Hotel Helvetia Zurich

It’s a common knock against Switzerland to say that the uniformly high quality of life somehow crowds out anything in the way of personality. Now, there are certainly places where this might ring true, but the Hotel Helvetia Zürich is not one of them. This place positively drips with character, all without sacrificing the coziness and comfort that’s quintessentially Swiss.

It starts with the neighborhood: the Helvetia makes its home at the edge of Kreis 4, one of Zurich’s most vibrant districts, and it’s picturesquely perched above the Sihl river, south of where it meets the Limmat. The 19th-century building itself is well preserved, its historical character left largely intact, but its interiors have seen some recent interior-design attention. The result is tasteful, attractive, and effortlessly hip, unmistakably individual — a great homegrown, organic exception in a world of off-the-shelf boutique-hotel concepts.

Thirty-four rooms and two luxury apartments are the sum of the accommodations, which means the Helvetia sticks to a fairly intimate scale. They’re comfortable and contemporary, and the top-floor apartments add kitchenettes and daybeds to the mix. And you’d do well to make time for the hotel’s restaurant — here the dining room is a local attraction unto itself.