Hotels near Niederdorf and the Old Town Alleys

The Niederdorf (Dorfli to locals) is the pedestrianised medieval quarter on the east bank of the Limmat, stretching from Central tram stop south to Grossmunster. Its cobbled alleys - Niederdorfstrasse, Spiegelgasse, Neumarkt, Napfgasse - are lined with 16th- and 17th-century town houses, small bookshops, wine bars, jazz cellars and the kind of stubbornly independent shops that were priced out of Bahnhofstrasse three generations ago. Lenin lived at Spiegelgasse 14 from 1916 to 1917, before returning to Russia on the sealed train.

By day it's a quiet browse; after 18:00 it turns into Zurich's most reliable night quarter. The Cabaret Voltaire on Spiegelgasse 1, where the Dada art movement was founded in 1916, still runs a bar and event space. The Zeughauskeller on Bahnhofstrasse side is the classic Swiss beer hall, and the small basement jazz clubs on Marktgasse have been running since the 1960s. The whole quarter is walkable in under 10 minutes end to end.

Pro Tip: Skip the touristy fondue restaurants on Niederdorfstrasse itself and turn one street uphill to Neumarkt or Kirchgasse for better food at half the markup. Le Dezaley on Romergasse serves classic Vaudois raclette to locals for a fraction of the tourist-menu prices.