Greulich Design and Lifestyle Hotel

Zürich may still mostly be known as a banking capital, a grown-up town, long on old money and short on youthful exuberance. When you’re talking about District Four, however, none of the old stereotypes apply. Here, and in the neighboring Langstrasse (the city’s former vice district), you’ll find more nightclubs and fashion boutiques than boardrooms and bank vaults — and while it may not exactly be Prenzlauer Berg or Berlin-Mitte, it’s surprisingly not far off. When you stay here, you choose intimate, contemporary accommodations like Greulich Design and Lifestyle Hotel. You meet folks. You indulge a few whims.

And you get a great night’s sleep, of course. This quiet, residential neighborhood exists just far enough from the action to easily retreat when the night winds down. The building itself tells the district’s story in miniature: once a Seventies factory, it’s been meticulously redesigned into the very model of the modern minimal boutique, complete with soothingly minimalist guestrooms and a central courtyard planted with birch trees, perhaps the Swiss answer to the Japanese Zen garden. The rooms take perfect advantage of the floods of natural light with lofty ceilings and swaths of hardwood flooring, augmenting the expected flatscreen and free wi-fi with charming elements like Tivoli radios, L’Occitane bath amenities, and yoga mats.

Perhaps most usefully, each room also includes a guide to the design finds in Langstrasse: open-air markets, gardens, boutiques, cafés, fine dining, swank bars, and more. A fleet of gorgeous, royal-blue bikes are there for the asking at reception, ideal for an unhurried tour of the surroundings. Even better, a welcoming all-day restaurant and a cigar lounge greet you upon return, offering refreshing regional plates, a surprisingly robust drink selection, and a menu full of quality smokes. Take any or all on the sun-drenched boulevard, emblematic of the urban-oasis atmosphere the Greulich has labored to cultivate.