15 Zurich Hotels, Starting with the One Where Wagner Played the Walküre
The lakefront grand dame where Wagner first played Die Walküre, nine medieval townhouses joined into one hotel, an inn on the Limmat since 1357, and a brewery with 33,000 books in the lounge.
Zurich’s hotels run from a riverside inn documented in 1357 to a brewery turned hotel with thermal pools on the roof. This list has the Baur au Lac, where Wagner gave the first act of Die Walküre its first hearing in 1856, the Dolder Grand, rebuilt by Norman Foster around its 1899 turrets, the Widder, nine medieval townhouses joined by Tilla Theus, and the Zürichberg, opened in 1899 by the women’s temperance association that is still its owner.
The list is grouped by character, not ranked. Where a hotel’s own site could be confirmed, its name links there; the rest are listed without one.
Grand dames of the lake, Bahnhofstrasse and the hill
Baur au Lac · Bahnhofstrasse / Bürkliplatz lakefront
The Baur au Lac opened in 1844 under Johannes Baur and is still owned and run by his descendants, the Kracht family. Richard Wagner gave the first act of Die Walküre its first hearing here in 1856. By the hotel’s own telling, Bertha von Suttner and Alfred Nobel met here in 1892, the seed of the Nobel Peace Prize; later guests included Empress Elisabeth of Austria and Audrey Hepburn.
Mandarin Oriental Savoy Zurich · Paradeplatz / Bahnhofstrasse
The Savoy opened in 1838 as Johannes Baur’s Hotel Baur on Paradeplatz, Zurich’s first grand hotel and its oldest. The building was demolished and rebuilt in the late 1970s behind a replica of the historic facade, trading as the Savoy Baur en Ville. It closed in 2022 for a full renovation and reopened in March 2024 under Mandarin Oriental management, keeping the Savoy name.
The Dolder Grand · Zürichberg / Dolder
The Dolder Grand opened in 1899 as the Dolder Grand Hotel & Curhaus, designed by Jacques Gros on the Adlisberg above the city and reached by the Dolderbahn funicular. It closed from 2004 to 2008 for a Norman Foster rebuild that added two curved wings and a spa around the original turreted building. The public spaces hang the owner’s art collection, with works by Dalí, Warhol, Miró and Takashi Murakami.
La Réserve Eden au Lac Zurich · Seefeld / Utoquai
The Eden au Lac opened in 1909 on the Utoquai lakefront. It reopened in January 2020 under Michel Reybier’s La Réserve brand after a Philippe Starck redesign styled as an imaginary yacht club. Starck kept the protected Belle Époque facade and tucked a rooftop restaurant into the roof timbers.
Hotel Schweizerhof Zürich · Bahnhofplatz / Bahnhofstrasse
The Schweizerhof opened in 1876 on Bahnhofplatz, directly facing the main station. It is still family-owned, by the hotel’s account, behind the original facade.
Hotel St. Gotthard · Bahnhofstrasse
The St. Gotthard opened in 1889 on Bahnhofstrasse and has been run by the Manz family ever since. Its Hummer- & Austernbar has served lobster and oysters since the 1930s, by the hotel’s account, and it claims the largest suite on Bahnhofstrasse.
Hotel Alden Splügenschloss Zürich · Enge
The Splügenschloss was built in 1897 as a historicist apartment palace by the architects Chiodera & Tschudy and is now a protected monument. It was converted into the all-suite Alden hotel in 2005, and later joined Leonardo Hotels’ Limited Edition brand while keeping the Alden Splügenschloss name.
Old Town houses with centuries behind them
Storchen Zürich · Altstadt / Lindenhof (Weinplatz)
An inn zum Storchen is documented on this Limmat riverbank spot at the Weinplatz since 1357. The present building dates from a rebuild in 1938 and 1939. It is part of the Lehmann family’s The Living Circle group, alongside the Widder Hotel.
Widder Hotel · Altstadt / Rennweg
The Widder opened in 1995 after the architect Tilla Theus spent a decade joining nine medieval townhouses on Rennweg and Augustinergasse. It was built for Schweizerische Bankgesellschaft, the predecessor of UBS, which later sold it. The name comes from the butchers’ guild, the Zunft zum Widder, whose guild house is one of the nine.
Marktgasse Hotel · Niederdorf
The Marktgasse opened in 2015 after a three-year restoration of a Niederdorf house the hotel traces to the fifteenth century. It presents itself as one of the oldest inn sites in the city and is listed with Swiss Historic Hotels.
Villa Florhof · Altstadt / Hochschulquartier
The Florhof was built in 1576 for a silk merchant, by the hotel’s account, and traded for decades as the Hotel Florhof. Silvio Denz, the owner of Lalique, and Peter Spuhler of Stadler bought it, rebuilt it and reopened it as the Lalique-run Villa Florhof.
Hill, brewery and university quarter
Hotel Uto Kulm · Uetliberg summit
A hotel has stood on the Uetliberg summit since 1875, the year the mountain railway opened, by the hotel’s account. Its longtime patron Giusep Fry fought the canton for years over additions built without permits, and courts ordered parts of them demolished. The terrace looks over the city, the lake and, on clear days, the Alps.
Sorell Hotel Zürichberg · Zürichberg / Fluntern
The Zürichberg opened in 1899 as the alcohol-free Kurhaus Zürichberg, built by the Zürcher Frauenverein für alkoholfreie Wirtschaften, the women’s temperance association that is still its owner, as the ZFV. A 1995 oval timber extension by Burkhalter Sumi Architekten is a widely published piece of Swiss architecture.
Leonardo Boutique Hotel Rigihof Zurich · Oberstrass / University quarter
The Rigihof’s 1931 building is a listed example of Zurich’s Neues Bauen, the Swiss strand of Bauhaus modernism, by the hotel’s account. The rooms are themed on figures who lived or worked in Zurich, among them Einstein, Joyce, Thomas Mann and Le Corbusier.
B2 Hotel Zürich · Enge / Hürlimann-Areal
The B2 opened in 2012 inside the former Hürlimann brewery, founded in 1836 and closed in 1997. Its library lounge holds some 33,000 books salvaged from a closed Zurich bookshop, by the hotel’s count, and guests use the rooftop pools of the adjoining Thermalbad & Spa Zürich, built into the brewery’s old vaults.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are these hotels ranked?
No. The groups sort them by character, and the order within each group carries no meaning.
What made a hotel interesting enough for this list?
A story. Every entry was a grand dame with a documented past, an Old Town house with centuries behind it, or a building that had another job first. Comfort alone did not qualify.
Why are there no prices?
Rates change daily and a priced list goes stale in a month. Where a hotel runs its own site, its name links there, so you see the current rate and book direct.
Should I stay by the lake or in the Old Town?
The lakefront and Bahnhofstrasse hotels put you beside the station and the trams. The Old Town hotels on the Limmat put you among the guild houses and the Niederdorf lanes, five minutes’ walk from the same station. Both sit within reach of the day trips on this site.
Which hotel puts me closest to the day trips on this site?
Most day trips from Zurich run to Lucerne and Mount Pilatus, the Rhine Falls, the Jungfraujoch, Mount Titlis, or Liechtenstein and Heidiland. The hotels around the main station and Bahnhofstrasse sit closest to the trains and the coach pickups at Sihlquai.