Abbreviation for Zurich, Switzerland

Zurich

Zurich is a city that is easy to thrive in. The downtown areas with its winding cobblestone streets and lively nightlife are extremely charming, and unlike major cities in many other western countries, you hardly see beggars, graffiti, prostitutes or drug addicts in the center.

Although the capital of Switzerland is Bern, in Zurich you will find the National Museum, Switzerland’s largest church, the Opera House, the stock exchange, the international financial banks and the headquarters of countless multinational companies.

Shopping tourists have good days in Zurich. The city has a huge selection of top quality goods, but cheap it definitely isn’t. Zurich is also a great base for exploring the rest of the country, and almost no part of Switzerland is more than two to three hours train ride away.

World famous winter sports resorts such as St. Moritz and Davos are located right on Zurich, so this is a city you can visit all year round.

Get to know Zurich

Zurich began its history two thousand years ago as a Roman customs station on the border between Gallia and the Roman Empire, and did not exist until the 13th century. Today, Zurich has grown to become the largest city in Switzerland with around 375,000 inhabitants.

Zurich is an important economic center in Europe and the city is of course the cultural and financial center of Switzerland, despite the fact that Zurich is not the capital. The capital is called Bern. According to a study conducted by Mercer Consultings, Zurich was the city in the world with the highest quality of life for its inhabitants.

Switzerland today has around 7.5 million inhabitants and has existed as an independent nation since 1291. Switzerland has for centuries been a neutral and peace-loving country, perhaps not so strange when it has had neighbors such as Napoleon, Mussolini and Hitler. The country has not been at war since 1815, and it is in Switzerland that you will find the headquarters of humanitarian organizations such as the Red Cross, the UN and the World Health Organization.

Switzerland has four official languages: German, Italian, French and Rhetoric. Zurich is German-speaking, but the dialect can be a little difficult to understand for those who are only used to ordinary German. Most citizens speak English, which is perhaps natural in a city where every third person is a foreign national.

Admittedly, the largest group of these foreign nationals are Germans, while there are strikingly few immigrants from Asia and Africa compared to other European major cities.

Measured against other Swiss cities, Zurich is a modern city. Zurich enjoys an idyllic location on the northwest side of Lake Zurich and is split into two by the Limmat River. Most of the sights and attractions are close to the river, on both banks. Zurich is a very green city, with many greenery, trees, canals and parks. Through walks in the city you will always come across drinking fountains with good and clean water.

City Profile

• Abbreviation: ZRH
• Country: Switzerland

Niederdorf – East of the Old Town of Zurich

The most charming part of Zurich most will find is Niederdorf, the area east of Limmat. This is part of Altstadt, Zurich’s Old Town. Here are narrow cobbled pedestrian streets and old medieval buildings that span a maximum of four floors.

The district extends from the river and up into the hills. Along the river bank you will find the Limmatquai street, with promenade on one side and cafes and shops on the other. Here is the city’s old town hall, and the country’s largest church, Grossmünster. The church was completed in the 1300s, and thrones on a hilltop. A few hundred meters east of the church lies Switzerland’s leading art gallery, Kunsthaus, which has one of the world’s largest collections of classical art. If you like masters like Picasso and Munch then Kunsthaus is worth a visit.

At the northern end of Niederdorfstrasse is the entrance to the lower station of the 120-year-old Polybahn cable car, which takes you straight up to the old University of Zurich. This is the largest university in Switzerland with nearly 25,000 students. Here big names like Einstein, Röntgen and Schrödinger have worked. At Polybahn’s upper station is a large terrace with cafes and a nice view of Zurich. Of course, the many students contribute to a very good night life, and no cities in Europe have more clubs and bars than Zurich, compared to the population.

Outside Polybahn’s lower station, you can cross the Bahnhofbrücke bridge to the western districts of Zurich, even if you are still in the Old Town. You then go straight to the Hauptbahnhof, the city’s main train station, and just north of this is the Swiss National Museum, Landesmuseum.

Hauptbahnhof and Old Town western areas

Outside Polybahn’s lower station, you can cross the Bahnhofbrücke bridge to the western districts of Zurich, even if you are still in the Old Town. You then go straight to the Hauptbahnhof, the city’s main train station, and just north of this is the Swiss National Museum, Landesmuseum.

South of the train station starts what is perhaps the most expensive and exclusive shopping street in the world. Bahnhofstrasse is one and a half kilometers of avenue with exclusive and expensive shops such as Chanel, Armani and Cartier as well as all the chain stores.

Paradeplatz and Bellevue Platz

Banhofstrasse leads to Paradeplatz, where the headquarters of several of Switzerland’s powerful banks are located. But even in this modern business district, the skyscrapers shine with their absence. Bahnhofstrasse follows the now non-existent old city walls that surrounded Zurich in medieval times.

At the end of the Bahnhofstrasse lies Bürkliplatz on the banks of the idyllic Lake Zurich with its many swans. Here are also the docks with boats that can take you to other places by the lake. The Zurich Sea is popular to swim in during the summer, and the water is very clean.

The lake is 40 kilometers long, but only 3 kilometers at its widest. From Bürkliplatz you can cross Limmat over the Quaibrücke bridge to Bellevue Platz, and just below is the Zurich Opera House. From Bellevue Platz begins a three kilometer long idyllic promenade along the lake, which, among other things, passes an area where the city’s inhabitants love to gather to swim and barbecue on hot summer days. You also pass a Chinese garden, a gift from the sister city of Kunming.

Old Town Center and Lindenhof

In the Old Town, between Bahnhofstrasse and the Limmat River, are several interesting areas and buildings. Fraumünster is the city’s oldest church, dating from 823, and the church has stained-glass windows by renowned artist Marc Chagall. Just north of Fraumünster lies St. Peter’s Church, which has the world’s largest dial on its tower, with a diameter of 8.7 meters. St. Peter’s Church is at the foot of the Lindenhof hill, which in many ways is the starting point of Zurich. This is where the Romans built their fortress and customs station 2,000 years ago, but there is not much left of it.

If you follow Lindenhofstrasse, you will see ancient Roman stone tablets and tombstones along the road, which are amazingly free of graffiti. At the top is a large and pleasant terrace, with an excellent view of Limmat and the eastern parts of Zurich. Here are also several large chess boards with half-meter pieces, where the city’s older gentlemen are constantly gathering and challenging each other.

Zurich Facts

Switzerland’s largest city.

List of Zurich Acronyms

The most commonly used abbreviations about Zurich is ZRH which stands for Zurich. In the following table, you can see all acronyms related to Zurich, including abbreviations for airport, city, school, port, government, and etc.