urich was a funky hotel, sort of far from the Central Station but somehow still on the overlooking the train tracks.

As you walk down the street from the train station there are all kinds of upscale shops, cafes and places selling mulled wine (in winter).

Our hotel had toys, games, and little pop guns to play with, along with a funky bar downstairs and good room service that you had to go down and pick up yourself. Fun.

1. Things to see

Although Zurich is a financial capital it was a lot grittier than I thought, with lots of street art, sticker art, a kind of seedy red-light district with Kinos (sex theatres) and other naughty things going on. All the while managing to never feel threatening even when walking down long dark roads. Most European cities have one red light district – some of them more prominent like Frankfurt and others tucked away, so it was nothing unexpected.

Finally, we made it through the grit and into the shining shopping mecca of downtown – where light icicles dangled from the trees and center of the boulevards and everything was lit up beautifully for Christmas season. The trams were running constantly and people were still out shopping even though it was late.

Lots of chocolate shops, a huge black river that ran through the town, giant Christmas trees in squares and generally Zurich went all out for the holidays.

We tried to find the church with the Chagall stained glass but must have missed it, instead of finding beautiful cityscapes at every turn.

One large square was curiously full of empty chairs, some of them overturned. Is it like a park in Paris where people just come sit in school chairs during the day? Was there an event? Do chairs migrate to this square by magic?

Cute hotel

The ominous gathering of chairs

Citylife

Posing downtown

Fast streetcars

The Andy Warhol spaghetti place!

Snap snaps

Dinner and drinks

2. Nightlife

We tried a few smaller bars and they were mostly dives.

Another absinthe bar but when we arrived they had no idea what absinthe was!

We ended up at James Joyce Pub, which had little to do with the writer, just a name on the glass door and beer coasters, but it was good for a drink.

The next day I slept in while my partner got up early and made the trek to James Joyce grave.

This was one of the shortest visits of our EU trip with only a single day/night in Zurich as we were just transiting – so we hardly got to dig deep – but it was also full of experiences and sights. Easily worth a return to see more.

3. Spend

Normal price for food and drinks, it wasn’t as expensive as I was led to expect.

4. Food

We found an Andy Warhol themed spaghetti shop (who knew) along a tourist alley and had a filling meal while andy (eyes) shut sat on the wall behind us. Then more walking through town – now with most of the store closed but the windows still beautifully lit up.

Lots of Swiss sweets

5. Getting Around

You can rent Lime e-scooters all around Zurich, little stand on skateboards with a handle to hold onto. It’s not too expensive and easy to get around the city. Although I’ve read about a lot of accidents, they seemed super cool and fun to me. I rode one back down to Central Station to catch the train for the next city.

6. Tips

For hotels, it seems you can choose funky and far away, or expensive and close to the upscale area. Depending on what you’re looking for – there are a lot of hotel options.

Every other Swiss city we visited was sparkling clean and tourist-friendly – Zurich, on the other hand, felt like a real European city with a bit of grime and grit.