Mrgolfer21

Heading to Zurich in Jan. Yes, it will be cold. I'm ok with that. My question is where to stay. Only a few chain hotels, I'm an SPG/Hyatt/Hilton person, but these seem to be a little extreme in prices and points. I can probably settle, but want to be near some good stuff. I enjoy local bars and clubs, so nightlife is important. Subway looks easy to navigate (haven't checked the times yet). Just trying to figure out best places to stay that would allow the best walking to bars and clubs within about a mile radius. I'm open to Airbnb and even other non-chain hotels that are not insanely priced (yes, Zurich is one of the most expensive cities in the world). I appreciate any guidance. Thank you.

KLouis

If nightlife is important to you, I'd suggest some other city (e.g. Barcelona, Paris, London, Madrid, Athens, etc.) instead of a Swiss one. Unless you're interested in where filthy rich people visiting their private bankers spend their time before flying away...

SwissBritMiss

Just checked some random dates, and the Crowne Plaza goes for c. $125. Short walk away form Hardbrücke and Langstrasse, where nightlife is centered. If cost is the main factor, the Holiday Inn Express at Affoltern am Albis is currently on PointsBreak for 5,000 IHG points - even buying the points it comes out at less than $70 a night, but whilst easy to get to, is suburban so probably not your best bet.

There is no subway in Zürich, only trams, buses and suburban trains. The first two run very frequently, suburban trains can however be limited to 2 an hour. Download the SBB app for planning.

:D!

lol, no it isn't. All Pointsbreaks nights were booked up within 20 hours of release. I was dithering on my flight dates and missed out

Then I discovered that the Airport Hilton now has points and cash for 16000 points + CHF 65 (it never had it in the past when I checked) so booked that, obviously nowhere as good as 5000 IHG points but nearer to city (though I was going to hike the Albis but it will have to be next summer). Oh well.

YuropFlyer

The Airport Hilton is a bit in the middle of nowhere, unfortunately.

There is a bus within walking distance, and a railway station not much further which gets you towards/into the city, but it's not super convenient.

I'd definitely stay in the city itself if it's for more than 1-2 nights.

In my opinion, Oerlikon is offering reasonable prices and being half-central (train, tram, buses) to most stuff within a few minutes, as well as having some nice restaurants/bars itself. There are some chain hotels there as well. January shouldn't be THAT expensive.

I checked some random dates mid-January:

Bristol (Good location, good reviews, 3*) for 95 CHF / night incl breakfast
Hotel Rex (Good location, very good reviews, 3*) for 106 CHF / night incl breakfast
Best Western Spirgarten (ok location, ok reviews, 3*) for 108 CHF / night
Leonardo Boutique Hotel (good location, ok reviews, 4*) for 108 CHF / night
Swiss Night Am Kunsthaus (good location, ok reviews, 4*) for 124 CHF / night
Mercure Stoller Zurich (good location, ok reviews, 4*) for 131 CHF / night
RAMADA Hotel Zürich City (ok location, very good reviews, 4*) for 139 CHF / night
25hours Zürich West (ok location, excellent reviews, 4*) for 150 CHF / night
Crowne Plaza Zurich (ok location, good reviews, 4*) for 154 CHF / night

True 5* hotels start about 200 CHF / night

Zurich isn't cheap, but then local rents are very expensive too, so it's just logical hotels are a bit more pricy. Compared to other cities like HKG or Singapore, the prices aren't too bad, though.

SwissBritMiss

Next time I refer to PointsBreak, I'm going to pro-actively put "were on PB". It'll become true in a matter of hours anyway

PsiFighter37

I stayed at the Sheraton Neus Schloss hotel earlier this year in February. I liked it - room was decently sized for a European hotel (at least based on my past experiences), friendly folks at the front desk. It's maybe a ~7 minute walk to Bahnhofstrasse, but it's still quite nice. There's a tram stop nearby that can you can hop on.

nrr

Generally hotels near the airport are less expensive than downtown; most of these provide free shuttle service to ZRH airport. The ones that don't have shuttles are near trolleys or rail stations.
There is very frequent train service between ZRH Main Station (Hauptbahnhof) and the airport, trip takes 10 min.
Zurich is expensive and generally a fairly staid city; but as noted in one of the other posts, the Langstrasse area (red light district) is "different" than the rest of Zurich. Back in the 70's NYC's Times Square area was very seedy, Langstrasse area TODAY is even seedier.
The YOUTUBE video: [2015] is interesting to watch.

YuropFlyer

Langstrasse today is much less seedy than it was some 15, 20 years ago

Also, some Airport hotels charge for the shuttle (Hilton for example)

I'd stay somewhere with good public transport, location alone isn't THAT important, especially if on weekend (24hrs public transport), good links by public transport, decent quality hotel, nice area around it - ZRH doesn't have a single "centre" only (One could say the old city, but then some prefer the lake, others Bahnhofstrasse, others Langstrasse, the Limmat river etc.), but since it grown from many villages, all those areas offer something.

greg5

Langstrasse is a bit dodgy, but it doesn't have a reputation of a place that has a lot of problems. I've known a few people that have lived in the area and they mentioned that a fairly heavy police presence keeps things in line.

YuropFlyer

Warning: If you had planned taking a trip on Lake Zurich, they're going to introduce a surcharge of 5 CHF for any boat trip (valid only on calendar date, not 24hrs like any other day ticket otherwise) - just like Swiss Tourism needs yet another argument why NOT to come to overpriced Switzerland..

https://www.zsg.ch/en/zsg-surcharge.html

dnwaldmann

Thank you. Helps keep the riff-raff out.

Cargojon

I have stayed at both the HIX and the Park Inn / Radisson in Rumlang (Airport). There is a train stop you can easily walk to to connect to the city, and also there are a few places to eat right around.

Just my 2 cents, as I've never stayed downtown but easily spent weekends navigating the city from my "home base" by the airport.

Tizzette

Be aware the Airport Hilton shuttle stops at 11 PM, if you were depending on coming back from night life in the city to the airport to catch it.

YuropFlyer

There is a train station nearby - Kloten Balsberg (as well as bus stations) which, at least at the weekend nights also has 24hours night train service - SN7

In fact, when coming from the city even during day time, taking the S-Bahn to Balsberg and just walking a few minutes will almost always be faster than taking the train to the airport and walking to the shuttle bus, probably having to wait quite some time on it as well.

Didn't they started to charge (even for hotel guests!) for the Hilton shuttle bus on top of that?