01
Baur au Lac
Zurich's grande dame since 1844, set in a private park at the head of the lake, still owned by the founding family.
Zurich / 20 rooms worth the journey
Every hotel in Zurich, narrowed to 20. Nobody pays to be on this list, and nobody was asked whether they wanted to be. Rates are live and include taxes and our commission.
01
Zurich's grande dame since 1844, set in a private park at the head of the lake, still owned by the founding family.
02
Philippe Starck's nautical fantasy above the lake. Playful in a city that rarely permits it.
03
Nine medieval houses stitched into one hotel by Tilla Theus. The city's best argument for restraint at scale.
04
The 1838 landmark on Paradeplatz, reopened after a restoration long enough that most of Zurich stopped waiting.
05
Station-side grandeur from 1876, run with a precision that never once draws attention to itself.
06
A sixteenth century townhouse in the old town. Twenty rooms, Liberty fabrics, low ceilings worth ducking for.
07
A former brewery whose wine bar rises eleven metres, walled with 33,000 books and lit by chandeliers made from the old beer bottles. The thermal baths are a lift ride up.
08
A Seefeld villa with a garden, twelve rooms, and no apparent interest in being noticed.
09
Art deco on the lakefront, thoroughly renovated, and unfashionably calm about all of it.
10
A quiet lakeside address with the opera house at the door and no lobby theatre inside.
11
A residential villa turned fourteen rooms, with a breakfast that comfortably outclasses the rate.
12
A lake hideaway with a roof terrace, closer to the water than the price would lead you to expect.
13
Old town rooms above a good bar and a better restaurant, brought back in 2015 without being sanitised.
14
On the Limmat beside the Grossmünster. Small, plain, and located exactly where you would want to be.
15
Design Hotels member in Zurich West. Industrial bones, warm hand, none of the usual coldness.
16
A small Seefeld house behind the opera. Plain rooms, faultless location, no pretence in either.
17
Velvet, brass and a central address, at a fraction of what Paradeplatz charges for the same walk.
18
The neighbourhood's own hotel, deliberately unpolished, honest about where it stands.
19
A small house by the Sihl with art on every floor and a ground floor bar the locals kept.
20
The loud one, and the one that understood Zurich West before the district did.