early success collapsed during the Depression and it applied for bankruptcy in 1935. Arthur Louis Thurnheer was appointed by the bank as Delegierten and, with his excellent taste and attention to detail, he turned the hotel around and ultimately became its owner. The 56 five-star, air-conditioned rooms are all equipped with fax and modem points and the hotel’s business suites all include computer printers. The three elegant banqueting rooms (the Baroque, the Miroir and Restaurant Eden) can accommodate between two and 80 people. The French restaurant is famous for its hot hors d’oeuvres, one of the earliest degustation menus developed by the Aga Khan III (1877-1957) during his wartime stay.

Utoquai 45
Tel: (01) 266 2525.
Website: www.edenaulac.ch
Price: $$$$.

Moderate

Bar Hôtel Seehof
Located close to the opera and the shores of Lake Zurich, this hotel is a favourite of both hip business travellers and opera singers. It was opened in 1999, in a 1930s townhouse, with a radically modernised interior consisting of minimalist white walls and varnished oak floors and shelves. It offers very good value for money, although in some cases the bathrooms are rather small. Artwork and photographs by young Swiss artists decorate the walls and a bar with an excellent selection of wines adds to the charming atmosphere.

Seehofstrasse 11
Tel: (01) 254 5757.
Website: www.hotelseehof.ch
Price: $$.

Etap Hotel
Etap Hotel is situated in the industrial Zurich West neighbourhood (Zurich 5), which is currently reinventing itself as a hip gallery and restaurant enclave. All Etap hotels worldwide are identical and feature pastel grey and violet walls and carpets, a double bed with a single bunk above it, and a shower and toilet in separate fibreglass modules; all rooms also have excellent soundproofing. The Etap shows that economy accommodation can still be of a good quality and all rooms cost the same whether occupied by one, two or three people. The higher priced Novotel and Ibis Hotels (also parts of the Accor group) are also located in the same ‘Ibis City’.

Technoparkstrasse 2
Tel: (01) 276 2000.
Website: www.etaphotel.com
Price: $.

Other Recommendations

The Central Plaza Hotel
Despite being built in 1883 and possessing a superb period exterior, the Central Plaza attracts a younger crowd nowadays, while still offering excellent quality of service to business and older travellers. Although directly located on Central Square and the tram crossroads on the Niederdorf site, the 100 air-conditioned rooms and suites were completely renovated in 2001 and are fully soundproofed from the noisy intersection. Most rooms have a view over the River Limmat and all have modem points. A photocopying service is available at the front desk and secretarial services also can be arranged. There are many public spaces including the lobby, a piano bar-café, a piano lounge, and the River View and King’s Cave restaurants. Neptun’s Terrace, a heated and rainproof barbecue restaurant with illuminated waterfalls, and the Sidewalk Café are open in summer. Although ‘mock medieval’ in theme, the basement King’s Cave restaurant has an excellent atmosphere, featuring grilled specialities in a regally bedecked cellar with bar, fireplace, fountain and wine cellar. With Swiss neutrality during the Cold War, the hotel’s piano bar became a favourite drinking and meeting place for spies. Special weekend and holiday room rates are available.

Central 1
Tel: (044) 256 5656.
Website: www.central.ch
Price: $$$.

Widder Hotel
The Widder is composed of eight adjacent medieval houses, gutted and combined. One of the houses was that of the Butcher’s (Widder) Guild, whose members still meet at the hotel for the mutton supper on Martinmass (11 November). The hotel is located in the middle of the Augustiner Quarter and named after a 13th-century monastery that used to exist there. The 42 rooms and seven suites (four with private roof terraces) all show a combination of the old and new, with features including 17th-century frescoes and old wooden floors; no two rooms are decorated in the same manner. All rooms are air-conditioned and include a fax machine with a separate, private number, a telephone with modem and cable TV. Six modern function rooms hold up to 200 people and can be equipped with any required technology. The hotel restaurant is divided into two different interiors and features excellent Swiss and vegetarian cuisine. For decades before the hotel opened, the Widder Bar was an important jazz venue, and in 1995, the hotel revived the tradition. The bar’s ‘Library of Spirits’ offers more than 800 spirits from around the world, including several hundred single-malt whiskies.

Rennweg 7
Tel: (01) 224 2526.
Website: www.widderhotel.ch
Price: $$$$.