We have been on several city breaks in the past to Amsterdam, Barcelona and Venice but I must say that this one beats them all.  If you ever get the chance to visit this breath-taking city I recommend you do as it will be a trip you will remember.

We flew out on Friday lunchtime with Aer Lingus from Gatwick.  It was the first time we have flown with them and will definitely do so again as the leg room seemed better that some other flights we have been on, the plane ran on time and most importantly the flights are cheap.  You can get flights to Zurich as cheap as £9.99 each way although obviously you pay taxes on top of that but it still works out very reasonable compared to other airlines that offer this route.

We travelled out with Shelley, Ian’s wife so that we could all spend the weekend together.  As we travelled with hand luggage only, booked in online the day before and printed off our boarding passes we were able to go straight through to security without any queuing.  Another thing that made this trip quicker and easier was using Ace Meet & Greet for car parking.  It was so simple just pulling up outside the airport and having a driver take our car and park it for us returning it to us at the airport on our return.  The cost for the 4 days was £28 which wasn’t much more than a car park but with the added convenience. 

On arriving at the very swish Zurich International airport we caught a train into Hauptbahnhof Station (Zurich’s central station) which is about 12 kilometres away and just a short 10 minute train journey.  The trains run between the airport and the Zurich central station every 15 minutes.  From just outside the station we then caught a tram to Ian’s apartment.

Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland, although not the capital as Berne is.  This beautiful city is famed for being one of the cleanest cities in the World although we were surprised at the amount of graffiti and saw quite a lot of it from the train between the airport and the City Centre. 

The best way to explore Zurich is both on foot and by bus/tram and train.  They run frequently and are fairly cheap to use.  Zurich CARDS are available to purchase from Hauptbahnhof station or the bus/tram stops.  They cost around 8 Swiss Francs which is equivalent to £5.15 for 24 hours, giving free access to all local trains, trams and buses.  We were pleasantly surprised to find  they also gave us a discount on a boat trip.  I have also since found out that the ticket gives you free admission to many museums and food and drink discounts in some local restaurants.

Please note that the ticket machines at the tram stops only take coins, whereas the machines at the station also take notes.

Zurich is compact and perfectly proportioned; almost everything is within walking distance or just a tram ride away.  But more important than its convenience is its breathtaking beauty.  Stroll around this wonderful city with its exquisite architecture and scenery.  It’s a picture perfect place to view the Swiss Alps, the city itself and the lake.

There are a unique mixture of attractions with over 50 museums some 14 of which are devoted to art and more than 100 art galleries, Zoo, Lake, Mountains, Designer Labels, Flamboyant and Lively nightlife.

Talking of nightlife Zurich has the highest density of clubs in Switzerland and really gets going after 11pm.  A short tram ride away is Zurich West; once a decaying nearly abandoned industrial

District, it is now the centre of nightlife for the youngsters that flock to the all-night clubs set up in former factories.  In the summer, nightlife can be found not only in the clubs but also outside in the open air.

On Saturday morning we couldn’t wait to start exploring the city.  We caught a tram into the city centre, which stopped outside Springli’s the famous Swiss Chocolate shop – We just had to have a little look inside at all the wonderful chocolate.

Once we could eventually tear ourselves away from Springli’s we walked up and down Bahnhofstrasse, one of the most prestigious shopping streets in Europe.  Here there are several department stores and top designer shops where you can buy anything from an expensive Rolex watch to a Louis Vuiton handbag.  Most people, including myself can only afford to browse in this street!  This area is also home to some of the biggest banks in the World who have their headquarters in Zurcih.  One end of this street is Zurich’s Central Station and the other is the Pier where the view of the lake with the snow capped Alps in the background is stunning.

Each year Zurich has a theme, which in previous years have been decorative cows, benches and teddies.  You can still see evidence of these on top of some of the buildings around the city.  This year dotted around the city centre are big colourfully painted pots decorated by artists containing a glorious show of plants in bloom.  Three hundred plants will be on show in this area until September 2009. 

We then crossed the Munster Bridge to the Old Town.  From here you can see St Peter’s church which is one of Zurich’s oldest churches.  The outside of this great church has a clock face which has a 28ft diameter and is said to be the largest clock face in all of Europe.  You can also see the Grossmunster which is a beautiful Gothic Cathedral.  The two towers of this Cathedral dominate the Zurich skyline.

