48 Hours in Zurichfeatured

I’ve been thinking about this post since we returned home, but it’s been months and I still find myself without words. Truth be told, our time in Zurich was a whirlwind – memories of walking along the lake, shopping on the Bahnhofstrasse, discovering the absurd deliciousness of raclette (and discovering that traditional Swiss fondue in Switzerland is so much better than anything we’ve ever had at the Melting Pot. And we really like the Melting Pot).

I look at the pictures, and I think back on how different Zurich was from any place we’d ever been and how I literally have zero regrets that we skipped our plans to visit Colmar in favor of spending a day walking around the city. We weren’t sure our two days (and really, one full day) in Zurich would be enough to experience the city, but it turned out to be just right.

Because our flight originated in another Schengen country, we didn’t have to go through customs when we landed. Just we would a domestic flight, we walked right off the plane and went straight to baggage claim, where our bags were quick to appear on the carousel. Switzerland has it’s own currency (Francs), so we stopped at an ATM in the airport to get some Swiss cash before heading out.

It was easy to find the taxi line and I was super excited to see that Swiss cabs have wifi. Have I mentioned that Switzerland is awesome? Because it totally is (and not just because it’s taxi cabs have wifi). Except for one thing: it’s an expensive city to visit, and that sets in right at the airport: the short cab ride to our hotel cost nearly 50 Francs (which, at a nearly 1:1 conversion from US Dollars, equated to a $50 cab ride for, like, a 15 minute ride, which is insane. I once took a 42 minute Uber ride around Seattle and it cost all of $18).

It was still light out as we approached our hotel, the Zurich Marriott, just after 9:00 pm. The Zurich Marriott was located right on the river, making it within walking distance of and easily accessible to the heart of the city. We didn’t take a single cab or bus ride for the rest of our time in the city because it was so walkable, and the main draw to the Marriott was it’s proximity to the shopping district, old town and the train station.

When I checked in, I was thanked for my loyalty and upgraded to a pretty sweet corner room, with a view of the river, a separate sitting room with a couch and a single bed and two (!!!) bathrooms. After such a long day, we were beyond thrilled with both the accommodations and hospitality (and the Toblerones set out on the bedside table).

We had originally planned on going out and walking around, but even in the late daylight (the sun didn’t set until nearly 10:00 pm!), I was still sick, Stephanie’s wasn’t feeling well, either, and Mom was tired from the full day of travel. So we opted to stay in, catch up on the episodes of TV we’d downloaded in the Lufthansa lounge and rest up for a day of exploring a new country. Sleep was a good choice, because we were up early, our walking shoes already pulled out of our luggage and ready for a day of exploring the city on our feet.

The final leg of our trip would take us to Paris via train, so we started our morning with a walk to the train station to see if it would be walkable with our luggage. The walk took us along the water, ten minutes door to door, and it was just so…peaceful. The pace is a little slower in Switzerland. The air is fresher and the pavement cleaner. It’s peaceful. And pleasant. Idyllic, almost.

Zurich HB is the main train hub of the area, connecting the city to Austria, France, Spain, Germany and just about any other European city you can travel to on the high speed rail. It’s right off the Bahnhofstrasse, the main street where you’ll find the best shopping in the city, so it’s right in the middle of the action. And it has a pedway with more than 200 shops underneath it. Cool, huh?

After we found the train station, we set out to find some coffee and breakfast. We walked along the Bahnhofstrasse and across the river, stopping to take pictures of just about everything. Zurich was captivating, and everything was snap worthy.

We crossed the river into Niederdorf, one of Zurich’s old towns. It was a fascinating juxtaposition to the shopping district just across the river, where the buildings were short and everything was clean and modern. In Niederdorf, the buildings were colorful and tall, the streets narrow, reminiscent of Florence in some ways. In a handful of steps, it was like we stepped back into another city or a different era. The shopping district was filled with bistros and designer boutiques. Just across the river, it was cool bars, unique cafes and shops .

It wasn’t long before we found Henrici, a casual coffee shop. We plotted out our next few hours over cappuccinos and plates of crusty bread with fresh preserves.

We continued our walk through Niederdorf, stopping to browse the shops we found along the way. We couldn’t have asked for a more perfect day, with plenty of warm sun, and we wanted to spend as much time enjoying the fresh air as we could.

Soon, we crossed back over to Altstadt to explore more of the shopping district. We sat in a courtyard, watching the lunchtime bustle around us. We browsed the high end boutiques and chocolate shops. And, we discovered COOP, which is like a Swiss version of Monoprix (…which is kind of like a French Target and basically my favorite store in Paris).

We found ourselves back at Zurich HB and the daytime market, almost like a Swiss Boqueria. Oh, and that underground pedway with 200+ shops? Kind of amazing. And so much cleaner than our pedway system in Chicago!

All of that walking left us kind of famished, so we stopped for a very traditional meal of…dim sum from a little shack on the river. Bet you thought I was going to say cheese or fondue, right? The line for the dim sum shack was long, which is always a good sign, and curiosity won over: what is Swiss dim sum? It’s delicious. That’s what it is.

We headed back to the hotel after our lunch to take a little break and get our things ready for our travel to Paris. It was middle of the afternoon at that point, and it was kind of amazing to me how it felt like we had done so little, yet had seen so much. Zurich is a nice city to just wander around without plans or an itinerary. Our day of just walking around was perfect to us.

One of my old colleagues told me we couldn’t leave Switzerland without having raclette and fondue at Swiss Chuchi, so we made a dinner reservation and headed back out to Niederdorf.

If we accomplished nothing else in Switzerland, the trip was worth it for this meal alone. I really love cheese. Like, tell me I can’t eat sweets or bread and I’ll do it easily but tell me I need to give up cheese and I’ll tell you where you can shove it. So for the cheese fiends like me, it doesn’t get any better than the ooey gooey goodness of melted Swiss cheese.

We got back to the hotel as the sun was setting over the river, and while Mom and Stephanie settled in with a movie, I was making plans to meet up with one of my old bosses who had moved out to Zurich the year before to lead merchandising efforts for our European team.

He sent me a message with two options: super cool martini bar or beer hall with cheesy wedding band and it was a no brainer: beer hall with cheesy wedding band! We caught up over steins of beer (I don’t even like beer, but I liked this beer!) as a band played hits of the 80s and it was absolutely perfect.

The beer hall was a 15 minute-ish walk from the hotel and I’ve honestly never felt as safe walking alone in any city (including my own city) as I did walking to and from the hotel at night. I don’t make it a habit of walking around by myself after dark and if I hadn’t been totally assured it was completely safe, I would have taken a taxi. It was quiet at night, but a peaceful kind of quiet, not an eerie kind of quiet.

I got back to the hotel before Mom and Stephanie completely passed out. Our train to Paris wasn’t leaving until the afternoon, so we had some free time in the morning. One full day is a short time to spend anywhere, but I wasn’t dissatisfied with our time in Zurich by any means. Just being there, in the middle of it, seeing it and experiencing it was completely enough for us.