Best-of list · City Guide
The best bars in Zurich right now — from the lakeside Bar am Wasser to the Langstrasse cocktail bars locals actually visit. Our editors have the.
The short answer
10 ranked rooms follow. How we picked is at the end of this guide.
Zurich has a drinking culture that rewards those willing to look past the banking-district reputation. The best bars in Zurich are split between the polished cocktail lounges of Langstrasse and a growing collection of intimate craft venues in the Kreis 4 and Kreis 5 neighbourhoods. We covered 18 venues across three visits. These 10 represent the city at its most honest.
How we picked
Zurich is worth two proper drinking evenings. Start with one of the hotel bars for a sense of the city's traditional drinking culture, then spend the second evening working through Langstrasse and Kreis 4 for the real Zurich bar scene. The cocktail programme at the independent venues here is as good as anywhere in German-speaking Europe.
Sofia has written about the European bar scene for over a decade. She visits Zurich twice a year and considers it one of the most underestimated cocktail cities in Europe.
Last reviewed 2026-05-02 · The editors recheck hours and closures against current local coverage.