LSky

Many things have changed since you were there 10 years ago. Your children are older, you're wiser, Zurich may have gone through some changes and best of all now you have Fodorites to guide you to places you'll like.
Maybe it's time to change your mind about Zurich?

Pvoyageuse

An excellent Australian restaurant in Zürich :
The Outback Lodge
Stadelhoferstr. 18

LuLu

St. Cirq,

We stayed in a charming town called Zug at Lowen am See Hotel. It is right on Lake Zug. You can check the hotel out on Trip Advisor.

It is only about 20 minutes by train to Zurich or the airport. It has a wonderful "old town".

Lulu

StCirq

You are all tremendously helpful, and I'm so appreciative!

I'm just back from 3 weeks in France, am heading to the Bahamas next Wednesday, and have this sudden trip to India via Zürich on the horizon in early October, and I'm way overwhelmed by travel plans!

Thanks, all. You are the best! I really do love Switzerland and will try to either make the best of Zürich and give it another chance, or will hightail it out of town to another venue that I know I will love.

Will let you all know what I decide. Now....hotels in Mumbai....ayyyyyy!!

BTilke

I was in Zurich in January and while it didn't enthrall me, I didn't run into druggies and beggars, just businessmen and well-heeled shoppers.

The old town was nice, again I didn't find it inspiring, just pleasant. I did find an absolutely amazing aquarium shop, best I've ever seen (their discus selection is astounding), but that would only be of interest to someone who likes home aquariums.

IMO, travel time is too precious to be spent where you don't want to be, fortunately you have other options nearby. I much prefer Basel to Zurich and you can catch a train straight from the airport to Basel. It has an attractive old town, plenty of good restaurants, and no shortage of museums...more than enough to occupy you for a couple of days.
But if you want mountain scenery (and why not?), then go down to Luzern.

amp322

Since you are in town on a weekend, are there any concerts/events happeneing? Maybe one of the people with "local" connections knows a handy website for schedules of that sort...

StCirq

Good suggestion, amp. I'll check out www.whatonwhen.com

Cicerone

Hard to believe someone does not like Zurich. Granted, the Swiss countryside is much more beautiful than her cities, but if you have to pick a city in Switzerland, it IMO wins hands down over Geneva, and I find Lucerne just way too full of tourists and short on museums and other cultural offerings. I lived in Zurich for almost 4 years and really enjoyed the experience. You do have to either get beyond, or learn to accept, the Swiss reserve; I don’t think anyone every wrote home about the really friendly Swiss people (except maybe in the Tocino), but that is part of the culture of the Swiss. If everyone was like everyone else, how boring that would be! They are polite and live by the rules, which are the positives. There is a TON of stuff to do, especially if you like great art museums, strolling the cobbled old town areas, flea markets (Saturdays April to about mid October), antique stores, ferry rides on the lake, views of the Alps, church concerts, opera, ballet, the list is pretty long. See my posts called "One Day in Zurich" and "Two Days in Zurich" to get some ideas of things to do.

You will, hoewver, find it even more exepnsive than your last trip, as your Dollars are worht even less now and the Swiss economy has only gone from strength to strength in the last 10 years. Search this board for reccos on hotels, or I can repost some if you give a budget range. If you have a hotel points program, this would be a good town to use them in.

Harder to believe that you could not get a good meal in Zurich, in a country where it is virtually <i> impossible</i> to get a bad meal. One of my favourite Thai restaurants is in Zurich, and the list of good restaurants is pretty long for me. I have posted a list of restaurants on an older post, I still think it is valid, see a post from 2007 called “2 Days in Zurich” that will give you a link to it (I can’t seem to post the link myself, perhaps others can help.). (Note that the Zimmerleuten guild hall had a fire last year and I believe it is still closed, along with the Kuferstbuli below it. Check with your hotel.) If the above is true and restaurants lists have been deleted, let me know, and I will repost my list.

You will be glad to know that Zurich stopped its needle distribution program some time ago and you will not find addicts in the parks any longer. You also need to get away from the train station (where that park is) and get to other areas of Zurich, esp. the right bank of the river, to see the old town, which perhaps you have not done on previous trips.

Now, Mumbai I don’t like so much, especially for a tourist. It has some good restaurants and is a great business town, but for a tourist, there is not really that much to do and it has absolutely AWFUL traffic. You may spend a good bit of time going pillar to post to see the few tourist bits. I personally would not recommend it for a first time tourist. However, if you give me a budget, the timeframe you are there, and an idea of what you want to do, I can recco some hotels, or search my previous posts on the subject. Good hotels in Mumbai (and good tourist hotels in the tourist areas) are not going to be much or any cheaper than Zurich, and in many cases will be more expensive, so prepare yourself.

Toucan2

Here you go Cicerone (and of course StCirq)

One Day in Zurich:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34858320


Sorry, couldn't find the two days one. I hope this works!