ZURICH
FOR THE HOLIDAYS
Christmas and New Years - Switzerland’s Biggest Parties
Zurich
is the biggest city in Switzerland, so it’s only fitting they
throw the biggest holiday fairs in the country. The season
starts off on the last days of November when the Zurich Christmas Fair
(Christkindli-Market) at the main rail station, called Shopville Rail
City opens. With over 160 wooden chalets like its own miniature alpine
Swiss Village, the Christmas Fair in Zurich is Europe’s largest
indoor Christmas Market. But that’s only the beginning. Just steps
outside the rail station begins Zurich’s Bahnhof Strasse, 
one
of Europe’s
best known shopping streets, tending toward exclusive luxury for the
international crowd, the glittering land of Rolex and diamonds between
the banking headquarters, but you’ll also find a whole varied
range of unique and elegant fashion stores, department stores and boutiques,
brimming with shoes, furs, accessories, porcelain, jewelry and, of
course watches (see Beyer
Watch Museum). Enjoy tasty Christmas sweet
treats at Confiserie Sprüngli. Through December the shops of Bahnhofstrasse
will stay open on Sundays.
At Werdmühleplatz,
between Bahnhofstrasse and the Limmat River where the Rudolf-Brun Bridge
crosses toward the iconic twin towers
of the Grossmünster Cathedral, encounter the Singing Christmas
Tree, a children’s chorus in decked stalls forming a living tree,
caroling through the season. A few tram stops away, across the river
in old town Zurich you’ll find the Zurich Old Town Christmas
Market at Hirschenplatz and Niederdorfstrasse, smaller, and surrounded
by more unique one-of-a-kind shops. 
Artisans from around the world
come to Zurich to offer their holiday wares at this most traditional
and oldest Christmas Markets. Explore the back streets in what Zurich
locals call ‘Lädele’, a shopping stroll. Sample the
variety of Schnapps at the Distillerie zur Scnappsboutique, discover
a new favorite secret blend of whisky at the Scots & Scotch Shop,
or teas, coffee, dried fruits and pasta at hundred year old Schwarzenbach
Kolonialwaren, and stop for a cake at the famous Cafe Odeon, where
Lenin once sipped coffee, thinking of "revolutsia" (see Lenin
in Manchester).
After
shopping, take yourself ice skating in the heart of Zurich at the National
Museum (Landesmuseum) across from the rail station, where
the back courtyard lined with canons is formed into a giant winter
wonderland every year. Entrance is free. If you haven't packed your
skates, they can be rented. Take in the view of Lake Zurich at night
and dip into cheese fondue on the roof terrace of the Hotel Ambassador
behind the opera house (74 Swiss Francs per person) make reservations
in advance or before 9 am (see Ambassador
Hotel).
New Year’s Eve Fireworks
On New Years Eve
the shores and plazas around of Lake Zürich
light up with the legendary New Year's Eve fireworks display put on
but the hotel owners of Zurich, making for Switzerland's biggest free
New Year's Eve Party. The celebrations start at 8 pm with bars around
the lake packed with parties, and culinary delights from around the
world on offer (not free unfortunately), with the incredible fireworks
display going of at the end of the New Year’s countdown with
the regularity of a Swiss watch. Forget that boring old ball of Tiffany
glass in New York, this spectacle of pyrotechnics attracts 200,000
party people from Switzerland and neighboring countries to start the
New Year in truly European celebration style. © Bargain
Travel Europe
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These articles are copyrighted and the sole property of Bargain Travel Europe and WLPV, LLC. and may not be copied or reprinted without permission. Photos courtesy Wagner Museum.
SEE ALSO:
SWITZERLAND
SANTA CLAUS
GROSSMUNSTER
ZURICH'S SYMBOLIC CATHEDRAL
RAPPERSWIL
ON LAKE ZURICH
TRAFALGAR CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY TOURS 2010
AUSTRIA’S
TEN BEST CHRISTMAS MARKETS
