19 Best Bars in Zürich, Switzerland

This local landmark draws a well-dressed, upwardly mobile crowd. It's a popular performance space for established artists, such as Pink Martini and Angelique Kidjo, looking for an intimate venue. The Rolling Stones once showed up unannounced for an impromptu concert.

Le Raymond is a modernist café and bar overlooking the city’s moat, the Schanzengraben. Despite its proximity to the ritzy Paradeplatz neighborhood, the bar remains surprisingly casual. Its vaulted ceiling, elongated bar, and cozy wooden alcoves give travelers a little privacy to sip their Hugos and espressos in peace (ditto for the outdoor terrace overlooking the water). There’s also a limited food menu of pies, salads, and soups.

Located along the city’s former 17th-century moat and ramparts, this bar is a male-only bath during the day and then transforms into a hip bar each evening, when all are welcome. Chill out on cushions and enjoy grilled specialties and cool nightly cocktails.

A welcoming bar that tips a wink to Spain's most famous film director, Almodobar is an oasis for the young hipster crowd, set in a quiet neighborhood.

Hipsters smoke shisha here in an Italianate setting of red velvet and marble statues.

Muse over the day's explorations with a glass of absinthe in the spartan concrete-and-art-dominated bar where Hugo Ball and Emmy Hennings started the Dada movement during the First World War. By day, students gather to read books in the Dada library. In the evening, a lively bar serves signature drinks like Dada Sour, Haus Negroni, and French 1916.

In the Hotel Central, the Central 1 bar is a popular neo–Art Deco café by day and a piano bar by night.

This popular gay bar stocks a broad selection of rums and mixes up fine cocktails in an industrial-chic spot.

This café-bar by the railway, where festoon lights drape between freight containers, is the coolest place to be come rain or shine. Hip locals gather on truck-tarp-clad benches to sip white wine and eat pita with hummus at this bar-meets-picnic-spot in the summer, which transforms into a fondue-scented heated hut in the winter.

Not just for intellectuals, I.Q. has a fully stocked whiskey bar.

This is a beautifully paneled Irish pub where the wood is as dark as the Guinness.

This wine bar boasts a wraparound view of downtown.

Zürich's alternative set sips beer or rosé and plays pétanque in this spacious, outdoor beer garden outside the Kino Xenix arthouse cinema.

Sit in the covered arcade at Metropol and select something from the extensive drinks list, which includes absinthe, elaborate cocktails, and a wide variety of whiskeys.

This spot hosts international and local jazz acts in the hip Zürich West district. The atmosphere is relaxed and easygoing.

Serving a young, arty crowd until 4 am, Odéon is a cultural icon: a place where Mata Hari danced, Lenin and Trotsky plotted the revolution, and James Joyce scrounged drinks.

This lively, old-fashioned piano bar hosts jazz greats from around the world.

This Asian-style lounge bar appeals to the young and well-heeled. It offers a nice garden in the summer and comfortable areas inside. Food is also available.

The popular Widder Bar attracts local celebrities with its 1,000-count "library of spirits"---some of them very rare---and top-name jazz acts.