Two Days in Zurich - the Land of Mountains and Chocolate
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Welcome to Switzerland! Our recent adventure landed us for two days in Zurich almost by accident. It was not part of our original itinerary, but I guess we were meant to experience all this city has to offer in two days. Let me show you how points and miles got us here.
We originally had AA business class tickets booked from NYC to TLV for another annual family trip to Israel. At this point it’s almost tradition. We’ve done both elaborate trips (2023 Israel and Dubai and 2024 Rome and Israel), as well as basic ones (2022 almost two weeks all over Israel and 2025 a simple 6 day getaway to Israel). This year was going to be an in between kinda trip. Direct flights into Israel. Stopover flight on the way back with one full day in Venice. Alas, it was not meant to be. Our AA flights were canceled due to the war and we had to pivot. We searched for a European city that met the following criteria: business class award space from NYC. Shabbos friendly in case we got stuck. Direct flights to Venice in case we couldn’t get into Israel. Direct Elal flight to Israel in case we could get into Israel. And of course family friendly with enough activities for a couple days. Put all these together, mix it up with a couple days of frantic flight searches, and you get Zurich!
Swiss air flies direct flights from NYC to Zurich multiple times a day. They also offer direct flights to Venice, and Elal offers direct flights to Israel. We booked 3 business class tickets. You can read more about how we found and booked it here. It was a wild ride but I won’t get into it here. This post is all about Zurich and how we spent our time there!
We landed in Zurich International Airport on Tuesday morning at around 10:30 AM. We were somewhat rested after flying lay flat for 8 hours. Goal of the day was to get as much sightseeing in and keep ourselves up as long as possible to beat jet lag. We took the train from the airport terminal to the city center, which is a 5 minute walk to our hotel. The train cost the 3 of us around $22. We later realized that an uber would cost similar and take about as long. So either one is probably a good option.
Once we reached th city center, we walked about 5 minutes to our hotel, a bucket list property for us. We stayed at the Park Hyatt Zurich. I booked 1 night using 40,000 Chase points transferred to Hyatt. That same room goes for close to $1,200 a night! That’s a value of 3 cents per point, which I was very happy about! The Park Hyatt does not need an explanation of luxury. You can feel it in the air and the way you’re treated the second you walk into the lobby. Welcome drinks, friendly conversation, kid friendly staff and expansive suites make these luxury stays so worth it! And the fact that it’s free is the cherry on top.
Park Hyatt Zurich
After checking in, we freshened up and headed out. At this point it was lunch time and we were hungry. We walked about 15 minutes over to Maadan Bakery, a kosher establishment with lots of fresh bakery items as well as some prepared foods. We picked up a salad, a slice of pizza, a coffee and some baked goods. They do not have seating, so we made our way over to a nearby running track to enjoy our food. Everything was delicious or we were really hungry :) After finishing our food we decided to head over to the only kosher grocery in Zurich, Kosher City. We wanted to check out the situation in case we did get stuck for Shabbos. We were relieved to discover a fully stocked grocery! At this point we were calm that it wouldn’t be the end of the world if we got stuck for Shabbos in Zurich. We could purchase EVERYTHING we could possibly need right there. We bought some cereal and milk for the next morning breakfast and headed out.
The next order of business was to find some Mountain View’s and an iconic European train ride. The hotel concierge had told us about Uetilberg mountain and a local outside the grocery confirmed it was the closest mountain with incredible views. She directed us to take the train nearby that rides up the mountain. That was a great idea, since it would kill two birds with one stone! We ordered an uber and mistakenly put the destination as the top of the mountain. That was an expensive mistake. Once inside the car, the driver clarified that what we wanted was the station going to Uetilberg. Not the Uetilberg station. That’s the stop we get off at. He drove us to the closest train stop which was about a five minute drive. We were, though, still on the hook for the full Uber fare of $25 ;(
We purchased train tickets in the station (another $22) and hopped on the train heading up to Uetilberg. The ride was gorgeous!
Once we got to the last stop, we hiked up for about 15 minutes, until we got to the top of Zurich. There at the top is an observation tower you can, and should, totally climb!
