Zurich

Zurich is defined by clarity: water, finance, design, galleries and understated urban quality. Its lakeside setting and Swiss efficiency create a city where refinement feels effortless rather than theatrical.

Zurich lies at the northern end of its lake, where the Limmat flows out between two halves of the Old Town. On one bank stands the Grossmünster, where Zwingli launched the Swiss Reformation; on the other the Fraumünster with its windows by Chagall, the Lindenhof terrace and the guild houses along the river. Bahnhofstrasse runs from the station to the lake, past the banks of Paradeplatz.

The city’s culture is serious and well funded. The Kunsthaus, enlarged by David Chipperfield, holds one of the strongest collections in Switzerland; the Opera House and the Tonhalle face the lake. Zurich West, the former industrial quarter, has become a district of galleries and restaurants under the railway arches, while the Zurichberg and the Uetliberg give the city green heights on either side.

Summer is the season to see Zurich at its best: the lake and river baths open, swimmers float down the Limmat at lunchtime and the waterfront fills on warm evenings. In April the guilds parade for Sechseläuten and burn the Böögg, a snowman whose head foretells the summer; in August the Street Parade fills the lakeside.

Autumn brings the Zurich Film Festival and a full season at the Opera House and the Tonhalle. Winter is cold and often grey in the city, but Advent markets light the Old Town and the station, and the ski resorts of Graubünden and central Switzerland are an easy train journey away, which makes Zurich a natural first or last night of an Alpine stay.

Baur au Lac, owned by the same family since 1844, stands in its own park where the canal meets the lake; The Dolder Grand looks down on the city from the wooded hillside of the Adlisberg; Mandarin Oriental Savoy, Zurich occupies the historic Savoy on Paradeplatz; Park Hyatt Zurich lies in Enge, near the lake and the financial district; and the Widder Hotel joins nine medieval townhouses in the Old Town.

LVXVRY books Mandarin Oriental Savoy through Mandarin Oriental Fan Club and Park Hyatt Zurich through Hyatt Privé — at the official hotel rate, with the privileges each programme attaches to the stay. For Baur au Lac, The Dolder Grand and the Widder, LVXVRY advises on and arranges the stay. The lakeside addresses suit summer; the Dolder its hillside quiet.