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Winterthur Travel Guide

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Winterthur [1] is Switzerland's 6th biggest city.

Contents

Understand

In the late 19. and early 20. century, local companies such as Rieter and Sulzer turned the formally quiet little town into a booming industrial city with an incredible wealth and ever-growing workforce. Diesel engines built in Winterthur powered large ships on all seven seas, while Winterthur-built textile appliances were in service worldwide.

Starting in the 1970's and 80's, blue collar jobs started to be outsourced to countries with lower wages and unemployment rose in Winterthur. Factories were standing still and entire neighborhoods turned into "ghost towns".

However, the IT and Telco boom as well as smart decisions by the local authorities have helped to redevelop those areas into new economy and urban lifestyle areas with many offices, restaurants, schools and even a go-kart racing track.

Winterthur has also positioned itself as a city of culture with many different museums, among them the Oskar Reinhart Museum am Römerholz with modern art, the Technorama science center and the Fotostiftung Schweiz for Swiss and European photography.

Get in

By train

There are direct trains from Zurich, Zurich Airport, Bern, St. Gallen, Schaffhausen, and Stuttgart. Winterthur is only 20 minutes away from Zurich or 15 minutes from the Zurich Airport.

Timetables

By car

Use the highway from Zurich, St.Gallen or Schaffhausen.

Get around

Public Transport

On Public Transport in the canton of Zurich is useful information on getting around and what to do in the canton of Zurich. Use the Swiss Federal Railway Site for Public transport and its fares in Switzerland.

Local car rentals

  • There is Mietauto AG in Töss take Bus 1 to the Endstation and then its about 10 minutes to walk and
  • Künzli Autovermietung AG at the Railway-Station in Oberwinterthur
  • Hertz is right in the City-Centre at the Kasernengarage.

See

There are 17 museums in Winterthur. Here you can find more.

  • Swiss Science Centre. A good place to spend a rainy day with kids. Lots of hands on experiments. http://www.technorama.ch
  • The Oskar Reinhart Collection (Am Römerholz). Comprises around 200 works by European artists spanning the period from late Gothic to the threshold of modern art, with particular emphasis on 19th century French painting.
  • Kyburg Castel. A castle, first mentioned in 1024. Now it's a museum.
  • Rhine Falls. Europe's largest waterfall. Take train S33 (Winterthur-Schaffhausen) about 30 minutes. From Easter to end of October get of the train at 'Schloss Laufen' otherwise leave the train at 'Neuhausen'. http://www.rhinefalls.com/

Do

Learn

The most famous school of Winterthur is by far the ZHW - Zürcher Hochschule Winterthur, which offers mostly technician courses. They also offer some limited language courses. Contact them on their website, if you're interested in take some study in Winterthur. http://www.zhwin.ch/

Eat

Budget

Try the Migros Restaurant (nice Wintergarden) at the Neuwiesencenter or the Coop Restaurant in the Manor Shopping Center on the 4th floor. Bouth self service and close to the railway station. For Take-Away food, you can also go for Migros (same place as Restaurant) and have some salad or noodles, usually around 6 CHF. They have a small coffee there, in which you're welcome to enjoy the food. They also offer Pizza, Sandwiches and other Food, like the famous swiss "Wähe", which is looking like Pizza but can have a different taste, from sweet over salty to spicy. Give it a try, if you like some swiss food, and not international fast-food. McDonalds, on the other side of the bus station right at the train station, offers you the usual food you're used to everywhere. Keep in mind that a menu costs you somewhere between 11 to 14 CHF, so a visit in Migros Restaurant is usually cheaper. Different Kebab Take-away places, giving you a large variety of mostly Turkish specialities. For a regular "Döner Kebap", you will pay somewhere between 8 and 9 CHF.

Mid-range

Splurge

Schloss Wülflingen

Drink

Sleep

Budget

Mid-range

Hotel Ibis (From central station take bus Nr. 1 Töss-bound till "Loki")

Splurge

Contact

  • Stadtbibliothek am Kirchplatz (City Library), Obere Kirchgasse 6. Some PC's with free access to the Internet. Lots of magazines and newspapers.

Cope

Get out

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