Zurich hotel help
Jan 30th, 2007, 08:25 AM
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Zurich hotel help
My wife and I will be staying in Zurich for 2 nights in June and were looking for some help on choosing a hotel. We are looking for a reasonably priced hotel (I know, hard to come by in Zurich) that is the best possible deal. Right now we are thinking of the Swissotel or the Marriott Zurich. The swissotel is about $70 cheaper, but the Marriott has a preferable location. We are heading to the opera one night, and it would be nice to be centrally located. Is it worth the price difference? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Jan 30th, 2007, 08:32 AM
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Don't know what your budget is but as you know by now, Zurich hotels are expensive. We stayed one night at Alstadt Hotel (www.hotel-alstadt.ch) about a week ago. We had a large double room (2 people) and it was 220 CHF which was about $175. US dollars. The price included a very nice breakfast. It was in a great location about a 1/2 block from the water.
Jan 30th, 2007, 08:57 AM
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Have you thought about Priceline.com. Looks like from biddingfortravel.com that a majority of the people are getting the 4* Marriott, which is right downtown. We bid last year in May and got the Intercontinental, which is a block away from the Tram, and a short ride to downtown area. I'm spending my last night in Zurich this May, and will be checking priceline. The Price is Right (pun intended). 
Jan 30th, 2007, 11:37 AM
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Have you used priceline before? If not, I would go to biddingfortravel.com and familiarize yourself with bidding. Remember, if you plans change, you are out of luck -- no refunds.
Here's the statement on my winning bid:
"All rooms will accommodate 2 adults. Bed type requests (King, Queen, 2 Doubles, etc.) or other special needs such as a non-smoking or smoking room should be requested through your confirmed hotel, can not be guaranteed and are based on availability."
The Marriott website shows the room at $300 a night if you book on your own.
Here's the statement on my winning bid:
"All rooms will accommodate 2 adults. Bed type requests (King, Queen, 2 Doubles, etc.) or other special needs such as a non-smoking or smoking room should be requested through your confirmed hotel, can not be guaranteed and are based on availability."
The Marriott website shows the room at $300 a night if you book on your own.
Jan 31st, 2007, 07:31 PM
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Just to be clear, the Swisshotel Zurich is in Oerlikon is NOT in Zurich at all, so I would not even put it in the running even at $70 cheaper. Oerlikon is a suburb of Zurich, on the rail line between Zurich and the airport. You will spend most of your time on trains going into and out of Zurich, albeit it’s like a 5-8 minute ride. It’s also kind of industrial and does not have a lot of Swiss charm, it’s the headquarters town for many Swiss companies, including ABB.
With regard to the Marriott, you might get two twins beds (or a smoking room I have had some of those!) going through the price line site, not sure if this matters to you. The Marriott is a nice hotel, the rooms can be small (so can many hotel rooms in Zurich and Europe). I would not call the location “central” especially for the Opera House, it would be about a 20-30 minute walk, but you could walk down to the Central tram station (10 minutes) where you could take the #4 or #15 tram down the river to the Opera House. The Marriott is very convenient for the train station and the top of the main shopping street. Zurich is really quite small however, so I would not worry overally much about location. (I would pay for a combination of charm and location however, not sure if you would. Neither the Marriott nor the Swisshotel are very strong on either IMO, and let’s face it the art work in the public areas of the Marriott is downright scary.)
I know the Alstadt by location (I used to live across the little street from it) and love their bar and would also recco it, it has an excellent location in the old town and is about 3 blocks from the Opera House. Some very good restaurants in the neighborhood. If you want a very charming hotel try the Kindli, go to kindli.ch. This is across the river in the other part of the old town and houses one of my favourite restaurants besides being literally yards from a few others . You could walk to the Opera House (15 minutes or so) or again take a tram. Another hotel which I don’t know but which looks interesting and certainly has a good location for the Opera House and the old town is the Hotel Seehof (http://www.hotelseehof.ch/). 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. Finally you might try the Hotel Seefeld (http://www.hotel-seefeld.ch). It is in a nice neighbourhood of restaurants and some interesting shops east of the old town along the lake, and is about 2 blocks in from the lake. It is on a tram line and so is convenient. Would be about 10 minutes by tram to the Opera House.