Halfway up, you need to pay about $2.50 per person to go through a turnstile and get all the ways to the top. The view is absolutely worth it! I’ve never seen a city from so high up with such incredible scenery. It was simply breathtaking.
My feet felt like jelly and I didn’t last long up there at the top. We made our way back down the stairs, and back towards the train station. Right across the station is an adorable playground, which our 6 year old was excited to. We had about 20 minutes until the next train departed, so it was the perfect spot to hang out.
View from the top Playground across the train station
We took the train back to the city center, and relaxed in the hotel room for about an hour before heading out for supper. We were trying to avoid a midday nap but it was getting challenging. At 6:00 sharp, the second the restaurant opened, we were there for our reservation.
We ate supper at the same place both nights. Florentin is a mid level restaurant located just about a 10 minute walk from the Park Hyatt. Security is tight, as is at most Jewish/Kosher locations in Europe. Once cleared, we were seated at a table with complimentary bread. We ordered the Hummus Falafel plate, pulled beef gao bao buns, and of course schnitzel and fries. All that, plus a beer and a soda, cost us $107. A bit on the expensive side, but as we’d already learnt, Switzerland was not a cheap location. However, the food and service were incredible. So good, that we returned there for supper the second night.
We got back to our hotel at around 7:30 and were delighted to find chocolates (not kosher) and an expensive face cream as complimentary turn down service waiting for us. At this point we were bone tired so we showered and headed for bed. By 8:30 we were all out. Of course we had a midnight jet lag party a few hours later….;)
Wednesday morning, bright and early, we woke up, ate breakfast, and prepared to check out of our one night hotel stay. We left our luggage with the hotel concierge and headed out for the day. We spent majority of the day at the Zurich Zoo, which was a big hit. We took a 30 minute train ride from the hotel to the Zoo. Public transit is really easy to navigate in Europe using Google Maps. Although expensive (~$100 for the three of us), the zoo is HUGE and you can easily spend 7-8 hours there. We were not prepared for that and hadn’t planned for take along lunch. Therefore, we had to sort of rush through the exhibits before we got too hungry. After 4 hours we felt like we had covered about 75% and the most interesting exhibits. We headed back to the train and made our way to the other Kosher dairy option in Zurich, Babi’s Bagels.
We got to the cafe around 3:00. We had an Elal flight booked for that night at 9:25 and at this point we knew we’d be making it to Israel. We spent a leisurely hour enjoying our lunch. We had the tuna wrap, cheesy pasta, cream cheese bagel, and a smoothie. Everything was delicious and once again a bit on the expensive side. We spent ~$45 there but would absolutely go back. The food was great! Unlike the bakery, this cafe did have indoor and outdoor seating, which was amazing.
By 4:00 we were done. Done sightseeing, done exploring, done with our energy. We simply ran out of steam. So we headed to Lake Zurich in search of a playground the hotel concierge told us about. Lake Zurich sits about 3 blocks away from the Park Hyatt hotel and is a gorgeous spot to sit and relax. Sadly, we couldn’t find the playground. So instead we spent an hour just hanging out at the lake and enjoying the views.
We had a short window of time to pick up supper and head to the airport. The city is about a 30 minute drive from the airport, but Florentin, the restaurant, only opens at 6. Around 5:30 we walked back to the hotel to retrieve our bags. We took a quick Uber to Florentin, and at 6:00 sharp we had already placed our order to go. It took about 30 minutes for the food to be ready. At 6:30 we grabbed our food and jumped in another Uber headed to the airport. Thankfully our flight was slightly delayed, giving us extra breathing room.
At the airport, I was in for a pleasant surprise! Although I hadn’t had time to check out any Swiss chocolate spots (Lindt factory, etc) I discovered a Laderech shop inside the airport! Right past security, you’ll find this beautiful store full of chocolatey goodness. Just the displays are breathtaking!
I vaguely recalled reading somewhere that some locations carry Kosher items and decided to try my luck. I wasn’t hopeful, since it’s an airport location so what are the chances? Imagine my surprise when they pulled up a full kosher certificate! With detailed information on which items were kosher certified!