Walking along the River Limmat we noticed one of the several lido’s along the water, used for swimming and sunbathing by day and transformed into open air bars during the long summer nights.

We then wandered through the cobblestone streets and ancient narrow alley ways of the old town enjoying going down a little street here and there finding something new to discover at each turn.  The Old Town is bursting with old historic buildings which date back to the 14^th century (some of them are still being lived in today).  I have read that there are old fashioned gas lights that come on in the evening giving the streets a lovely mellow look instead of the harsh lighting.  The Old Town is full of quaint café’s and coffee shops, restaurants and bars as well as many speciality shops, antique and book shops.

Street Vendors sell tasty bratwurst sausages.  Here they serve the sausage and the wedge of bread separate with your choice of tomato sauce, mustard or mayonnaise in little containers as dipping sauces.  We didn’t get a chance to try one on this trip but Ian assured us that they are delicious and definitely worth trying next time.

It is worth noting that the shops/supermarkets close at 5pm on a Saturday evening and don’t re-open until Monday morning.  One exception is the odd small supermarket and the underground concourse at Zurich Central Station which is very popular with Sunday shoppers.

On the Saturday evening we visited Restaurant Zeughauskeller which is a large and very popular Swiss restaurant housed in a former arsenal which was built in 1487.  In 1927 it was converted into a beer restaurant.  Situated in the heart of the ‘banking’ district this old armoury serves typical Swiss food at surprisingly good value.

The décor is amazing with the wooden ceiling, large wooden chandeliers, interesting pictures and military accessories hung on the walls conveying a bit of the original atmosphere in this old building.

The vast dining room seats 200 on long wooden tables which contributes to creating a sociable atmosphere giving smaller groups of diners the opportunity to get quickly acquainted with other diners on the table.

We found the service quick and efficient, portions generous and the atmosphere fun and lively.

Besides many sorts of Swiss sausages (over 20 types) available on the menu including one which measures 39 inches you can go for different sorts of pork or sliced veal amongst other things.  Ian recommended we try the Mayor’s Sword to share between the two of us which is marinated baby-beef steaks, pounded until they are thin then wrapped around a large sword blade and grilled.  The steak is then served to the table on the sword which looks really quite impressive.

The meal was served with Potato Rosti (hash brown potatoes “Swiss Style”) and Ian suggested we also try a portion of the famous homemade potato salad.  All of which were delicious.

If you decide to visit this restaurant I would recommend you book a table as it is very popular with the locals and tourists.  I noticed queues in the entrance halls most of the evening.

On the Sunday we took a boat trip on Lake Zurich which I highly recommend.  We went on a one and a half hour round trip from Burkliplatz.  We sat outside at the back of the boat taking in the stunning sights of the snow covered Alps in the distance, the modern mansions, grand buildings, quaint houses and parks which lined the shore.  The boat stopped off at quite a few stops along the way and when we take this trip on our return to Zurich in July we though we would get off at some of these stops and explore the area before getting back on the boat and going further round the lake.  In fact next time we may even do the 4 hour trip.  We got off the boat one stop early so that we could have our picnic in one of Zurich’s many parks.

Below are photos taken from the boat trip around the Lake...

The Bacherpark is considered by many to be one of the most beautifully designed parks in the city, and the Rieter Park features Zurich’s largest landscaped gardens.

The cost of the boat trip was only 8 Swiss Francs but because we had a Zurich CARD (24 hour tram/bus pass) the cost was discounted to 4 Swiss Francs.

One of the things we particularly noticed about Zurich was how friendly the Swiss were.  We found them charming and willing to help.  The language spoken is High German or Swiss German but the language barrier is rarely a problem as most Swiss tend to speak excellent English.

With so much to see and do in this beautiful city 4 days was not long enough so we have already booked our next trip to Zurich planned for July.  Next time we will take a longer boat trip around Zurich Lake and we plan to visit The Rhine Falls which is a 45 minute train trip from Zurich.  Licern is also about 45 minutes to an hour away and worth a visit.



The sign in the trams caught our attention .. a saw???