While Geneva seems to hum with the precision of a Patek watch, Zurich is as ordered, clean and confident as the Swiss banks that quietly run the city behind the scenes. It is a very stable destination, with famously little crime. Planners will find that Zurich event venues are similarly well run, while groups will appreciate the scenic Lake Zurich and the "Alpenglow" that the sun and snowcapped Alps cast on the towers and cobbled streets of this historically medieval yet ultra-modern international city.
Zurich International Airport (ZRH) is one of the largest in the world, with direct flights to 196 destinations. The airport is 10 minutes from the city center, and has its own railway station. Getting around Zurich is easy, as it has one of the best public transportation systems in the world.
Chief among Zurich convention venues is the Messe Zurich, which comprises more than 322,920 square feet in nine exhibit halls. Halls 1 through 6 have the same capacities: up to 2,500 attendees in a conference or reception setting and 1,300 for seminars or banqueting. Halls 7 through 9 can handle a smaller capacity, but generally 1,000 or more for conference or reception settings, and 500 or more for seminars or banqueting. The Hallenstadion Zurich, the city's biggest multi-functional arena, can host corporate events for up to 500 at its purpose-built conference center.
Zurich environs boast an astonishing quality of life: not only are its rivers and lake drinkwater quality, you can swim in the rivers that run through the city. "Health" is also the focus of one of the most famous hotel venues in Zurich, the Dolder Grand. Originally built in the 1800s as a mountain health resort of the type that inspired Thomas Mann's "Magic Mountain," the Dolder recently got a multi-million Swiss Franc makeover and a state-of-the-art spa upgrade. Now when meeting participants enjoy the ballroom venue (which can seat about 400), they can recuperate the next day with steam baths and "snow paradise" cooling areas.
Elsewhere, hotel venues in Zurich range from the Park Hyatt Zurich to the vintage classic Baur au Lac. The Park Hyatt's ballroom, four meeting rooms and one boardroom are all immaculate, with a restrained taste and fine hand typical of the Hyatt brand. The Baur au Lac, which has been family-run for six generations, is still in the family today; its spacious and well-appointed six conference and banquet rooms sparkle with cut crystal and are elegant with fine furnishings and the hush of footfall on lush carpets. Pavilioned restaurants fronting Lake Zurich give the property a continental flair that seems timeless—much like the city itself. Planners might also wish to explore Zurich West, a former industrial quarter close to the inner city, where new hotels like the 126-room 25hours Hotel (which has four meeting spaces, the largest accommodating 100), restaurants and nightspots have been springing up for the last two years.
Zurich has a great international scientific and industrial community due to the university ETH and industries such as pharmaceuticals, watch-making and building design. But while Zurich may strike some travelers as an orderly city where everything happens on bankers' hours, there's a strong streak of artistic individuality here. Beyond the well-heeled neighborhood of the Bahnhofstrasse is the artistic community often called the "Greenwich Village" of Zurich—the Niederdorf, home to a series of famous stained-glass windows by Chagall in the Fraumunster Church and to charming, winding streets, cafes and quirky shops. Zurich's largest art museum, the Kunsthaus, for example, has the world's largest collection of works by iconoclastic sculptor Alberto Giacometti, and an important cache of paintings by Northern Expressionists Edvard Munch ("The Scream") and Oskar Kokoschka. Meeting planners can rent out the museum's Villa Tobler at the top of Zurich's Old Town, an Art Nouveau venue that can host up to 70 guests in artful seclusion from the relatively gentle stresses of the city outside.
In addition, because of the surrounding landscape of rivers, lake and mountains, many side activities (taking a cable car up the mountain, raft-building, cocktail on a boat cruise, etc.) are in close proximity.
