Somewhere for the weekend... Zurich

WHY GO NOW?

WHY GO NOW?

Tomorrow two big attractions begin in Switzerland's largest city: the jazz festival and the annual wine fair. The Jazz-no-jazz festival (00 41 52 214 0214, www.jazznojazz.ch), celebrating "crossover" influences on jazz, runs until Sunday 2 November, and includes performers such as Joe Sawinul, João Bosco and Carleen Anderson. The main ticketed events will be held in the Gessnerallee Theaterhaus, where there will also be free concerts and a DJ tent. Tickets cost from SFr30-SFr75 (£13-£33).

The wine festival, Expovina (00 41 1 752 3366, www.expovina.ch), is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. The skies above Lake Zurich are due to light up with celebration fireworks from 8.30pm on Friday evening. Wine merchants from more than 20 countries are due to set up shop aboard a dozen boats, moored around the Bürkli-Platz. Besides selling their wares, they will compete for awards and organise wine-tasting events for amateur and specialist alike. Day tickets cost SFr15 (£7) per person, and the fair continues until 13 November.

DOWN PAYMENT

From Heathrow, British Airways (0870 850 9850, www.ba.com) and Swiss (0845 601 0956, www.swiss.com) run a joint operation to Zurich. The lowest price for travel out on Friday and back on Monday is £203 return. From Gatwick and Luton, you can fly on easyJet (0870 600 0000, www.easyJet.com). Starting on Saturday, there are also flights from Birmingham and Edinburgh on Duo (0871 700 0700, www.duo.com); see Deals of the Week (right). From the airport's own station, trains to the main railway station take 12 minutes (SFr5.40/£2.40 each way).

INSTANT BRIEFING

Far from the stereotype of a dull banking town, Zurich surprises with its vibrancy and cultural life. Originally built along the banks of the Limmat, where the river flows into the northern end of Lake Zurich, the city has now extended considerably. However, most visitors will still focus on the older districts, where the Romans founded a customs post in 1BC. Zurich's role as a leading business centre was established when a stock market was opened in 1877.

Zurich's tourist office (00 41 1 215 4000, www.zuerich.com) is handily located in the main railway station.

REST ASSURED

Near the lake at Schifflande 30, the four-star Helmhaus Hotel (00 41 1 251 8810, www.helmhaus.ch) offers elegant rooms and friendly service. Prices for a double room without breakfast are normally SFr340 (£150), but the hotel has a special weekend rate of SFr270 (£120), breakfast included. Also on the right bank of the Limmat, at Kirchgasse 4, the Hotel Altstadt (00 41 1 250 5353, www.hotel-altstadt.ch) has artist-designed rooms, some with a view over the Grossmünster. The weekend rates are SFr210 (£95) for a standard double, and SFr230 (£105) for one of the "designer" bedrooms: those rates include breakfast.

Bed and breakfast is available in a range of properties from Sleep in Zurich (00 41 1 480 0127, www.sleepinzurich.ch). Doubles start from SFr95 (£43). The tourist office at the railway station also offers a hotel reservation service.

MUST SEE

The old district along the left bank of the Limmat is worth exploring for its decorated façades and fountains, narrow lanes and brightly coloured balconies. It is also home to the Fraumünster, which was originally a ninth-century convent, and where Chagall's stained-glass windows add a contemporary touch.

On the other side of town, a Georgia O'Keeffe exhibition opened last Friday at the Kunsthaus (00 41 1 253 8484, www.kunsthaus.ch) on Heimplatz. O'Keeffe's work features New Mexican landscapes and animal skulls, as well as the flower paintings most closely associated with her. The exhibition closes on 1 February next year. Admission is SFr17 (£7.60).

If the weather is clear, take a trip out on to Lake Zurich. There are two round trips each afternoon, at 1pm and 2.30pm, from the Bürkli-Platz. Each lasts 80 minutes and offers fantastic views of the surrounding mountains - and the city itself as you sail back in - for a fare of just SFr5.40 (£2.40).

MUST EAT

Zeughauskeller, at Bahnhofstrasse 28a (00 41 1 211 2690), serves classic Zurich dishes such as veal and mushroom in a cream sauce at SFr31.50 (£13), and hearty Kanonputzer: pan-fried sausages that are half a metre in length, and enough for two hungry people, at SFr40 (£18). Terrasse at Limmatquai 3 (00 41 1 251 1074) offers a more sophisticated Mediterranean-style menu in a lovely setting: grilled tuna steak at SFr38 (£17), or ravioli or vegetable curry, both for SFr29 (£13).

The cosy restaurant in the Kunsthaus on Heimplatz (00 41 1 251 53 53) serves a generous brunch until 2pm each Sunday, at SFr28.50 (£12.75).

MUST BUY

Bahnhofstrasse is the main artery for shopping and people-watching, and is lined by designer boutiques, large department stores and smaller stores selling everything from Swiss Army knives to haute couture. At Bahnhofstrasse 67, Sprüngli is one of the busiest shops in town - no surprise, given its mouth-watering displays of truffles, pralines and chocolate almonds.

For quirkier choices cross to the other side of the river and wander along Münstergasse and Oberdorfstrasse. The Distillerie zur Schnapsboutique at Napfgasse 3 (00 41 1 262 32 27) offers a large selection of liqueurs and oils, including extract of absinthe at SFr8.50 (£3.80) for 100ml.

INTO THE NIGHT

With its chandeliers and mirrored walls, the Odeon cafe at Am Bellevue (00 41 1 251 1650) is a local favourite for starting the evening.

The newer and trendier Wings at Limmatquai 54 (00 4143 268 4055, www.wings lounge.ch) has nothing to do with the 1970s pop group. It describes itself as an "airline bar and lounge". Decorated with products from Swissair's mammoth closing-down sale, it offers drinks, hot food and music until midnight (2am on Friday and Saturday).

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