Zürich or Zurich is the largest city, a global center for banking and finance, lies at the north end of Lake Zurich in northern Switzerland. The picturesque lanes of the central Altstadt (Old Town), on either side of the Limmat River, reflect its pre-medieval history.
Zurich is famous for luxurious lifestyles, high-end shopping, and fancy chocolates.
Why visit Zurich
Zurich has for years ranked among the world’s top cities in terms of quality of life. Permanently settled for around 2000 years, the history of Zurich goes back to its founding by the Romans.
Cultural diversity
Zurich is a mixed hub for railways, roads, and air traffic – both Zurich airport and railway station are the largest and busiest in the country.
Zurich is a culturally and ethnically diverse city – 31% of the city’s population are foreign nationals, 39% are born abroad and 61% have a migration background. The most important sector in the economy of
Zurich is the service industry, which employs nearly four-fifths of workers.
The City’s current strategy prioritizes culture that reaches Zurich’s diverse mix of citizens, ranging across age, ethnicity, and neighborhoods.
In order to provide an interesting and compelling cultural program for such a wide range of citizens, Zürich offers a well-balanced range of established cultural venues, temporary project spaces and recurring events.
Visit the bars and club scene
With 500 bars and clubs in a relatively small city, you’ll have many options to go out and have a good time. People of all ages love to go out and socialize in upscale bars like Kaufleuten, Acapulco, a ’70s-themed bar, and Pur Pur.
Zurich’s nightlife offers classy clubs, casual and alternative bars, as well as live-music venues. The main nightlife areas are Niederdorf in the old town, the streets around Langstrasse and Zurich West.
The city’s extraordinary Badi Bars also deserve attention.
Picture by Thomas Woodtli / Flickr
Visit Marc Chagall’s stained glass windows in Fraumunster church.
Marc Chagall created 5 windows for the Fraumünster church in Zurich. Today the windows are world-famous and captivate visitors. In the 1970s, Belarussian-born Marc Chagall created a five-part stained-glass window series and a rosette for the chancel of the Fraumünster church in Zurich.
The windows are best seen in the bright morning light as all five stained-glass windows illuminate the entire church.
The Fraumunster Church is located in Zürich’s city center. The church was built in 853.
Picture credit: Hans Permana / Flickr
The Old Town
The Altstadt Old Town is the most beautiful area in Zurich. The Old Town is divided into two parts from the river. Here you can find houses from medieval times, great beautifully presented historic cafes, restaurants, and shops. Here is also the highest concentration of clubs in Switzerland.
This beautiful Historic Centre is home to a number of architecturally impressive buildings.
Photo credit: Zoo Zürich, Marcel Fierz, 2003
See the Masoala Rainforest Hall at Zurich Zoo
If you have kids with you you, you’ll want to visit the 36,000-square-foot Masoala Rainforest Hall, known as the only rainforest in Europe. It’s presenting the living species of Madagascar, where you can see wildlife, ferns, rubber trees, insects and even fish.
The Zoo Zürich is a zoo located in Zurich, Switzerland conveniently accessible from Zürich city center. The building costs were financed with donated funds, and the volume of the shelter is 200,000 cubic meters. With the small rainforest ecosystem, the Masoala Rainforest became an actual conservation center with the capability of offer animals and over 500 plant species.
Zoo Zurich operates a tree nursery in the Masoala Rainforest, and it produces over a hundred young trees and bushes that are pricked out in the Masoala Rainforest.
The shopping
Zurich has built up a reputation as a shopping city. Some of the places you have to visit are the Bahnhofstrasse: a pedestrianized street, where you’ll find many world-famous brands as well as large, impressive department stores, Teddy’s Souvenir Shop has a broad selection of traditional crafts and souvenirs from all over Switzerland. In the side streets and alleys of the Old Town, you’ll find interesting stores selling a wide range of unique curios.
Photo credit: Kevin Oliver / Flickr
Awesome Cuisine
Zurich offers a great selection of restaurants where you can try traditional Swiss dishes or international cuisine.
You can try Guild House for traditional cuisine like Zurcher Geshnetzeltes or you can head up to Zurich West, where you can find many stylish restaurants with impressive décor.
Gateway to explore central Switzerland
Central Switzerland is the cradle of Switzerland where its origins were founded in 1291. The area can be reached quickly and easily from all parts of Switzerland.
You can take so many great day-trips close to Zürich and explore the Rhine Falls (the largest waterfall in Europe), the beautiful and historic city of Lucerne, and endless Mount Titlis.
The alps are only a short distance away, and you can often see them in the distance.
The annual Street Parade
The annual Street Parade is a must for house and techno music lovers. The Parade is one of the country’s biggest party events on the year and you can see 30 decorated trucks in a 2.4-kilometre route around Lake Zurich.
Lindenhof
Photo credit: Max Stolbinsky / Flickr
The Lindenhof is a moraine hill and a public square in the historic center of Zürich
This is a very large and peaceful plaza with many linden trees and benches that make it perfect for picnics. Great views of the city abound. The Romans royals would stay here when traveling in the region. You can check out the replica Roman tombstone in Pfalzgasse out of the square.
The Switzerland Travel System provides a dedicated range of travel passes and tickets for visitors.
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