I used to live in Zurich – you’ll never find a better place to spend Christmas

Mariah has been thawed, John Lewis has released its annual tear-jerker and it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas in the UK – or is it? After an unseasonably warm autumn, the weather has turned to bleak, frigid downpours, while budgetary worries and political divisions may explain the abundance of grim faces. In this climate, it’s far too easy to let your inner Scrooge take hold.

I never felt this way during my four years in Switzerland where – like most things – Christmas was done properly. I spent one festive season in a gingerbread-style chalet in the Alps; another in a fairytale Belle Époque apartment block in Montreux, with its lakeside Christmas market and annual sightings of Father Christmas flying through the sky above Lake Geneva (worth a Google). In my hazy recollection, however, Zurich remained the most Christmassy place on Earth.

The geography certainly helps. The city curves around its lake, embraced by two hilly shorelines that, in winter, wear sleeves dusted with snow and sequinned with lights – so much so that their nicknames, the Gold and Silver coasts, feel lifted straight from a fairytale. Then there’s the Old Town, every Christmas movie-maker’s dream: cobbled streets and a mishmash of old-world terraces dating back to the 13th century.

Admittedly, it had been eight years since I last experienced the city’s seasonal sparkle, and my memories felt as fragile as melting snowflakes. I wanted to see if it was as magical as I remembered – which is how I found myself on Bahnhofstrasse at the end of November, crammed in with young children, elderly couples, and everyone in between, waiting for the annual switch-on of the city’s Christmas lights.

Like most things in Zurich, it was a civilised affair. Polite applause and a few gentle whoops greeted the galaxy of star-like glimmers (named “Lucy” after the Beatles song) as they lit up the sky in thousands of LED lights and crystals. The crowd dispersed quickly to the Christmas markets woven around the edges of the street, or to one of the cosy restaurants on the cobbles of Old Town which had already decorated their roofs with fairy lights and fir garlands.

I turned off the main road towards Milchbar, a café and bar which had transformed its colonnaded terrace into a glühwein-vending Narnia for the season, complete with outdoor chandeliers and dangling Christmas trees. And a realisation struck me: I was yet to see an unhappy face.

Switzerland is currently ranked fifth in Numbeo’s Quality of Life index, while the UK comes in at a paltry number 22. Still, when I lived in Zurich, the prices were enough to plunge anyone into depression. Now, as I took a break from the schmaltz with a less festive walk around the local Aldi, I noticed that some of the groceries were the same price as in the UK. I’d also saved money with a Zürich Card – a pass that, for 56 CHF (£52.50) for 72 hours, gives you free access to transport (including the train from the airport and boats on the lake), as well as most museums, with discounts on other attractions and tours too.

If you choose a restaurant wisely, eating out can be on a par with London – though some things still hit hard, like the (admittedly delicious) viral hot chocolate with blow-torched marshmallow topping from the Bear Street Bakery on Bärengasse, which set me back 11.50 CHF (£10.79). Even so, that’s a drop in the ocean compared with the city’s high salaries – about 43 per cent higher per month net than in London. No wonder people were smiling.

Luckily, you can have fun in Zurich without forking out for a Winter Wonderland equivalent or a pricey panto (though do check out the dazzling Illuminarium, a digital art-packed fiesta of lights in the Harry Potter-esque courtyard of the National Museum, or take a ringside seat at Circus Conelli in a dreamy big top aboard an island on the Limmat river). But the top things to do list is, of course, to wander the Christmas markets.

There’s one for you no matter which way your tastes bend – from Weihnachtsdorf, where traditional mulled wine and bauble sellers set up shop beneath the angel-topped façade of the Opera House, to the boozy one at the eccentrically industrial Frau Gerolds Garten, by the shipping container stack of the Freitag Tower.

There’s even one with a “Singing Christmas Tree”, a gigantic fir-clad pyramid where choirs give free concerts until December 23. It was first set up by André Kofmehl in the 1990s. As the first choir of the 2025 season clambered onto the tree, he told me that the original aim had been to lure back residents who had deserted the city centre for an out-of-town shopping centre with a car park – a fact that seems almost unbelievable today, given the streets’ bustling crowds.

You don’t really need a car here, anyway. In Zurich, you weave between the sights not by a magic-destroying underground system (is there any more apocalyptic vision of the festive season than the Northern line on Christmas Eve?), but by tram. Or, better still, if your kids are brave enough to go it alone (and aged between four and nine), book them onto the brightly painted Christmas-themed one driven by Santa – the perfect opportunity to go and have a mulled wine while they have an adventure. Known as the Märlitram, it travels along an adult-free route from Bellevueplatz, as angels read stories along the way.

Wrap up warm and you can cruise the lake on one of the regular boat services from the nearby Bürkliplatz, hopping between the tiny village of Küsnacht (straight from a Christmas card), the Lindt chocolate factory (now with a brilliantly immersive museum) and the town centre.

Snow rarely stops play here. Buildings are well insulated and the transport system works in all weathers. On my latest trip, sudden heavy gusts outside the Hotel Seidenhof made it feel like I was watching a film through the window. Inside the hotel’s restaurant, heat from the open kitchen kept everyone cosy on its squishy sofas.

Zurich’s food, said Mirjam, who works with the hotel, has improved immeasurably in the last few years. As I ate a winter salad lightened by the most delicious citrussy sauce, I reflected on some of my previous, stodgy dinners in the city and concurred.

However, if fondue is a must-do, there’s always the Polarzauber, a themed restaurant in a train carriage high above the Christmas market of Zurich’s main station, where staff sporting festive jumpers serve up pots of the stuff with pickles and potatoes. It turned out to be where the city’s most raucous residents were lurking, possibly high on melted cheese.

And it was a far cry from the meal I’d had the night before at Coco, with its ruby-red, Santa’s-cape-like decor, a ceiling blanketed in blossoms, and a pianist softly tinkling pop songs by candlelight. The food was a sonata in itself: creamy melted burrata with cherries, followed by perfect truffle tagliolini.

Back at the Singing Christmas Tree, André donned his Father Christmas hat and took to the stage to introduce its first group of singers, Voice of Petra. As they harmonised to Heal The World (and, slightly more strangely, Cher’s Believe), it was hard to imagine anyone feeling unchristmassy here.

I returned to London full of festive spirit (much to the chagrin of my husband, who had stayed behind in the UK and therefore remained Scrooge-like). I’ll take him with me next year.

Essentials

Amanda Hyde was a guest of Zurich Tourism and Swiss International Airlines. Return fares to Zurich from five UK airports start from £152. Hotel Seidenhof has doubles from £295. For further information, see travelswitzerland.com.

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