Hi Everyone,
Zurich’s iconic Ambassador Hotel is celebrating its Grand Opening after a mega renovation this week.
The building itself, known as the Uto Castle dates back to 1899. Hence you can imagine the Uto Castle has many interesting stories to tell. A favourite story of mine being that it was an emancipated landlady Emma Zschokke who opened the guesthouse in the Uto Castle in 1920. During the 2nd World War the Uto Castle became a place where refugees met and stayed in the hope of building up a better life.
On 1st July 1963 the Ambassador Hotel Zürich was officially opened for the first time. Named after the famous Ambassador Hotel that existed in Los Angels until 2006.
Early 2020 the brothers Yves Meili and Dr. Raffael Meili bought the Ambassador Hotel Zürich and began renovations, preparing the Hotel for a brand new era.
The new Ambassador Hotel Zurch
Three years of intensive renovation courtesy of designer Ina Rinderknecht. The hotel has not only been revamped to contain beautiful new rooms of avant-garde design and classical elements. Much more than that, great care has been taken to give homage to the Belle Epoque in the latter 1800’s when Zurich was an important city for textile trading. Imagine, at one point it was the 2nd largest silk producer in the World.
Keep reading to find out more about “Ambassador Hotel Zürich – Newly Revamped to Tell a Story”
Ambassador Hotel Zürich – Newly Revamped to Tell a Story
Time to take a tour inside…
One of the first things that struck is the beautiful lights – both in the bar and reception area. They represent the lava from silk worms – it is just one of the many details giving homage to the time Zurich was important for silk textile trading.
Next we notice a beautiful mosaic wall picture depicting a woman. These are dotted around the hotel in memory of the strong influential women such as Emma Zschokke mentioned previously, who also ran guest houses in the Uto Castle prior to it becoming the Ambassador Hotel.
As soon as we put our luggage down we’re served a delicious home made Mulberry syrup. This too is a homage to Zurich’s textile history as the Mulberry leaves are the only leaves that silk worms will eat.
The welcoming staff and actually all staff throughout the hotel were super friendly and helpful, making us feel right at home.
The rooms
There are 44 rooms and suites. All are decorated in a beautiful Belle Epoche style. Some have a view over the lake of Zurich, others of the Opera house. Regardless of category, each room has a big (super comfy) bed with beautiful bedhead. The linen is also very special – soft and inviting.
Each room contains a complementary mini bar, stocked with carefully selected local drinks – also alcoholic. There is also an expresso machine and kettle.
Every floor has a different country theme. The countries chosen all had an important part to play in early textile trading times with Zurich.
Bathrooms all have bronze taps, fabulous oval mirrors and Grown Alchemist amenities.
We stayed in room 61 on floor India in a beautiful suite:
Another personal tip is room 44 which has a super pretty bathroom layout.
The Cocoon
The Cocoon is a cosy executive lounge/conference room with the latest technology for presentations. It can also be booked for a casual affair, family celebration or simply as a private dining room.
Alternatively as a hotel guest it’s a great hideaway to relax and simply enjoy a drink whilst reading when the weather isn’t good enough to be enjoying the rooftop terrace.
The View
“The View” is the Ambassador Hotel Zurich’s rooftop. Lined with comfy lounges and tables it has got to be the newest hot tip for Summer 2023!
Silk – Eat and Drink
Silk – Eat and Drink is a fabulous open space partially divided via a lounge seating. You can choose to dine throughout both the lounge, restaurant or bar.
An absolute must try are the house special Milk Punches. Unique for the whole of Switzerland, these drinks are made using a cleaning process with milk, the cocktails become crystal clear as soon as they are finally filtered through a silk cloth.
Dinner
Stopping off to find out hotel secrets before we head into he dining room – smile!
The menu is a fusion of different food cultures – also reflecting the different cultures that visited Zurich for silk textile trading in the early 1900’s. Portions are purposefully designed smaller to give clients the opportunity to taste more than one food culture.
Having said this we decided on the sharing platter as a starter and were comfortably full after just having one main each.
What we ate. Hope you’re not hungry as you watch. I can feel my taste buds watering all over again – smile.
The wine list is certainly not to be forgotten with a brilliant selection of beautiful wines at very reasonable prices. In fact we saw a wine which we had at another Zurich restaurant the night before going for 30% less here.
Breakfast
The Ambassador Hotel Zürich is the only place in town where you can enjoy an all day breakfast every day until 4pm.
A house specialty is to order the layered breakfast pictured above but you can also choose to simply order stand alone dishes.
Conclusion:
The newly renovated Ambassador Hotel Zürich truly is a pearl in the heart of the city. Perfect for culture lovers visiting the Opera or Art gallery. Also perfect if you are doing a city trip to Zurich. Once again I feel the need to reiterate the super friendly staff which really do make a difference.
Rooms are light, airy with great attention to detail. My secret tip is to book room No. 44.
For more Swiss Travel tips see here.
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All photos taken by and property of FunkyForty GmbH.
