Zurich Holiday
Like the most popular girl at school, Zurich is a self-confident city and aware of its beauty and charm.
Loved by artists and revolutionaries alike, Zurich is a decadent combination of wealth, good times and beautiful people.
City brokers weave through the streets alongside bohemian types, as they pound the pavements covering the heart of the city's wealth – its gold vaults beneath the unassuming, but polished roads and avenues.
Touted by some as the next Berlin, Zurich possesses the same dynamism as the great German capital without the traditional gloom of a big city. As shiny and untainted as a newly minted coined, Zurch has good reason to be proud of itself.
Fabulous surroundings, excellent chocolate and world class eateries coupled with the city's new will to party (a result of a relaxation of licensing laws) has put Zurich firmly on the 'places to see' list.
Zurich is a city which has gone from strength, puffing its chest out a little more as each century passes.
The first European city to embrace Reformation in the 16th century, Zurich soon became the centre for disillusioned, dissident intellectuals from all over Europe when the Catholic mass was abolished.
After a brief period of being down on its luck, Zurich became a haven during the second world war for Lenin as he mulled over the Russian Revolution and James Joyce as he completed his epic masterpiece, Ulysses.
City councillor Alfred Escher is credited with making Zurich the economic capital of Switzerland and boosting tourism, local industry and banking.
The city flourished post World War II and is today the single most important centre for gold and other precious metals and boasts the fourth-largest stock market.
Beneath its plush surface Zurich has a thriving bar culture, which can be enjoyed in the presence of one of the world's most beautiful lakes, the Zurichsee. The Limmat River that splits the city runs into the lake, which flows and rushes against a stunning Alpine backdrop.
Small bridges join the parts like a tidy stitch down the centre of the city, pulling it together.
On one side lie the commercial and financial areas while the medieval centre of the city lies on the other, giving visitors excellent 'two-for-one' value since it feels like two separate cities.
Visitors can take a guided tour or target the key sites themselves. The winding alleys of the Old Town are unmissable as are its hundreds of fountains.
For art lovers, the world-renowned Kunsthaus Zurich, the best art gallery in Switzerland, is at their disposal.
In the centre of town, the looming Fraumunster church, dating from the 13 century, has some of Europe's most amazing stained glass windows.
And for those who can tear themselves away from the city, Zurich is the ideal place from which to visit the Rhine waterfalls, Lucerne and the Rigi mountains.
Not many cities can capture quintessential European decadence quite like Zurich. Expensive, indulgent and unapologetically beautiful and chic, Zurich is one of the last places on earth where you don't need to feel guilty about being decadent.
