Zurich for 12 hours
 

I am connecting through Zurich on my way to Greece. I will be in Zurich overnight (9pm to 9 am). What would you recommend I do there for that short period of time? I have a hotel booked. Any good restaurants or anything to see at night? I'm asuming most things will be closed or does Zurich have a good night life?

Back when I used to travel to Zurich on business, I found it to be one of the deadest towns after dark that one could imagine. One point: the area around the main railway station is a good place to avoid.

hi there gstocks. i am a 20-something american female that has lived and worked in zurich (portfolio mgmt and then pharma bus dev) for 3 years. usnr is right, zurich is pretty quiet in the evenings, exp sun-wed. however, there are a few spots that might be ok. for example the afterwork party at the carlton for drinks and dancing on a tues night. and lots of clubbing on thu-sat nights. actually kaufleuten has pretty good clubbing on mon nights. if you let me know what kind of things you're looking to do, or what kind of food you'd like to eat, i can give you a few pointers.

I figured it would be pretty dead. I will be there on a Thursday night. I am a 21 year old college student studying in Europe. I´m looking for a good bar to hang out at and an inexpensive restaurant. Thanks

USNR,

then you haven't been to Züri West - of course the city center is pretty quiet at night, the party just moves :-)

And the area around the main station is clean and unproblematic (except too much traffic) since at least 5 years.

Zürich had HUGE changes in attitude over the last years.

Altamiro: you are the bringer of good news. The railway station area after dark was needle park 10 years ago. Zurich needed a change of attitude and I am happy you reported this change. It indeed is a beautiful place, especially on the hillside above the river, on the left, as you look downstream toward the lake. Thank you!

USNR: you probably mean Platzspitz, the area behind the main station. They cleaned this out about 10 years ago, but the "scene" just moved downriver to Letten. Then 5-6 years ago (after first time in history the left-liberal won the city elections) they cleaned this one out too (quite brutally as I've been told) and although you see the occasional druggy in the Langstrasse it isn't nearly as bad as it used to be. Around the same time they abolished the "sperrstunde" and the limit on numbers of bars and restaurants in the city, and also "anybody" can open a restaurant - of course subject to the usual hygienic and safety rules. As the result the nightlife exploded, the number of bars and such quadrupled and Zürich made it to the top of the life quality list (worldwide by Mercer (sp?)). All that in only a few years.