Celeste Neill

When it comes to hotels, Zurich has a wide range of accommodation styles to suit all budgets. For those looking for Zurich hotels with a contemporary feel, Helvetia offers a laid back but hip boutique hotel experience in the city centre, whilst 25 Hours in trendy Zurich West serves also as a creative community meeting point, with regular events and parties. The luxury end of the market is fiercely competitive and there is a wide choice if your pockets are deep set. The Park Hyatt is a safe bet but, like many Zurich hotels in this sector, including the opulent Dolder Grand, the prices in the bar and restaurant are painful and the atmosphere on the sterile side. The family owned Baur au Lac however offers a more local feeling luxury experience and suits both the business traveller and culture vulture. Finding hotels that offer value for money, without losing out on quality can be more challenging. If you can handle its setting in the buzzy (noisy) red light district setting, the Rothaus offers city centre affordability. Otherwise the Zum guten Glück Guest House has simple facilities, a friendly attitude and is a very budget friendly option.

When it comes to experiencing an energetic nightlife scene and discovering some cool clubs, Zurich wins hands down over all the other Swiss cities. Zurich has the highest density of nightclubs in all of Switzerland so it’s not hard to find a place to party late into the night, or even well into the morning after. There are a huge range of music genres and venue styles on offer but the most popular clubs, such as Aura and Jade, are quite splashy and flashy and frequented by the city’s so-called "somebodies”. The emphasis at these venues is more about dressing up than dressing down, with big drink prices to match the big house sounds. Hipsters head over to Zurich West for a more gritty nightlife experience such as the intimate basement style of Zukunft and it’s edgy electro sounds. Plaza is one of the few that pulls off of a cool atmosphere, fun people, stylish surroundings and great DJ names. So read on for our guide to more clubs where you can get your groove on in Zurich.

Coffee culture is a big part of Swiss city life and you don’t have to look far to find a coffee shop, coffee house, tea room or café – Zurich has them all. However, they can vary in function, with some proving good for a breakfast gipfeli (the Swiss-German word for croissant) and others like Sprungli or Kafi Dihei serving excellent milchkafi (milky coffee) and cake. Then there are venues like Grande Café (perfect for posing with a laptop) or Café des Amis, which is ideal for a hip Sunday brunch – in fact, a few cafés provide shining examples of great food in Zurich, making café-hopping one of the most enjoyable things to do in the city. Whatever you’re after, you’ll probably find it in a Zurich café, so here’s our pick of the very best spots around.

SPONSORED CONTENT Italian food is hugely popular in Zurich, with many restaurants in the city offering up heavily Italian influenced menus alongside local Swiss dishes. But those looking for the real authentic Italian cooking experience, with home made pasta and a truly Italian kitchen team, will enjoy Ristorante Toscano's modern take on traditional Tuscan cooking. 

Warm beer, live music and anxious weather-watching: the summer festival season has become a Swiss tradition. To help you plan a fab summer we've rounded up this year's biggest and best Swiss music festivals. Whether you're after a city weekender or fields full of fun, our 2017 festivals guide has all the dates you need for your diary this festival summer.

Israeli-born DJ and producer Guy Gerber founded the notorious Ibiza party brand Rumors, which last summer became THE hottest dance floor to see and be seen on. The unique combination of surprise line-ups, a seductive house sound track and undercurrent of sensual glamour has made it a firm favourite amongst those looking to experience the original “anything goes” Ibiza spirit. The the kind of party that should read “what happens in Rumors stays in Rumors” at the entrance door. Rumors is in full swing of the full summer season in Ibiza at its new residency in the chic Destino resort from superclub brand Pacha. So successful has the Rumors brand become that it now tours globally out of the Ibiza season, with events in London, Los Angeles and Miami. Ahead of bringing arguably the island’s coolest club brand to Zurich on September 17, Guy Gerber talked to Time Out. How is it going this summer so far at Destino? ‘As an artist I wanted to evolve, so we keep the same essence of Rumors but we took it to a new level from last year's events at Beachouse. The view is beautiful and we put a lot of new decoration together for it. Also a lot of people that came last season were just hanging out and not really there for the music. Now the music really has a key role again as we have space for a larger crowd who can come and connect to the music. I wanted to bring the old Ibiza into these events. The music is always Balearic, not too strong, very sexy, underground deep house vibes.’ What is t

If you can get them to switch of 'Frozen' or stop chasing pigs on Minecraft there are some fantastic family-friendly outdoor events and experiences to discover this summer in Switzerland.

Time Out Switzerland finally hit the streets in print, for a one-off unique special edition with Time Out London. As part of a commercial co-operation with Switzerland Tourism, the special edition released on April 12 was distributed across London at some of the most iconic sites and locations in the city. Inside was a supplement outlining some of the best things to do in Switzerland this summer with tips for great outdoor experiences, fun things to do and highlights about events in Swiss cities this summer. Here's a wee sneak peak of the Swiss edition being picked up across the city. 

Launching on Thursday August 17, this unique pop-up event is part fashion store, part exhibition and just a whole load of fun. Swiss fashion boutique Septieme Etage is infamous in Switzerland for bringing international design and culture to the local scene, showcasing the edgiest names in the industry from New York to Geneva. In recent years though the store has taken a new step and transformed itself into a nomadic flagship that travels to various locations and also has an added cultural focus. This new event presents 17 designer collections over 17 days - 7 designers from the Gulf region alongside 10 of the current hottest names in Swiss fashion, selected in partnership with the Mode Suisse organisers. Plus showing alongside the fashion is an exhibition of street style photography by Yvan Rodic, aka the blog platform Facehunter, a Swiss street style-photographer who travels the world photographing people at cultural events and fashion events.   Librairie de L'Ile until September 1, Mon - Fri 11am-7pm, Sat 11am-6pm, free entry.