Exclusive Zurich Nightlife: Best Clubs & Bars
Zurich's nightlife runs on a different rhythm than the Riviera or the Gulf — less spectacle, more subculture, built around a reputation for underground electronic music that has quietly rivalled Berlin's for decades. Its best nights are found behind unmarked doors as often as grand ones.
Kaufleuten
Set in a former guild hall at Pelikanplatz, Kaufleuten has anchored Zurich's nightlife scene for generations — a ballroom of red velvet sofas and wood panelling that has shifted, in recent years, toward deep house and minimal electronic programming closer to Ibiza's more refined clubs than to a conventional city nightclub. Opinion on Kaufleuten divides sharply between «the place to be» and «posh and elitist,» which is, in its own way, the surest sign of an institution.
Zurich West's Industrial Clubs
The former factory district covered in our guide to Zurich's areas houses the city's most serious electronic music venues, converted industrial halls that trade Kaufleuten's velvet formality for raw concrete and a considerably later closing time. This is where Zurich's reputation as a genuine European techno city, rather than merely a wealthy one, is earned.
Hotel Bars: 1838 and Widder Bar
For an evening that starts rather than ends with a view, the rooftop bar at Mandarin Oriental Savoy — 1838, named for the hotel's founding year and detailed in our hotels guide — has quickly become one of the most requested addresses in the city for cocktails over the old town rooftops. Widder Bar, inside the medieval walls of Widder Hotel, offers a lower-key, wood-panelled alternative built for conversation rather than visibility.
Planning an Evening
Zurich's dress codes lean smart rather than strict, and reservations at the marquee venues are worth arranging a few days ahead for weekends. A typical evening moves from a hotel bar or restaurant in the Altstadt or Paradeplatz, covered in our areas guide, toward Kaufleuten or Zurich West as the night progresses — the city's compact size means a taxi between any two of these points rarely takes more than ten minutes.
