Compared with other international cities, Zurich is more like a town. And yet, Switzerland's largest city offers all the advantages of a throbbing, global metropolis. It is a trendy city, cultural centre, shopping mecca and business hub all rolled into one.

When international style magazines compare the world's cities for lifestyle and quality of life, this finance hub and banking city at the northern tip of the Lake of Zurich consistently comes out up front. Alongside New York and London, Zurich is a centre for contemporary art, and its Museum of Art a reputed institution.

Zurich offers much variety in the way of culture – from Switzerland's largest theatre to innovative cabarets and cellar theatres, and the Zurich Opera that is considered one of the leading opera and ballet houses in Europe. The city skyline is dominated by the towers of three churches – the Grossmünster, endowed by Charlemagne, St. Peter's Church with the largest clock face in Europe, and the Fraumünster with its famous stained glass windows by Marc Chagall.

Anyone who likes to shop will love this city by the Limmat River. Zurich's Bahnhofstrasse is Switzerland's most famous shopping mile. And there are innumerable smaller boutiques and shops to discover on a leisurely stroll through the quaint alleys of the old town's Niederdorf quarter. Zurich's nightlife is famous well beyond Switzerland's national borders. Some 500 nightclubs and bars offer a great entertainment variety up to the early morning hours.

 

 

 

 

In summer, even Zurich's public swimming baths have some nightlife! When the sun goes down, they become welcoming bars with a distinctively multicultural ambience. Apart from this, restaurants can be found in the most extraordinary places such as a former mill or a foundry. Schiffbau, for example – once a steamboat assembly hall, today an institution in its own right that offers an incomparable array of bars, restaurants, music and theater.

 

 

 

Kunsthaus

The collection at Switzerland's most important Museum of Art covers every of the major periods in European art, from the Middle Ages to the present.

Rietberg Museum

This museum is specialized in art from beyond Europe, particularly from India, China and Africa.

Bahnhofstrasse

The banking mile with its exclusive fashion boutiques, department stores and street cafés is the ideal place for a stroll.

Zurich Zoo

The Zoo features a hall of 11,000 square metres that is eco-system to several hundred species of fauna and flora from Madagascar's Masoala rain forest.

Old Town

With its various art galleries, antiques stores and book shops, the Old Town is an insider's tip among art lovers. In the evening, the Old Town livens up to become an eclectic entertainment hub.

Zurich Tourism
at Zurich Main Station
8021 Zurich, Switzerland

[email protected]
www.zuerich.com