Sitting on the northern shores of Lake Zurich. Zurich is teeming with bankers but dont let that put you off. This also means enough decent restaurants, bars and boutiques, however it is enough to make your credit card sweat.



The Old Town and the prettiest parts of Zurich, span the river Limmat. On either side its largely pedestrians but also largely touristy. The cooler side of Zurich drinking is in Zuri West, to the south west, zones 4 and 5. Its also home to some decent nightclubs as well as a damn fine eatery.

For culture, head to the old town. St Peters church for example, has the largest clock face in Europe. While for the arty, the largest collection of Munchs works outside Norway, two of Monets water lilies and works by the Dadaists are all inside the Kunsthaus. This is after all where anti art all started.

Zurich is Switzerlands biggest city with a population of 340,000. It is one of the worlds cleanest and safest cities and a well known financial and insurance centre. It is not all grey and dull.

Zurich has over 200 hotels but you must book well in advance. Expect prices for hotels to rise steeply during Euro 2008. Cheap accommodation in can be found in a youth or backpacker hostel but places are few and far between. Camping in Zurich is possible but there is only one campsite within easy reach of the city centre. It may be best to look for options outside of Zurich for cheap accommodation during the European Championships.

With its river, lake and snow capped Alps forming a backdrop, Zurich is surrounded by natural beauty and there are many parks, gardens, river walks and lake cruises that the visitor can enjoy particularly during the summer months.

Zurich Airport is about 11km north east of the city may be small but is perfectly formed. A modern airport that provides a great introduction to archetypal Swiss efficiency, it has two terminals and clockwork regular transport into town. Trains depart at least every 15 minutes to Zurich Hauptbahnhof from 0600 to 2400 and theres a bus service that will take you to any of 30 city hotels. Taxis are expensive for the relatively short trip. All the major car hire companies have desks in the terminal.