A pool with a view (Swissotel Zürich)

Member Name: grahamt

Product:	Swissotel Zürich
Date:	08/12/06 (145 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Superb comfort and style with great service

Disadvantages: Out of the city centre and quite pricey

Imagine yourself lazing in a pool, leaning on the edge and looking out over a city..........300 feet below you! This is just one of the extraordinary attractions of the Zurich Swissotel. This is a hotel which does not disappoint, but at a price. Fortunately, on this occasion it wasn't me that was paying it!

I had been invited by the Zurich office of my company to participate in a presentation to a major customer based in Zurich. Following the meeting we were to be getting together with them in less formal surroundings to get to know them better and to continue with discussions that had been touched on earlier. It was clear that this would prevent me from doing this on a day trip as the return flight to the UK left too early. An over-night stop would be required.

I was recommended by my Swiss colleagues to stay at the Zurich Swissotel, situated between the airport and the city centre at Marktplatz Oerlikon. This very convenient for the city centre as the number 11 tram stops just outside and will take you there in around 20 minutes and give you a great view of the city on your ride in. For a more speedy approach you can also take the train to the main station from Oerlikon Station (Platforms 1 or 5), which is also just across the road.

Either way, what I would recommend to you is to buy a one day travel pass. This will allow you to use for 24 hours the trains and the extensive tram system that serves Zurich and its suburbs. The pass costs CHF 7.60 (£3) serving the district (Zone 10) in which the hotel is located and can be bought from the Customer Services desk by the Reception desk at the hotel. Your 24 hours starts from the first time you use the ticket. You have to validate it by inserting it in a machine at the train station or tram halt, which stamps the ticket with the date and time.

Even getting to the hotel from the airport and back is very easy. You don't even need a taxi. The hotel has its own minibus that can shuttle you to and from the airport in around 10 minutes The round trip runs about every 40 minutes. The minibus even has its own luggage trailer for those travelling with serious baggage. As we were spending the following day sightseeing around Zurich the hotel were happy for us to leave our luggage with them to pick up on the way back. We then used their shuttle to take us to the airport.

From the outside the hotel doesn't look anything special. It's just a very tall skyscraper with a very plain exterior, reminiscent of many of the housing blocks erected by the UK government in the 60s and since largely demolished. The ground floor entrance, however, is a little more appropriate and gives a hint of what is to come, as you enter the automated revolving door.

You enter into the Reception lobby, which is very tastefully decorated, with tiled floors and modern furnishings. The lobby is very large and off of it in one corner is a Starbucks concession, through which you can also enter the hotel. Indeed, this entrance is the most convenient for the tram.

The reception staff are very friendly, helpful and professional. It goes towards giving you a good feeling about your stay. There are four lifts at the end of the lobby that will whisk you to your floor and your room. We were on the 26th floor, a Non-Smoking floor and our room (2602) was right at the end of the corridor. The room was more than large enough, with a King-sized bed and windows on two sides with fabulous views over Zurich.

The room was spotlessly clean and very well decorated and maintained. There really wasn't anything you could say against it except for one thing and that was that the wardrobe space had sliding doors which did hamper easy access. The TV service provided a more extensive range of UK TV channels than I have found anywhere else in the World.

The bathroom contained a bath with shower and the temperature and water pressure were perfect. The toilet had a most unusual lid. Its up and down action felt stiff until you spotted the label that said you simply needed to tip it over its point of balance and it would slowly descend to the bowl under its own steam. I could see kids having hours of fun with this (not me or course!!!!). The other thing that disturbed me somewhat was the seeming laxity in electric regulations. There was an electric power point in the bathroom and an electric kettle for making hot drinks, something that would be totally forbidden in the UK!!!!! However, this is probably not unusual for the Continent.

We enjoyed a very comfortable night and woke to a magnificent morning with the sun shining down on the city and a slight haze of clouds over the surrounding hills, a big change from the previous day which had seen unceasing rainfall.

The hotel has two restaurants, the Szenario, which is the main dining room especially for evening meals, and the Dialog, which is located just off of the Reception lobby and which doubles as the place to take your breakfast in the morning. My wife and I both had breakfast in the Dialog and enjoyed a standard buffet style meal, with a very wide selection of hot and cold dishes from which to choose. The only disturbing event was a toaster that nearly caught fire from a couple of slices of toast that didn't self-eject!

My wife ate, the previous evening, whilst I was with our customers, in the Szenario and, although eating alone, said the experience was highly enjoyable and the food to be delicious and very well presented. The staff also looked after her superbly so as not to make her feel “lonely”.

And so to the pool. This really must be the most unusual experience anywhere, other than the very few outdoor rooftop pools that exist around the World. The experience is made all the more exceptional in that the edges of the pool come almost close enough to the floor-to-ceiling windows that you can almost rub your nose against them. There is also a small jacuzzi where you can sit and soak in perfect comfort.

A sauna is also provided and, at night, entering it is quite an eerie experience as it appears to be in total darkness. However, this is an illusion. In fact, one wall of the sauna is glass and once you eyes are adjusted the sauna is actually illuminated by the lights of the city!

There is also a small fitness room but don't expect “Holmes Place”. The range of equipment is quite small but adequate for a work-out for those temporarily away from home.

All in all the Swissotel is a very enjoyable experience but not by any means cheap. The room for myself and my wife cost a quite pricey CHF 299 (£133) although the evening meal cost a very reasonable CHF 76.20 (£34) per person and breakfast CHF 28 (£12.50) per person. I suspect that this is all much less than you would have to pay closer in to the city centre. Considering that the Swissotel is within very easy reach of the centre, these prices probably represent quite good value for money in what is one of the Worlds most expensive cities and countries.

I can definitely recommend the Swissotel if you are visiting Zurich.

Summary: A good hotel at which to base yourself when visiting Zurich