The Baur Au Lac is an elegant old world hotel with a rich history in Zurich.

On our way to Africa, we had a 16 hour layover in Zurich (6am to 10pm). We looked for a hotel in the city that would offer us a day rate, and the Baur Au Lac had an ideal location on Lake Zurich and within walking distance to Old Town. With help from DavidO, we were quoted one night’s rate for guaranteed use during the hours we needed. 

Hotel Exterior

Hotel Lobby

Pavillon Restaurant

Service

What follows is a description of the hotel’s perfect handling of our unusual reservation. 

We landed at 6:15am where we were promptly greeted by the Baur Au Lac driver and whisked away in a Mercedes sedan. We were checked in by 7:00am and after freshening up a bit in our upgraded suite, we enjoyed our Virtuoso breakfast at Restaurant Pavillon followed by a nap. By midday, we had mapped out a walk through the Old Town with the concierge. Our day in Zurich included beautiful lake and mountain vistas, medieval architecture, cobblestone alleyways, lots of chocolate tasting, and the purchase of our little boy’s first Swiss Army Knife. We returned to the hotel in time for a shower and an early dinner outdoors at the Rive Gauche Terrasse where the pastry chef had a pre-ordered birthday cake waiting for me. We were able to return to our suite once more before the Mercedes sedan arrived promptly at 7:45pm to take us to the airport. Our final invoice even included the Virtuoso $100 food and beverage credit without our having to ask for it.

The Baur Au Lac never missed a beat and made all of these arrangements seem effortless. Staff members were friendly, generally knew who we were and knew of our tight schedule.

Old Town Zurich

Lake Zurich from Hotel

Swiss Army Knife

One Bedroom River Suite

Since this was just a day room for us we booked a Deluxe Double, but the hotel was kind enough to upgrade us to a River Suite in celebration of my birthday. The suite had a generous marble entrance foyer, bedroom, separate living room, and a large marble bathroom with separate shower, deep soaking tub and water closet; all with a Schanzengraben Canal view. 

The River Suite also had special children’s amenities and a welcome treat for our son.

River Suite Living Room

Children's Welcome Amenity

Dining

Breakfast in the elegant Pavillon consisted of a cold buffet with fresh pastries, meats, yummy local yogurts, cheeses and eggs made to order. We had dinner at the Rive Gauche Terrasse where the standouts were the Agnolotti with Jerusalem artichokes and my layered coconut/vanilla birthday cake.

Rive Gauche Terrasse (photo by Baur Au Lac)

Birthday Cake

Opportunities for Improvement

Nothing we can recall. :-) It was a perfectly executed short stay!

Orchids