My friend and I were living in Paris for spring semester, and we decided to plan a last minute trip to Zürich for a weekend. We found Eric’s place online, and it was the most economical place to stay for two college students. Our flight landed late, and Eric said that was fine, so he said to message him when our cab was 5 minutes away, and Eric’s sister (Carina) greeted us at the curb welcoming us. She showed us our room, and gave us towels, and even had a little table with a water pitcher, tea bags, electric tea kettle, and chocolates. The WiFi was superfast, and could handle lots of open tabs on multiple devices.
There are 2 rooms on the ground floor of the house, and they shared their own bathroom. My friend and I had one room, and when we got there, someone was staying in the room next door, and then he left, and someone else came and stayed Friday and Saturday nights.
The room is made in concrete so it was nice a cool after coming home from spending the day in the sun, and my friend and I also prefer to sleep cold, but we had a large fluffy quilt and we had no problems.
The room was nothing out of 5-start hotel, but the house is one of the last remaining old homes in the neighborhood, since most other buildings were torn down to build newer ones. So it was super cute and rustic. We did have to take our shoes off when we walked in the door, but my friend and I didn’t care.
Carina gave us maps, and gave us directions to the nearest tram station. It would be a 15-minute walk from the house to the Opera House, but we got the Zurich Card so public transportation was included. It was a 3 minuet walk to the tram station and it’s on the 2 and 4 lines, which take you everywhere. It was really nice on the way home from the Zurich Beer Festival to just walk outside the door of the event space and get on the 2, and then get off near home. It was super convenient location!
It’s not in the middle of the old-district but that part of the city was out of our budget, but my friend and I couldn’t stop thinking about how wonderful Carina and her house was.
If she would see us when we got home in the evenings she would be genuinely interested in what we did, and would give us more suggestions to do the next day.
Overall, if you’re on a budget and need a nice place to put your head down, and not looking for a lot of amenities, I highly recommend staying with Carina!