If you can give me a budget for what you want to spend, I could provide other reccos.
So glad you are going to the opera, the Opera House is a little jewel box of a place. Be sure to get out onto the balcony during the intermission with a have a glass of champagne and enjoy the lake view and the church spires.
With regard to the Marriott, you might get two twins beds (or a smoking room I have had some of those!) going through the price line site, not sure if this matters to you. The Marriott is a nice hotel, the rooms can be small (so can many hotel rooms in Zurich and Europe). I would not call the location “central” especially for the Opera House, it would be about a 20-30 minute walk, but you could walk down to the Central tram station (10 minutes) where you could take the #4 or #15 tram down the river to the Opera House. The Marriott is very convenient for the train station and the top of the main shopping street. Zurich is really quite small however, so I would not worry overally much about location. (I would pay for a combination of charm and location however, not sure if you would. Neither the Marriott nor the Swisshotel are very strong on either IMO, and let’s face it the art work in the public areas of the Marriott is downright scary.)
I know the Alstadt by location (I used to live across the little street from it) and love their bar and would also recco it, it has an excellent location in the old town and is about 3 blocks from the Opera House. Some very good restaurants in the neighborhood. If you want a very charming hotel try the Kindli, go to kindli.ch. This is across the river in the other part of the old town and houses one of my favourite restaurants besides being literally yards from a few others . You could walk to the Opera House (15 minutes or so) or again take a tram. Another hotel which I don’t know but which looks interesting and certainly has a good location for the Opera House and the old town is the Hotel Seehof (http://www.hotelseehof.ch/). 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. Finally you might try the Hotel Seefeld (http://www.hotel-seefeld.ch). It is in a nice neighbourhood of restaurants and some interesting shops east of the old town along the lake, and is about 2 blocks in from the lake. It is on a tram line and so is convenient. Would be about 10 minutes by tram to the Opera House.
If you can give me a budget for what you want to spend, I could provide other reccos.
So glad you are going to the opera, the Opera House is a little jewel box of a place. Be sure to get out onto the balcony during the intermission with a have a glass of champagne and enjoy the lake view and the church spires.
Jan 31st, 2007, 08:10 PM
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I see from your other posts that you will have a car. You don’t want or need a car at all in Zurich, everything is walkable or accessible by tram, and many of the areas you want to see are pedestrian-only, like the old town. More importantly, parking is very hard to find and is expensive. The Marriott has parking, but very few other hotels have it. Marriott charges about US$30 a day, which is what a public garage will charge. Do yourself a favour and drive right to the airport and drop off your car before you go into Zurich. (You could drive into Zurich and drop off bags of at the hotel first and then go drop off the car.) Save the rental and parking charges for some good meals (and maybe a hotel splurge) in Zurich. You can then hop the airport train into Zurichm it’s about 10 minutes into town. On the day of your flight, you can take the train back out to the airport the morning of your flight.
If you are really organized, you could leave your larger bags at the airport and just take a small bag into town with you for your 2 days. This would save you from having to lug them back out to the airport. There is a manned luggage room and also coin-operated luggage lockers at the airport, they are both located in the airport train station area. Website for the airport is http://www.flughafen-zuerich.ch. (click "EN" in lower right for English.) You should find info there on baggage storage.
Also, depending on who you are renting from, there may be a drop off office in Zurich that may be more convenient than going out to the airport to drop the car off.
If you are really organized, you could leave your larger bags at the airport and just take a small bag into town with you for your 2 days. This would save you from having to lug them back out to the airport. There is a manned luggage room and also coin-operated luggage lockers at the airport, they are both located in the airport train station area. Website for the airport is http://www.flughafen-zuerich.ch. (click "EN" in lower right for English.) You should find info there on baggage storage.
Also, depending on who you are renting from, there may be a drop off office in Zurich that may be more convenient than going out to the airport to drop the car off.
