Zurich, the classic and the new

Old money, new energy

Some of Zurich’s great houses have stayed in the same hands for generations. Baur au Lac has stood in its park by the lake since 1844, run by the same family for seven generations; Sprüngli, founded in 1836, has been on the Paradeplatz since 1859; and Beyer, on the Bahnhofstrasse, calls itself the world’s oldest watch shop, founded in 1760, though from 2027 its house becomes a Patek Philippe salon.

Around them a newer city has grown. Zurich West, where ships were once built, is now a quarter of art, design and food, with shops under the viaduct arches, a tower of freight containers and the Prime Tower; the Europaallee has risen along the tracks of the main station; and Philippe Starck has turned the old Eden au Lac into La Réserve, “an imaginary yacht club”.

The two minsters

The Old Town lies on both banks of the Limmat. On the left bank, the Fraumünster, founded in 853, holds Marc Chagall’s windows; on the right, the Grossmünster, over the graves of the city’s patron saints, has Sigmar Polke’s agate windows and 187 steps up the Karlsturm. Between them the Lindenhof, once a Roman fort, gives the finest view of all.

The sights of Zurich →

Dada, Chagall and Le Corbusier

Zurich’s art is bolder than its banks. Dada was born at the Cabaret Voltaire in 1916; the Kunsthaus, with David Chipperfield’s extension of 2021, holds the largest collection of Munch outside Norway; and Le Corbusier’s last building, his only one in steel and glass, stands in a park by the lake. At the Kronenhalle you eat under original works by Chagall, Picasso and Miró.

Arts & Culture in Zurich →

At the table

The city’s dish is Zürcher Geschnetzeltes, veal in cream with Rösti; its sweet is Sprüngli’s Luxemburgerli. At the top of its cooking, four restaurants hold Two MICHELIN Stars in the current guide, dated 2025: The Restaurant at The Dolder Grand, IGNIV, the Widder Restaurant and The Counter; and two of its One-Star tables, Neue Taverne and KLE, cook without meat, in the city where Hiltl has served vegetarian food since 1898.

Zurich Cuisine →   The best restaurants in Zurich →

Life by the lake

Zurich turned towards its lake around 1800, when the lower basin was opened up as a public park. In summer the city swims: from the wooden Seebad Utoquai of 1890, from the floating Seebad Enge, and from the sandy Strandbad Mythenquai. The ZSG’s ships sail from the Bürkliplatz, and in spring the promenade is white and pink with magnolias and cherry blossom.

Parks and lake baths →

Music and stage

The Tonhalle, inaugurated by Brahms in 1895 and reopened in 2021 with a new organ, is home to the Tonhalle-Orchester under Paavo Järvi; the Opera House on the Sechseläutenplatz was named Opera Company of the Year in 2014; and the Schauspielhaus, at the Pfauen since 1901, plays every performance with English surtitles.

The Alps by train

From Zürich HB, trains run to Lucerne and its mountains in under an hour, to Basel in about an hour, through the Gotthard Base Tunnel to Ticino and Milan, and via Chur to St. Moritz in about three hours, on the UNESCO-listed Albula line.

Lucerne from Zurich →   ULTIMATE Milan →   ULTIMATE Lake Como →   ULTIMATE Ski Resorts →   ULTIMATE Rail Journeys →

The city and its film festival

Every autumn the Zurich Film Festival fills the Sechseläutenplatz and its cinemas with around 100 films over eleven days; the next edition runs from 23 September to 3 October 2027. See our page Zurich on film for official trailers.

Zurich on film →

Questions and answers