Zurich Switzerland Tours » Travel to Zurich

Zurich is the most pricey city in all Switzerland—itself an expensive country. The Swiss franc at a high. Zurich is a dream city for the upmarket visitor with money to bum. Despite that, it is possible to do a surprising amount of looking around, absolutely free!

Then, is Zurich affordable for the budget traveler? Absolutely! You can stay there for a few days on a tight budget and look around, should you wish, without spending a cent on entry fees. Importantly, while German is the main language, English is surprisingly widely spoken. Above all, the natives are friendly. A visitor there is someone to be welcomed and even assisted — not to be skinned.

While hotel accommodation is obviously not free, booking for it is. Do not try to locate a pension on your own. Just line up at the Zurich tourism office within the Hauptbahnhof (main railway station), explain your requirements, and off you go. The room, with separate bath and toilet, cost SFr ………..a night, including a buffet breakfast of tea/coffee/cocoa, toast/ bread, butter, jam and yoghurt. The cheapest pension costs about SFr …………….

Having settled in, it was time to start looking around Zurich. What is the first priority of Indian visitors abroad? Obviously shopping, which is expensive here though good value for money. However, window shopping is free. The cognoscenti make a beeline for Bahnhofstrasse, a globally famed establishment. It has just about everything from world renowned department stores to small boutiques and family-run genera4 stores. The former offer top quality one-stop shopping.

And where can you eat on a budget? There are numerous McDonalds and other fast-food joints. The Bahnhof Buffet restaurant offers an enormous vegetable salad, for a monumental cheese salad for or smaller ones for about half that price. Best value for money, however, are the supermarkets like Migros, where a rich seafood salad costs only.

The best way to get the feel of a city is to see it on foot, and to mix with the natives. It is easy to walk across Zurich from end to end. Zurichers fondly call their home town a "little big city." Naturally, there is no charge for walking. That is how many Swiss move about. In theory, pedestrians have a right of way at the crossings. However, some Swiss drivers will even zoom past a red light, so do not take it too literally.

The Old Town
You may start with the old town, on both sides of the Limmat River, with its most prominent and imposing landmark the Grossmunster cathedral, endowed by Charlemagne himself. Facing it is St Peter’s with a 5.7 m diameter clock face the largest in Europe. Do climb the 157 steps to the top of the tower for a grandstand view of Zurich. To its side is the Fraumunster, set up in 1732, with vintage stained-glass windows by Marc Chagall.

While the facades are majestic, their interiors are necessarily Spartan. However, the stained glass windows, particularly of the Grossmunster, are exquisite. No entry fees there. It is a great experience to hear their bells collectively strike the hour more or less in unison. Do look around the charming little shops and fountains of that area on StrehlGrosse and Glocken Gasse. For antiques, there is Cottage Antiques on Munz Platz, and Galerie Areti or Augustiner-Gasse, which leads on to Bahnhofstrasse.

As for public fountains, Zurich has about 1,200 of them, many dating back to the 16th and 17th centuries. The municipality has 12 men whose sole job is to keep them clean. Interestingly, the figures are mainly those of Greek and Roman gods and goddesses, rather than Christian saints. And how safe is their water? It is about as safe as Perrier or Evian mineral water, a local guide assured.

Lindenhof, further up, is a leafy, terraced garden one of Zurich’s many large patches of green. Way back in 15 BC, it was the site of the first Roman customs post. Lindenhof is today known for its chessboard games, and offers a good panoramic view of the old town.

A brief walk beyond that takes you to the Urania Observatory which, apart from its pursuit of the heavens, offers another good view of Zurich from its high vantage point. The 19th century Belvoir Park, laid out around a classical villa, is the largest in Zurich, and is worth a visit. Along the riverfront is Zurich’s stately little Rathaus (town hall), where the city’s future is decided. It is also traditionally used for more social activities. Couples about to get married have to go to the town hall to sign their marriage vows after which they celebrate with champagne on the ground floor of the building. To be doubly sure, the mayor’s office displays printed proclamations of forthcoming marriages. If you meet a just-married couple, wish them good luck. In this day and age, they will need it!

Further up the river is the Haus zum Ruden which traces its origins to the 13th century. At one time the meeting place of Zurich’s nobility, the building now has a famed restaurant in the Gothic room, while on the second floor is the Cristaffel Room of early Baroque design, for weddings and other functions. Its top floor Assembly Hall sports the coat of arms of all members of the trade guilds represented there.

Zurich has numerous exquisite buildings, including many linked to great historic personalities. On Spiegelgasse is the building where Lenin had stayed from February 21, 1916 to April 2, 1917, before leaving for Russia to spark off the Bolshevik revolution. Next to it is the former house of Georg Buehner, author of Danton’s Death. Poet Goethe was undoubtedly the most celebrated resident of that part of Zurich. The city has been home to numerous other renowned men, including composer Richard Wagner, writer James, Joyce and Gottfried Keller.

A walk along the 27 km long shores of Lake Zurich (Zurichsee to the natives) in the evening, is a pleasant experience. Wherever you go in Zurich, you are likely to see some stately and elegant architecture. Alternatively, you can take a two hour conducted group walk with a guide.

To speed things up, you can hire a bike absolutely free. Between May and October, up to 300 bikes are loaned each day from the Hauptbahnhof, the Globus Store on Bahnhofstrasse, and other points in the city. As surety, you have to leave behind your passport and a deposit of SFr 20 (Rs 600).

Shades of Green
Do not miss the lovely Botanical Garden, which has about 1.5 million plants in season. Among its highlights are its three hot houses. At the tropical hot house (Tropenhaus), the temperature was a stifling 38°C, with humidity to match. It has coco-de-mer palms, banana trees, lotuses in a pond, and a dazzling variety of tropical orchids. The Savanahaus is rich in cactii, some of them rising over 25 ft in height.

In the Subtropenhaus are a range of ferns. In the lobby is a small auditorium for video programs on South African orchids and other utterly beautiful flowers. There is also a small fish aquarium with such exotic creatures as the deadly South American piranha, and other species all on view, free of charge. Zurich also has some of the world’s finest museums a number of them free. Do give the Swiss Natinal Museum right next to the Hauptbahnhof high priority, and at least three hours of your time. Its numerous rooms are furnished, as in medival times, with antique furniture, religious relics, paintings, and wood carvings even original stained glass windows. There are gold and silver vessels, crockery and cutlery, and jewelry to match.

Among places close to Zurich are the Rhine Falls – the most powerful in Europe. A hilltop castle there now serves as a gourmet restaurant. The falls are free, but the boat ride through its turbulent waters to a small rock at its foot is not.

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