Mandarin Oriental Savoy, Zurich

A 19th-century institution, rebuilt for now

The Savoy Baur en Ville opened in 1838, making it the oldest grand hotel in Zurich and one of the oldest in Switzerland. For most of two centuries it functioned as the city's civic drawing room — the place where bankers, politicians and visiting delegations met on Paradeplatz. It closed in 2020 for a comprehensive restoration and reopened in March 2024 under Mandarin Oriental, its first Swiss city property.

The restoration was careful rather than radical. The listed façade, the grand staircase and the proportions of the principal rooms were preserved; behind them, the guest-room count was reduced to 80, allowing for substantially larger keys, better bathrooms and modern servicing. The material palette is warm and Swiss — pale stone, walnut, bronze, textiles referencing alpine weaving — with the restrained Asian-service DNA that Mandarin Oriental brings everywhere.

Location: the most central of the five

No hotel in Zurich has a more transactional address. Paradeplatz is the meeting point of the Bahnhofstrasse's luxury retail, the headquarters of the country's largest banks, and the tram network's busiest interchange. Sprüngli is thirty seconds away. The lake at Bürkliplatz is a four-minute walk. Zürich Hauptbahnhof is seven minutes on foot, or two tram stops.

The trade-off is obvious: this is the centre of a working city, not a retreat. Street-facing rooms hear trams from early morning. If you are a light sleeper, request a courtyard or upper-floor room at the time of booking.

Rooms and suites

• Deluxe rooms — generously sized for a historic building, with marble bathrooms and, in most cases, a separate bath and walk-in shower.
• Premier and corner rooms — better light, more windows, often overlooking Paradeplatz itself.
• Suites — separate living rooms, dining tables that seat four to six, and full dressing areas.
• Signature suites — top-floor accommodation with terraces facing the rooftops of Kreis 1 and, on clear days, the Alps.

Dining and drinking

Orsini is the principal restaurant — Italian in register, built around Mediterranean produce, a wood-fired approach to seafood and a serious pasta section. It carries the pleasant informality of a Milanese dining room rather than the ceremony of a hotel restaurant. The 1838 Bar, named for the hotel's founding year, handles both the aperitivo hour and late-night drinking, with a cocktail list that leans on Swiss botanicals. Breakfast is served in the principal restaurant space and, in warm months, spills onto the terrace.

Wellness and services

The wellness offering is urban in scale rather than resort-sized: a Mandarin Oriental spa with treatment rooms, a heat experience and a 24-hour fitness suite. It is comfortably adequate for a two- or three-night city stay, but it is not a reason in itself to book — for that, The Dolder Grand remains the answer. What the Savoy delivers instead is the brand's service precision: fast, anticipatory, and notably strong on business logistics such as meeting arrangements, secure document handling and same-day pressing.

Indicative rates

Indicative, excluding the Zurich accommodation tax. Verified January 2026 against publicly published rates.

Getting there

From Zurich Airport, take the train to Zürich Hauptbahnhof (10–13 minutes), then tram 6, 7, 11 or 13 two stops to Paradeplatz, or walk the length of the Bahnhofstrasse in about ten minutes. Taxis from the airport typically take 20–25 minutes depending on traffic.