Zurich, the Zürichberg and Basel

Four. The five-star hotels we list in Zurich & Basel are three in Zurich – The Dolder Grand; Mandarin Oriental Savoy, Zurich; and Baur au Lac – and one in Basel, Hotel Les Trois Rois. Alongside them we keep two four-star addresses, each listed at exactly the tier it holds: Widder Hotel and Park Hyatt Zurich. Each has its own page, reached from the list above, with a concierge behind every stay.

In Zurich, four of the five stand within a few minutes' walk of Paradeplatz, where the tram lines cross the Bahnhofstrasse a few minutes up from the lake. Mandarin Oriental Savoy, Zurich is on the square itself; Park Hyatt Zurich a block away on Beethovenstrasse, toward the Schanzengraben; Baur au Lac in its own park at the foot of the avenue, where the Schanzengraben meets the lake at Bürkliplatz; Widder Hotel a few streets north, on the Rennweg in the Old Town below the Lindenhof. The Dolder Grand stands apart, on the Zürichberg above the city, reached by the Dolderbahn from Römerhof in a few minutes and by car in a quarter of an hour. Choose Paradeplatz and the Bahnhofstrasse for the shops, the banks and the Old Town on foot; the Rennweg for the lanes and the Limmat; the lake for the quays and the steamers; the Zürichberg for the view, the forest and the quiet, with the city and the lake laid out below. Basel, about an hour away by train, has a house of its own: Hotel Les Trois Rois.

Late spring and summer – May to September – bring the lake into its own: the badis, the public baths, open along the shore and the Limmat, the steamers leave Bürkliplatz for Rapperswil and the upper lake, the terraces of the Old Town fill until late, and the Street Parade takes over the quays for a Saturday in August. Sechseläuten in April, when the guilds ride through the streets and the Böögg is burned on the Sechseläutenplatz, and the film festival in late September and early October fill the rooms early. Autumn is clear and mild, with the vineyards along the lake in color; winter is gray and cold, with the Christmas markets in the main station and on the Sechseläutenplatz in December and the Alps an hour or two away for the snow – and the hotels at their quietest between January and March, outside the conference weeks.

No. From Paradeplatz, the Bahnhofstrasse, the Old Town on both banks of the Limmat, the Kunsthaus and the lake are all on foot, and the trams cover the rest of the city; the Dolderbahn climbs from Römerhof to the Dolder in a few minutes. Zurich Airport is ten minutes from the main station by train and about twenty by car; the hotel arranges a driver. From the main station, Lucerne is under an hour by train, Bern and Basel about an hour, the Rhine Falls at Schaffhausen under an hour, St. Moritz a little over three hours through Chur and the Albula line, and Milan about three and a quarter hours through the Gotthard base tunnel. On the lake, the steamers from Bürkliplatz call at Kilchberg, Küsnacht and Rapperswil; the Uetliberg, the city's own mountain, is twenty minutes by train from the main station.

Yes, and easier than most cities. The lake does the work: the steamers from Bürkliplatz, the badis along the shore in summer, the swans at the quays and the playground on the Zürichhorn. Zoo Zürich, with its Masoala rainforest hall, stands on the Zürichberg a few minutes from the Dolder by car; the Dolderbahn itself is a treat, as is the ice rink at the Dolder in winter. The Swiss National Museum beside the main station, the Uetliberg with its lookout tower and the Lindt Home of Chocolate in Kilchberg, a quarter of an hour along the lake, fill the other days, and the Rhine Falls are under an hour away. The Dolder Grand has the forest paths and the Dolderbahn at the door; the hotels at Paradeplatz put the lake and the trams within a few minutes' walk.

Search your dates on the hotel's page to see reference rates, then send the concierge a request. The concierge confirms exact rates and availability with you before anything is booked, and any payment and its timing are set out before you confirm.