Find Your Swiss Bliss in Zurich, Site of EuroPride 2009
Greetings from Heidi-land! Well, its biggest burg, at least. You’re thinking, the Swiss Alps in January, if you’re not going to ski? Jawohl, meine Damen und Herren. You might be surprised at how appealing this lakeside burg in Europe can be in winter (and if you do ski, some of the world’s best slopes are a short hop away, as I described here in late ’07), and has quite the gay scene, stretching back 60 years. And what the heck, I’d sure rather be here on January 20th than back in the States having my nose rubbed in Rick Warren’s fat, bigoted, phony-Christian face.
Anyway, now’s also an especially good time to start thinking Zurich for this summer, because that big, bodacious bent bash known as EuroPride will be turning the town upside down this coming May and June (the big parade is on June 6th; other annual bashes to keep in mind include the queer-friendly Love Parade in September and Warmer Mai in – yes! May). When I first visited Zurich, back in the early 90’s, it was still a kinda staid banking town with a sprinkling of junkies. These days, even in the dead of winter, I can tell that things have hotted up quite a bit since then — especially the gay scene (hey, a dyke is even ahead in the current race for mayor!).
First things first. I had a lovely stay at the famous and thoroughly spectacular Dolder Grand Hotel (singles from 540 Swiss francs/US$484, doubles from 870CHF/$779), a historic-meets-contemporary landmark which reopened last spring after a four-year overhaul. Less pricey and more central, other key properties to check out locally include the gay and can’t-get-more central Goldenes Schwert (doubles from 170CHF/$152) and the Design Hotel Plattenhof (a member of the exclusive gay lodging brand Attitude Hotels; doubles from 205CHF/$184); if you’re on a budget, Martahaus (shared-bath doubles from 98CFH/$88, dorm beds from 40CFH/$36) is clean, appealing, and central to the scene. For gay apartment rentals and B&B-style set-ups, check out www.EBAB.com.
You’ll find plenty of cool stuff to keep you busy for several days; highlights include window ogling on the chichi shopping boulevard Bahnhofstrasse; exploring the picturesque Altstadt (Old Town) with its guild halls; checking out several topnotch museums and collections like the Kunsthaus (city art museum); and even hitting the zoo (no really, how many zoos have you been to which offer tours focused on homosexuality in the animal kingdom?).
After your daily ration of sightseeing, head out into gay Zurich, with dozens of varied offerings from soup (several gay-owned and/or gay-oriented restaurants and cafés) to nuts (close to ten bath houses!), more than you’d expect for a city of just 400,000. A lot of it’s centered around an Old Town street called Niederdorfstrasse (check out Zurichs Places for a great map with clickable links). Start by grabbing a bite at the cozy little Rathaus Café or the Art Deco charmer Odeon, then it’s time to hit the bars! Topping your bar list should be venerable but still buzzy and cutting-edge-looking Barfüsser and the smaller but fun Cranberry. Dance clubs to hit afterward include T&M and Club AAAH! (with a big ol’ darkroom in back). Speaking of groping, to skip the dancing and schmoozing and get straight to the point, you’ve got quite the randy roster. Most of the saunas are little holes in the wall; probably the top one is Moustache, and two others worth mentioning are Reno’s Relax (mostly for its Tuesdays and Fridays bisexual nights), and Paragonya (great place and hot boys – but most of them are “working”) and sex clubs (Wildsau and Rage, to name just a couple).
You can get more and up-to-the-minute details on the scene from local rags such as Queer Times (German only, but good for special party and event dates) and Display (whose predecessor Akut, BTW, just luvved our Gay Translator!). But for more info before you leave home, start out at the Swiss Tourist Office’s fine Web site, MySwitzerland.com, with a pretty good gay section including a subsection on gay Zurich (and how many tourism sites do you know of that include GL podcasts?). There are also some privately run sites, such as Züri Gay and GayZurich.com.
And do give all those Heidi ho’s my regards!
Yours truly,
Dave