My wife is studying to be a pastry chef and is very interested in visiting some of the great bakeries, pastry, and candy stores in Austria and Switzerland. I can't find any good resources on this. Does anyone have any suggestions of great ones to check out? We will be in Zurich, Lucerne, Bernese Oberland, and the Salzburg area. Thanks!

Paris.

mdcoug,

I can help you out with Zurich.

Bakeries:
Kleiner (several locations including under the train station)
Steiner (at the airport train station and in several other, mostly suburban locations)

Pastry shops:
Sprungli (their flagship in on the Paradeplatz)
Schober (in the Niederdorf area)

Chocolate store:
Teuscher (on the Bahnhofstrasse)

I should add that the bakeries I mentioned also carry some pastries and vice versa, but the focus is clearly on the category I listed them under.

Hope this helps (and looking forward to seeing addresses in other towns as well),
Andre

We have fallen in love with Konditorei Zauner, which was founded in 1832 and is located in the imperial town of Bad Ischl, Austria between Salzburg and Hallstatt. There are two locations, the original "Zauner's" in the center of town and the other, "Esplanade- Cafe Zauner", is down the street along the Ischl River and offers both indoor and outdoor seating. The pastries, chocolates, coffees, teas, and ice cream desserts are wonderful. The scenery and atmosphere are great and the occasional playing of classical music by a string quartet make our frequent visits memorable. See the Zauner website at - http://www.zauner.at/

If you can get to Vienna, try Demel's. They are rated as one of the best (Sole suppliers to Emporer Franz Josef).