Sarvowinner

Please Help

We are off to Italy for a week in a villa near Lucca & then on to Rome. Our flight gets into Zurich at 12.00 noon (from Sydney Aust)and we are catching a train to Florence early the next morning.

Can't believe accommodation costs in Zurich. Really wanted to stay in the Old City.

For a triple room (15 yr old daughter is travelling with us) we can get the Adler for 280 CHF, Hotel Otter for 210 CHF (share bathroom) or iPR Guesthouse in Bahnhofstrasse for 160 CHF (share bathroom) or 180 CHF (private bath)

Now, we want to be able to walk around Zurich for a few hours, come back to the hotel for a bit of a rest and then go out to dinnner in the Old City. We want to keep our expenses down but not end up in a dump that is so loud we can't sleep.

My perception is that the Guesthouse is close enough to the Old City to justify the CHF difference and it is very close to the station for an early departure. Am I going down the wrong track? Any comments & advice welcomed.
This night in Zurich (where will e jetlagged) is going to be our most expensive night in Europe!!

bob_brown

Zürich, Geneva, Dublin and London are all expensive cities!

Tripadvisor contributors give the iPR good evaluations. How much do those mean? I have no idea.

Hotels in all of Switzerland are not cheap.

Even a moderate hotel in Kloten, near the airport, will run 200 chf for 3 people.

Travelnut

We have been to Zurich once and stayed at Hotel Leoneck:
http://www.leoneck.ch/en/index.html

It was fine, nothing fancy - our twin room was quite large with a full bath. We could hear the trams making a turn down below, but didn't seem to bother us later in the evening (slept fine).

We walked everywhere in Zurich, didn't use a tram once. The hotel is about a 10-minute walk to the old town; it's a bit uphill going back to the hotel but nothing a barely fit person couldn't do. We also walked with our backpacks to the Bahnhof to take the train to the airport.

A triple is 160-240 chf.

kr

I go to Zurich every year and stay at the hotel walhalla, very reasonable, right by train station and a 10 minute walk to the old town.

http://www.walhalla-hotel.ch/en/frameset.html

closest hotel to train station is

http://www.hotelschweizerhof.com/ very nice hotel I have stayed here also. Pricey try expedia for prices, cheaper than the hotels website.

Cicerone

I used to live in Zurich. Zurich is quite small, compact, extremely safe and walkable. Contrary to what you may have read, the Old Town is on BOTH sides of the river and there are very charming areas and good restaurants in both parts of the old town. The Bahnhofstrasse, near where the iPR Guesthouse is located, is near the left bank of the old town, so a location on or near the Banhonfstrasse would be fine. (The Adler and the Otter are on the right bank.) The bit more seedy Oberdorf bar area is on the left bank as is the Grossmunster cathedral, but the Lidenhof plaza, Munsterhof church (with the Chagall windows) and the beautiful square at St Peters are all on the left bank, so you should see this side as well, and there is no disadvantage to staying on the right bank.

From the website, I get the impression that the owner of the guesthouse are renting rooms or part of a house from a landlord and are using the rented portion as a hotel. (I am not saying any of this is illegal, just mentioning it.) They indicate that they are now located on Schützengasse, which is a small street a very short block from the main train station and 4 blocks or so from Renweg and some of the more charming areas of the Old Town area. It would be an easy walk to this area and not a bad walk at all to cross the river to the right bank, even at night. I don't think it would be noisy at night (you might in fact find the Otter and the Adler noisy at night in fact as there are right on the main bar street). From the website and the indication that they require a two-night minimum during Street Parade, I think this is more of a hostel than a hotel and you may find the clientele quite young, and potentially could be noisy (just a guess, I could be wrong about that). However as your trip is in October, you will not be there with summer crowds, so that should be better and chance of noisy neighbors should be much less I would think, esp on a weekday. It is very nice to be close to the train station.

I don't know the Otter or the iPR at all, the Adler I have been in the public areas and it is nice and gets good reviews on this site. If you stay at the iPR, you should post on it, as it might be a good alternative for people here.

marigross

We spend one night in Zurich in Hotel Bristol. We had a triple room and I thought it was adequate for sleeping one night. It did NOT have A/C. It was also the most expensive hotel of our entire vacation is Switzerland.

The location was good, five minute walk across the river to the trainstation and not more than fifteen minutes walking to the Old City.

Sarvowinner

Thank you all

Cicerone - I really appreciate your local knowledge. Given the price, I think we will go with iPR Guesthouse as it looks very modern & clean and is close to the train station.

We really need a good night sleep as we will be jet lagged with a long train ride the next day so I am a little worried about noise at the Hotel Otter.

I will post my feed back in November as I'm sure there are lots of Fodorites who wouldn't mind a cheaper alternative for Zurich.

Travelnut - I tried the Leoneck but they have no availability at all for that date.

The other suggestions become a lot more expensive when we look at the triple room.

Bob Brown - I also hope the reviews are genuine.

Fingers crossed.

cparris

We just came back from Zurich and had a triple in the Adler. The Adler is well located with a good restaurant(and many others near by). The room wasn't hugh but is was nicly decorated and had a balcony(ours had the cow on it). The breakfast was included and they had free internet. I really liked the area and would stay there again. The people were extremely friendly at the desk. They have sound proof windows and a fan. We survived the street parade party happening right outside our hotel and managed to sleep(the fan helped) I don't think it would be so bad on other weekends.

JoeTro

I stayed at Walhala, but in the annex (it's cheaper, and just a few meters away from the main hotel). You may want to check that out. It's super close to the main train station, but it felt safe to me.