Business contacts
Car hire The car rental centre, which houses several agencies, including Hertz, Avis, National, Budget, is located at Airport Shopping G1. For easier navigation through town, rent a car with a GPS or navigation system.
Taxi services Alpha Taxi AG, 24/7 taxi hiring service Tel: 777 7777, Website: www.alpha-taxi.ch. The call centre is at the main station in Zurich, for information, Tel: 215 4000, Fax: 215 4080, Email: information@zuerich.com.
Hotel reservations For city reservations, Tel: 01 215 40 40, Fax: 01 215 40 44 Office rental can be booked by logging on to www.zurich.com/conventionsMobile phones hire pick up a local sim card at any Mobilezone, Swisscom or Orange outlet.
Weather and climate
Be it spring, summer, autumn or winter, you can expect sunshine and clear skies in Zurich. December to early March are the coldest winter months when the average daytime temperature ranges from –2C to 7C. With spring, the weather warms up, but just a little. July and August are warm, even hot, summer months, with temperatures sometimes reaching 36C, and average temperatures ranging from 18C to 28C.
Local press
There are a few reliable English-language publications. Swiss News is a monthly newspaper that has sections on what’s happening in and around Zurich in the arts, and in finance and politics (www.swissnews.com). Cream is a youth-oriented lifestyle magazine also published monthly with news and views on what’s on in Zurich (www.cream-magazine.ch). Hello Zurich! is a relatively new magazine about the city. Zueritipp provides listings of events in the city and is available at the tourist information centre at the main railway station (www.zueritipp.ch).
To get information on what’s happening in town, head to the Zurich Tourism counter at the main train station.
Tourist traps
There are no major tourist traps to watch out for other than, perhaps, the main train station. Everything you find at the Shopville in the station is priced marginally higher than elsewhere.
Tipping etiquette
If you enjoyed the service, leave a generous tip. But then, most hotels and restaurants include a 15% service charge. The same goes for taxi fares. So leaving small change to round up your bill is perfectly acceptable.
Internet cafés
The Internet Surf Shop at Hohlstrasse 201 has 12 computers available (Tel: 298 7777, Email: admin@access.ch). Internet Café Zurich (Uraniastrasse 3, Tel: 210 3311, Email: info@cafe.ch) has 17 workstations with additional programmes for office use. Also available are ZIP drives, a scanner, and CD-writers (to be reserved). Meals are available as well. The ‘Surf Hours Buffet’ runs Monday–Saturday 9am–midnight, Sundays 11am–11pm. On weekdays, the kitchen is open until 7pm; on weekends only cold snacks are available. Surf price is CHF0.25 per minute. Cybergate Internet Bar in the Hauptbahnhof has 11 computers available, plus printer and scanner. It opens daily 11.30am–11pm; surf price is CHF15 per hour. (Tel: 217 1515, Email: info@stars.ch, ). The Internet World Café (Rotwandstrasse 37, Tel: 298 6070, Email: info@world.ch) is open every day, and costs CHF12 per hour.
Gifts to buy
Swiss cheeseis a must; if you are going back a long way, stick to the hard variety, either mild or strong. But if you are going to be in a cool or air-conditioned environment and not travelling to far, treat ourself to any of the creamy soft cheeses on offer. There’s a great selection at Globus on Bahnhofstrasse.
Swiss chocolate and confectionary also make great gifts. For something extra special, check out Spruengli and Teucher on Bahnhofstrasse and also at the main station. If the gift will be consumed within 24 hours of buying, take a box of Spruengli’s melt-in-the-mouth Luxemburgli (a cross between meringues and macaroons). For non-edible gifts, you can pick up some typical cowbells (metallic, wooden or porcelain with tiny paintings) or hand-made lace handkerchiefs, table linen or wallhangings.
Buy other Swiss handicrafts at Schweizer Heimatwerk, which has a selection of pottery, wood-carvings, embroidery, toys, dolls and jewellery.
Watches make a special gift, choose from funky Swatch watches to high-end Patek Philippe and Rolex. Swiss Army knives make great practical souvenirs too: buy from Teddy’s (Limmatquai 34) or Franz-Carl Weber on the Bahnhofstrasse.