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Of all the Swiss cities, Zürich has the liveliest nightlife. The Niederdorf is Zürich's nightlife district, with cut-rate hotels, strip joints, and bars crowding along Marktgasse, which becomes Niederdorfstrasse. On Thursday and weekend nights, the streets flow with a rowdy crowd of club- and bar-hoppers. In Zürich West, the locales are all a shade hipper. In winter, things wind down between midnight and 2 am, but come summer most places stay open until 4 am.
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.
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.
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 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.
