JenniferMB

We are looking for a nice hotel in the old town area of Zurich. (under $200 per night) We will be there two nights after our 10 day trip throughout Switzerland before we fly back to the US. Any suggestions?

Cicerone

Unfortunately in the old town, you may be hard pressed to find hotels at US$200, it is just an expensive city. I have listed a few below. If you have any Marriott, Hyatt and Starwood points this is the city to redeem them in. None of the chains are in the old town, although the Marriott is walkable to the top part of it, and the Hyatt and Sheraton are close to the lake so not bad locations, and Zurich is very small and trams are not too expensive (taxis are however), so getting to the old town is easy.

Note that budget hotels are very unlikely to have air-conditioning. This is usually not needed in the summe, although the past few summers have been quite hot; the other thing the air con is helpful for is cutting down on street noise. The old town is a bar and restaurant area and is very popular on summer evenings, and can be quite noisy (I lived on Kirchgasse and can attest to how far UP sound can travel on cobblestones....)

Hotel Adler
Hirschenplatz
Tel: (01) 266 9696. Fax: (01) 266 9669.
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: www.hotel-adler.ch

In the Neiderdorf area, an area of charming cobblestone streets which is car-free. This hotel gets generally good reviews here, although noise is cited as a problem. If there are courtyard rooms, I would take these as they will be the quietest. If you can, avoid the lower floor rooms looking onto the Hirschenplatz square in front of the hotel. No air-conditioning.

Hotel Alstadt
4 Kirchgasse
Tel: 41-44-250-5353
Fax: 41-44-250-5354
http://www.hotel-altstadt.ch/cms/index.html

This is right in the heart of the old town on a charming cobblestone street, steps from the river, very close to the Grossmunster church, and close to some good restaurants and shops. They have a sleek modern design for their lobby and bar. They do not have air-conditioning as far as I know, and the street can be a little noisy on weekends evenings due to the restaurants in the neighbourhood. I used to live accross the street from this hotel and can testify to this..

Just above the $200 range, but with air conditioning:

Hotel Helmhaus
Schifflände 30
8001 Zürich
tel: 41-1 251 88 10
fax: 41-1 251-0403
http://www.helmhaus.ch

4 star in the Neiderdorf/Oberdorf area. A very good location for sightseeing, shopping and eating. Probaly the most simple and modest than any of the above hotels or the Kindli, but the air-conditioning is a nice plus.

If you are there on a weekend or don't mind paying a bit more for a weeknight, then definitely try the Kindli,which is extremely charming, their weekend rate would be about US$230 (including breakfast, most rates do) but worth it:

The Hotel Kindli
Pfalzgasse 1
8001 Zürich
tel: +41 (0)43 888 76 76
fax: +41 (0)43 888 76 77
http://www.kindli.ch

3 or 4 star. This hotel gets generally good reviews on this site and seems to have good prices. It is probably the most Swiss-like in terms of charm of the hotels listed here. It is in a very lovely pedestrian-only part of the old town. It has a very good restaurant and is within close walking distance of several other good restaurants.

If you are willing to be just outside the old town, but still walkable to it in a few minutes and in a nice area behind the Opera House and near the lake, try this one.

Hotel Seehof
http://www.hotelseehof.ch/
Seehofstr. 11, Zürich CH-8008, Switzerland
Phone: 01/2545757
Fax: 01/2545758

3 stars. This is just behind the Opera House, just at the edge of the old town, so not in the charming area, but very close to it, and about 100 metres from the lake. There are several good restaurants in this neighbourhood and others within close walking distance. It gets good reviews here. It is about a 3 minute walk to the Stadelhofen train station in Zurich so is very convenient for getting to the airport.

Also look at

tripadvisor.com
frommers.com
karenbrown.com
alpineclassics.ch
relaischateaux.com
romantikhotels.ch
www.swisshotels.ch

I would NOT recommend the Limmatblick or Limmathof hotels. If you stat at the Aldstadt, the Seehof of the Helmhaus use should use the Stadelhofen train station to go to the airport (and to arrive into Zurich if you are arriving by train) and NOT the main train station (the Hautbanhof) as the Stadelhofen train station is much closer to these hotels, walkable in just a few minutes.

JenniferMB

Thank you for the excellent advice. I wanted to follow up, as we did book at Hotel Alstadt, which gave us a weekend rate, for 230 sf for the double, and 160 for the single (we need two rooms). thank you for all the great links, I used them all!

Toucan2

Dear Cicerone,

I see in your post to Jennifer that you would not recommend the Hotel Limathof. Could you tell me more?

The last weekend in September I will be staying over in Zurich for two nights before I go to Lausanne. I convinced a friend to stay as well (we are on a business trip) and her boyfriend is going to come over from Paris to join us.

Cost is not as much (a little, but not much) of an issue for me as the company will pay for me, but she asked to find a hotel under 100 Euros. I thought this was rather low for Zurich, but found the Limmathof. I booked it, but can cancel by the 27th if you think it is really awful.

I am not that picky, but do want clean sheets and a hot shower. I'll be taking the train to Lausanne on Sunday morning, so did like that it was so close to the Hauptbonhof.

Do you think I should keep looking?

Toucan2

Well shoot, I guess I should have kept reading the posts I found in my search, you have already answered my questions, really, there!