Suddenly I found myself in Kosher chocolate heaven! All the big slabs in the front were kosher and available for free tasting. I sampled 3 (I wish I had more time to hang around and sample more but we were rushing to make our flight 🙈). Then my daughter and I each chose one we like to take home a little bag of. We each got about 100 grams of chocolate and paid ~$24 total. Absolutely worth every penny. We’ve been eating it bit by bit every morning since we got home.
The last surprise of this trip report is the incredible lounge we stumbled upon. In an airport without a legendary lounge, we usually just pick one in the priority pass app. My husband and I each have priority passes from premium cards we hold. I have the Chase Sapphire Reserve and my husband has the Capital One Venuture X. Here we chose to visit the Aspire lounge and hopefully get some bottled water and eat our supper in comfort. We were pleasantly surprised to discover a huge wraparound outdoor balcony facing the runway! Talk about front row seats to plane spotting! We grabbed a table, spread out our food and enjoyed our meal with the BEST view possible. Flights were landing and taking off every few minutes. It was incredible!
Finally, it was time to board our flight. With our Zurich destination being picked so last minute, we couldn’t be picky with our Elal flight to Israel. There were no award seats available on any of the usual sites that book Elal flights (Virgin, Qantas, Air France, etc). We did find cash tickets direct with Elal for about $365 each 😮💨. Since we had checked luggage with us, it made sense for us to book one tier up and include luggage in the ticket. The second tier also included flexible cancellation terms. We paid $1,275 cash for 3 tickets from ZRH to TLV. I don’t think I’ve ever paid this much for a 4 hour flight in economy 🤭. The flight time was ideal for us too. It left late Wednesday night, giving us a full second day to explore Zurich and landed early Thursday morning, allowing us to crash the first half of the day and still have time to walk around the second half.
Thankfully, our flight took off on time and we did make it to Israel. We could not have been more grateful that we were lucky enough to be there for the 4th year in a row. But that’s for another post.
Total Expenses:
Expense | Total Cash | Total Points | Cash Saved | Value Per Point |
Flight (from JFK to ZRH) | $0 | 150,000 | $25,000.00 | 0.17 |
Hotel (Park Hyatt for 1 Night) | $0 | 40,000 | $1,000 | 0.03 |
Activities (Zoo) | $117.23 | 0 |
|
|
Food | $349.40 | 0 |
|
|
Transit | $170.36 | 0 |
|
|
Total | $ 636.99 | 252,500 | $27,050.00 |
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All in all, we paid $637 for our two days in Zurich, instead of $27,000... Ok, that's an exaggeration because we would never pay cash for Swiss Air business class. It's not worth that much IMO. But $637 is still way more affordable than any economy flight for 3 people to Europe. Never mind hotel, food, and activities! A win is a win.
Here are a few items that make our trips smoother:
Good luggage! It pays to invest in a suitcase that glides smoothly so you’re not dragging 100 pounds of luggage over airport carpet. We have had the Travelers Choice carry on for over 3 years and love it. For this trip we got the 29” checked luggage size and it did not disappoint. You can shop the carry on size here and the checked luggage size here. 29” is perfect. Even when stuffed to capacity, it wasn’t overweight.
Portable Charger: you don’t want to get stuck halfway through your day without battery. We love Anker. This portable charger is wireless and magnetic which makes it as inconspicuous as possible. Juice it up before you leave for the day and you’re all set. You can choose from 5 different colors. Shop the Anker wireless charger here.
Lightweight Travel Backpack: you want to have a backpack that serves as a catch all on travel days and an easy wear for day trips once at your destination. We’ve had this waterproof travel backpack for over 5 years now. We love the fact that it’s waterproof (confirmed, since orange juice spilled on it during our flight), has the zipper on the inside (great for securing important documents like your passport), and is deceptively big. It looks small and compact but actually can hold enough snacks for a family of 6 on a 12 hour flight. Shop the backpack of every traveler’s dream here.
Reusable Water Bottle: long days can get tiring and you should make sure to stay hydrated. We save money on buying water, by filling up a reusable water bottle in the morning at the breakfast buffet. Plus points if there’s ice. That keeps your water cold all day. Some cities, like Rome and Jerusalem, have free water refill stations all over! We love this time stamped water bottle. Large enough for all 3 of us to share. You can shop our favorite water bottle here.
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