Gay Zürich Zürich City Guide

Curation by Yasmina Rodríguez, words by Jessica Benavides Canepa

While maintaining an aesthetic perfection usually reserved for period dramas, Switzerland’s capital of Zürich also harbours an unexpectedly edgy personality. Its storybook centre of majestic squares and cobblestoned corners contrast with an edgier west side, made up of former factories now the creative centre of a post-industrial art scene. In addition to incomparable natural surroundings and a world-leading quality of life, Zürich is also a city that has championed gay rights since the 40s, now boasting a lesbian mayor and a diverse LGBT+ nightlife centred around the Old Town where you’ll also find Europe’s oldest gay bar, Barfüsser. Noteworthy events in Zürich include the Pink Apple LGBT film festival and of course Zurich Gay Pride. For your definitive Zürich gay guide, you’ve come to the right place.

The best hotels in Zürich

Zürich may be synonymous with precision and fiscal might, but its hotel scene tells a far more seductive story. The Widder Hotel is an architectural tour de force tucked into nine medieval townhouses in the heart of the Altstadt. Architect Tilla Theus spent over a decade coaxing these 12th-century structures into a coherent whole — yielding 49 individually conceived rooms and suites, each a dialogue between historic masonry and mid-century classics by Eames, Le Corbusier and Mies van der Rohe. Works by Rauschenberg and Giacometti punctuate the public spaces, while the legendary Widder Bar — lapis lazuli walls, over 650 whiskies and nightly live piano — draws locals and guests alike. The two-Michelin-starred Widder Restaurant completes the picture.

B2 Boutique Hotel + Spa occupies the former Hürlimann brewery in the Enge district, its pièce de résistance the Wine Library: a soaring, chandelier-lit room lined with 33,000 books and bottles. The century-old vaulted brick spa below — fed by the original thermal spring — is the city’s most atmospheric retreat, with a rooftop infinity pool delivering sweeping views above.

Widder Hotel

On its forested hillside, The Dolder Grand functions less as a hotel than a private gallery with impeccable service — over 100 works, among them Warhol and Dalí, adorn its palatial interiors alongside a 43,000 sq ft spa. Famously queer-welcoming and a partner of the Swiss Queer Wedding Association, it is the natural retreat for those who regard pampering as a fundamental right.

Rounding out the quartet, La Réserve Eden au Lac is a century-old lakefront landmark reimagined by Philippe Starck as an imaginary yacht club. Monochrome marble, dark wood and stained glass windows by artist Ara Starck create a setting simultaneously audacious and refined, while the 40 rooms and suites — styled as sailors’ cabins with floor-to-ceiling lake views — make waking up an event in itself. In summer, the rooftop La Muña becomes the most coveted aperitif perch in the city.