YuropFlyer

Anywhere near the Prime Tower / Schiffbau area (near train station "Hardbrücke") would be my suggestion. Quite some choices there from hotel chains. Renaissance, for example in higher market, Ibis etc. in "more affordable" area.

But ZRH is small - even from a "remote" area it usually takes less than 15-20min to get anywhere "hot". You can easily stay in Oerlikon and catch a S-Bahn train to Hardbrücke (one every few minutes and takes like 4min to ride)

The Marriott itself is in a totally dead area on weekends (and personally, I'd say even during the week it's a rather quiet corner apart from all the car traffic around it, pedestrian-wise)

joakgarp

Asking price point for Zurich Marriott is awful though. 50 000 points/night on category 6. A cat 5 would be far suitable.
Stayed over in Marriott Vienna which was a very fine Marriott property for 35 000 points/night.

Why is everything gonna be so damn expensive in Switzerland...

Kameha grand Zurich Autograph is only a category 4. But location wise an airport Hotel or something between?

YuropFlyer

Maybe you should head to Singapore or Norway for a while. Switzerland will feel cheap hotel-wise after that

Switzerland is an expensive country (reads: High wages and high costs for living) and Zürich is the most expensive place (shared with Geneva, I'd say) here.

The Kameha definitely isn't downtown, but it's not terribly bad located. A few minutes in every direction to S-Bahn by tram, which gets you almost anywhere in Zürich in less than 20-25 minutes. The Glattpark area is better in summer than in winter in my opinion.

But the hotel is fairly expensive (well, if you use points, probably not terribly bad deal), I'd probably spend my money more for a reasonable 3-4* hotel in downtown Zürich for around 100-120 CHF per night, especially if my main interest would be drinks (expensive as well ) or some tourist activities.

PrancingPonyGoldMember

Agreed that Hardbrucke is probably the reasonably priced area to do. The office park area is dead on the weekends but the Renaissance is a nice property and easy to get to from the station. Lounge is on the lobby floor and also has a quiet section in the basement, typical breakfast spread and drinks.

I was upgraded to a high floor and nice view.

escape4

If my evening is expected to end before midnight I would not worry much where I stay because as others mentioned you can reach most places in the city within 20-25 minutes. So whether I am 10 minutes away or 20 minutes away it would not make much of a difference. However if you plan on going out until 2am, public transportation will be mostly finished so you will need a taxi. In that case I would pick a hotel within walking distance of where I am going.

YuropFlyer

OP mentioned Saturday night.

There is excellent public transportation night network on Friday and Saturday nights (basically, non-stop public transport from Friday early morning till Sunday night) - a small surcharge of 5 CHF applies for those night trains and buses, but it's completely possible to get around (almost) anywhere on Friday and Saturday night. I still agree, though, if you want to party around Langstrasse, Schiffbau, Niederdörfli (the 3 "hotspots for drinks/party etc.) then pick a hotel somewhere within walking distance.

escape4

Oh sorry I missed that. Thanks for pointing out the difference Friday/Saturday vs other nights.

Graciecatt

The Sheraton Neues Schloss will be going down from a Category 7 to Category 6 on March 5. I am currently booked at the Zurich Marriott as a Cat 6 for 50K points. Then there is the Renaissance Zurich Tower at a Cat 5 for only 35K points. Which of these 3 has the best location for spending 36 hours in Zurich? Is the Sheraton that much nicer than the Marriott to justify a switch? it looks much farther from the airport, but if it's closer to the basic touristy things we'd want to see having never been to Zurich, that would be fine. Is the Renaissance worth saving 15K points or is it too far away from the basic touristy things *and* the airport?

Marriott will also be introducing the Peak/Off Peak which could conceivably save me even more points for the Sheraton or the Marriott - I'm not sure what the peak/off peak rules will be yet.

Opinions? Since we are headed on to Egypt and a much lower bar of accommodations, I'd like to get the nicest Zurich hotel w/in the Marriott family but location is key since we have such a short stay.

Kacee

For a tourist visit, the Marriott or Sheraton are both well located. Sheraton is closer to the lake, Marriott is right on the river, near the main train station (Hbf). Central Zurich is compact and the public transit is excellent. I would probably go for the Marriott, for location and potential of upgrade to a view room, but be aware none of the Zurich properties are top tier. That would be the Park Hyatt.

cfischer

The Ren is perfectly fine and close to an S-Bahn station with direct service to the airport or downtown. Nice lounge too. Unless you really want to be right downtown ... saving 15k points and going w/ the Ren is IMO not a bad idea.

joakgarp

For new years eve I can save about 300 euros by going with the Ren instead of Marriott for five nights during New years eve. That's a nice saving but I wonder if Zurich Marriott offers breakfast for both lounge and main restaurant? Then I can see myself stay with Marriott. Marriott Vienna did actually that last year which I thought was a very generous.

Think we will do some travelling with train after two days walking around in Zurich. Visit Bern, Luzern and perhaps mountain Säntis, if the weather is right and if we can keep up with energy to go by train that long. Could save Luzern for another trip as they seem to have a very nice Autograph property there. There's also Rhine Falls in Neuhausen and Schaffhausen which looks cool. But for a first timer Switzerland I think Zurich is to begin with and use as base. Any comment or suggestions please share :-)

cfischer

The Ren usually closes the lounge for breakfast on weekends and over holidays. I would inquire how they generally handle x-mas to NYE time ... my guess is they close it down so it would be breakfast in the restaurant instead. They will generally have the lounge lounge open in the evening, but again x-mas to NYE is a special time of the year so better to inquire.

You can reach almost everywhere in Switzerland from ZRH by train easily. If you get a Swiss train pass you have flexibility. Would not bother with Luzern in winter, do that in summer/fall. If you want to see great mountain scenery do e.g. a round-trip Zurich-Chur-Glacier Express-Brig-Zurich. Or take the Bernina route there and back. Make that weather dependent though, so book a few days in advance (only special trains like Glacier Express/Bernina will require a reservation) and book 1st class ... much nicer and not crowded over the holidays.
Rheinfall is well ... not that impressive if you have seen some of the larger falls in the world. Nothing I would do in winter either. Opinions may vary, but Bern is not worth a full-day trip if you have limited time. You could combine Basel and Bern in a day trip easily.

joakgarp

Thank you so much cfischer! Will definitely take a closer look at your suggestions. I'm a train geek so that train route is a must.

EuropeanPete

airoli

That only applies if you happen to take the one daily train continuing on to Vienna, and only to one particular car in First Class in which frequently all seats have been reserved in advance. @:-)