Solo Travel in Zurich

The best-designed hostel in Switzerland — a smart industrial-chic space near Hardbrücke with pod-style dorms, excellent private rooms, a lively bar, and a genuinely international crowd of nomads and travellers. Close to Zurich West's design studios and music venues.

📍Heinrichstrasse 114, 8004 Zurich

The most beautiful café in Zurich — a five-room historic pastry café in the old town since 1842, with hand-painted ceilings, chocolate fondue in a garden courtyard, and the finest hot chocolate in Switzerland. Worth every Swiss franc for an afternoon; the sachertorte is exceptional.

📍Napfgasse 4, 8001 Zurich

A forest-set Jugendstil mansion on the Zürichberg hill with Zurich lake views and extraordinary tranquility — a 10-minute tram ride from the city center but worlds away in atmosphere. The garden terrace for breakfast is one of the great morning experiences in Switzerland.

📍Orellistrasse 21, 8044 Zurich

Switzerland's most community-driven coworking space — part of a global network of impact-focused workplaces, with three Zurich locations catering to entrepreneurs, freelancers, and digital nomads. Day passes available; regular evening events connect the creative business community.

📍Sihlquai 131, 8005 Zurich

Zurich's most legendary restaurant — a grand brasserie since 1924 with original Picasso, Braque, Miró, and Giacometti on the walls (not prints), where Thomas Mann, James Joyce, and Coco Chanel all dined. The veal with rösti is Switzerland at its finest; the bar is one of Europe's great cocktail rooms.

📍Rämistrasse 4, 8001 Zurich

Switzerland's largest art museum — dramatically expanded in 2021 to house 4,000 works including the world's finest Giacometti collection, major Monet and Chagall works, and a substantial contemporary Swiss art program. The new Chipperfield wing is one of the great museum buildings of the 21st century.

📍Heimplatz 1, 8001 Zurich

The most beautiful urban lakeside in Europe — a 4km promenade along crystal-clear Lake Zurich with the Alps visible on clear days, free lake swimming spots (Badis), and a café culture that runs from spring to autumn. The Zürichsee is the best reason to be in Zurich in summer.

📍Utoquai, 8008 Zurich

The anchor of Zurich's Langstrasse nightlife district — a legendary dive bar and late-night institution in the city's most interesting street, where red-light history has been replaced by some of the best bars, restaurants, and clubs in Switzerland. The Longstreet opens at noon and closes when it feels like it.

📍Langstrasse 92, 8004 Zurich

Zurich's most exciting food hall — a converted train depot in Zurich West with 25 vendors serving everything from Thai street food to Swiss fondue. The best lunch option in the creative Zurich West neighborhood, surrounded by design studios and the prime nightlife corridor.

📍Limmatstrasse 231, 8005 Zurich

Zurich's medieval heart — two neighborhoods on either side of the Limmat River: Lindenhügel (left bank) with the Grossmünster twin towers and guild halls, and Niederdorf (right bank) with the Fraumünster's Chagall windows and the city's best independent restaurants and bars. Walkable in an afternoon; endlessly revisited.

📍Altstadt, 8001 Zurich

Switzerland's most celebrated confectionery house — the café at Paradeplatz is Zurich's grandest and most people-watched terrace, where bankers and tourists meet over exquisite Luxemburgerli macarons and the city's best coffee. The truffle selection is extraordinary; the setting is irreplaceable.

📍Bahnhofstrasse 21, 8001 Zurich

A remarkable urban spa inside a restored 19th-century Art Nouveau swimming hall — the original pool converted into a thermal bath, with a rooftop whirlpool above the old city skyline. One of the most architecturally extraordinary wellness spaces in Europe and a genuine Zurich highlight.

📍Thermalbad und Spa, Stauffacherquai 46, 8004 Zurich