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This article is part of a guide to Zürich from FT Globetrotter
This year, the Park Hyatt celebrates its 20th anniversary in Zürich. If you seek luxury without fuss, it is still the hotel of choice in a city where most similarly pitched offerings can sometimes seem too starchy, or too vampy in their pursuit of grandeur.
Before the Park Hyatt — situated a short stride from Zürich’s financial hub, Paradeplatz, and the swankier end of the world’s swankiest shopping street, Bahnhofstrasse — came the Escherwiese car park. Were one being mean, one might say that something of that utilitarian blockiness has persisted in the building that grew out of it. Although I am no architect, I can say that this is not a five-star hotel you will see many selfie-addicted influencers posing in front of. But this is a good thing.
Luxury at Zurich’s Park Hyatt is practical, not performative. A cavernous, angular lobby of black marble and expensively textured walls of luxury beige is described in many write-ups as “understated”. I found it had nothing really to state at all, so pleased with itself was it. But who hangs out in lobbies these days?
Much more importantly: the staff and service are faultless. A rush of guests with complicated check-in demands, luggage caravans and whimsical complaints was handled with unflappable speed when I visited. I thought I’d be waiting for 30 minutes. I was in my room in five.
Rooms
The Park Hyatt’s rooms are spacious by European standards. There’s no skimping here to squeeze more beds into an ageing Belle Époque beauty. Instead, guests get huge and tasteful layouts — large closets, plenty of room for all of your suitcases — all fitted with high-end tech and crisp high-quality linens. Rooms come with stocked minibars (an increasing rarity in hotels, it seems) and Nespresso coffee machines. The bathrooms — also nice and roomy, with walk-in showers and large baths separate — come with Le Labo products.
One drawback: don’t expect any views. The Park Hyatt is a low-rise hotel in a rather unremarkable though, as mentioned, central area of town. The lake is close, but only really visible with a bit of neck craning. Or at least, it would be if one could crane. The windows do not open — a personal bugbear — and while fresh air is available via a large vent, the effect is a little claustrophobic (though certainly nothing out of the ordinary for readers outside of Europe, perhaps more used to staying in high-rise hotels).
Restaurant and bar
The Park Hyatt’s Parkhuus restaurant (a nod to that car park again?) is a tasteful if somewhat echoey space that can’t quite escape a cruise-ship aesthetic, albeit more QE2 than Costa Concordia. An open kitchen and two storey glass wine-library add interest, but the room is still just a bit too large not to feel like what it is: a hotel restaurant. The food is very good, if safe. A selection of starters pays all the necessary obeisances to wealth — a beef tartare with caviar, snow crab, etc — with a small selection of mains focused around the kitchen’s charcoal grill. There’s a vegetarian menu too.
For less formal dining, the Park Hyatt also has the Lobby Lounge: club sandwich territory.
The bar, Onyx, is a large and moody space that felt to me — a lone drinker with a book for company — a little dark. But it has a serious drinks selection and knowledgeable bar staff. They can mix a decent Vesper martini — made, without asking, with Cocchi Americano vermouth, as it should be. I once had to while away a whole evening in this bar, and so happily sampled various other classics from the menu while stalking an international fraudster the FT was investigating (we understood him to be staying in the hotel). Fortunately, the FT’s investigations editor said I could run a tab. We never did find that villain.
At a glance:
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Good for: Business-class feels beyond the airport lounge.
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Not so good for: Character and novelty
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FYI: Check out nearby La Stanza and Le Raymond for Milan-style café culture: espressos al banco in the day with the finance bros and aperitivi in the evenings with their wealthy clients and gallerist friends.
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Spa and gym: Spa with Finnish sauna, steam room and treatment/relaxation rooms. The gym has Technogym treadmills, bikes and machines
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Rooms and suites: 113 rooms, 25 suites
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Rates: Double, from SFr660 ($750/£595)
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Website; Directions
Sam Jones was a guest of Park Hyatt Zürich
Tell us about your favourite Zürich stays in the comments below. And follow FT Globetrotter on Instagram at @FTGlobetrotter
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