Widder Hotel, Widder Bar Zurich: 650 whiskies and no reservations

Q: Do I have to stay at the Widder Hotel to drink at the bar?

No. A bar that takes no bookings1 has no list at the door, for hotel guests or anyone else.

Q: What do I pay on a Jazz Night?

Nothing at the door4. The bill is whatever you order from the card.

Q: Is there a non-alcoholic cocktail?

Yes, 4, at CHF 20 each2: Jamais Vu, Mini-Me-Mosa, Guava Libre and Raspberry Fields.

Q: Is the Widder Bar the same as the Widder Restaurant?

No. The restaurant is a separate room13 with its own tasting menu and bookings; the bar is the place for walking in.

Widder Bar in Zurich keeps over 650 whiskies and no reservations: you walk in, room or no room, and take the seat you find. Cocktails start at CHF 24, and the doors open at noon every day.

Updated 1 November 20265 min readHow we write the guide

Widder Bar: the long curved wooden bar with red leather stools, red leather armchairs, and shelves of bottles under painted beams

A drink or a booked table

Why Widder Bar

Whisky flights of 3 start at CHF 18, and the Smokey one sets Bowmore beside Octomore and Ardbeg Kelpie for CHF 50.

Prices

When to look elsewhere

A table held in your name needs another room: Boucherie AuGust, also the Widder’s, takes bookings, with hot food until 9.30pm.

Other rooms

Old beams, red leather, a blue wall

The bar sits in a hotel made of 9 medieval townhouses⁷: old wooden beams overhead, red leather seats and a wall of lapis lazuli¹.

Behind the counter stand more than 1,200 spirits¹ besides the whisky, and the dearest pour on the card is Glenfiddich 50 years at CHF 2,000 for 1 cl³.

Top 500 Bars ranks it number 1 across Germany, Austria and Switzerland¹, and the city knows it for the legendary sets of the jazz masters who played here.

Widder Bar, from noon to the last whisky

Noon

Food from the first hour

The bar menu runs until 11pm², from olives and Sbrinz to the lobster roll.

Tuesday, 6.30pm

Jazz Nights

Next up: Christoph Grab’s trio on 10 November, Sketches on 24 November, Martin Lechner on 8 December, Cinzia Catania and Joram Ronel on 15 December⁴. Nobody can hold you a seat, so come early.

Other nights

The piano

The bar keeps its live piano¹: ask which evenings it plays.

Wednesday to Saturday

Behind the counter

The Bar Tour⁵, CHF 175 a person with 5 drinks and the boat, for 2 to 4 people from 5pm, starts at Alex Lake Zürich, crosses the lake and ends here, where you mix 2 cocktails with the staff.

Getting to Widder Bar

Zurich’s main station is 650 metres away: 500 metres along Bahnhofstrasse, then left into Rennweg.

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Widder BarWidder Hotel, Rennweg 7, in the Old Town
RennwegTram stop for lines 6, 7, 11 and 13

What Widder Bar costs

The October 2026 cards, in Swiss francs, with 8.1% VAT in the price.

From the bar card

Sparkling cocktails: CHF 24 to 25, such as Master Pu-Erh with Hendrick’s and Perrier-Jouët
Refreshing and intense cocktails: CHF 24 to 26, and Kanzen with Hibiki 21 at CHF 199
Perrier-Jouët Grand Brut: CHF 24 for 1 dl; beer on tap CHF 8 to 10
Whisky flights at 1 cl a pour: Master Blender CHF 18, Swiss CHF 20, Rarities CHF 64
Bar food: olives and Sbrinz CHF 19, Currywurst CHF 24, Widder Burger CHF 39, lobster roll CHF 55

Widder Bar’s address and card

Address	Rennweg 7, 8001 Zurich
Flights	Each has 3 whiskies; 2 cl a pour costs about double: Swiss Flight CHF 38
From the airport	Under 15 minutes by train to the main station

If you are staying at the Widder

Black sofas in a Widder sitting room, among wood panelling and artworks

Hotel guests with a table booked at Alex Lake Zürich, Restaurant Buech or Storchen Zürich travel free⁸ by private boat or limousine shuttle, and get the fast lane at THE NEST, Storchen’s rooftop bar.

All the rooms at the Widder

Widder Bar or the hotel’s tables

Room	Open	What for
Widder Hotel, Widder Bar	Every day from noon	Cocktails, whisky, bar food
Boucherie AuGust	Every day 11.30am–11pm, hot food until 9.30pm	Meat loaf, terrines, tartare; bookable
Soï 28	Monday, Thursday, Friday 12–2pm and 6–10pm; Saturday 12–4pm and 6–10pm; Sunday 6–10pm	Street food; bookable
Widder Wonder Garden	6 November to 23 January, Tuesday to Saturday: gondolas 5.30–8pm and 8.30–10.30pm; closed Tuesdays in January	Fondue in 8 gondolas, drinks from 4pm

On designated shopping Sundays Widder Wonder Garden opens from 1pm to 10pm¹², and its dates run to 23 January 2027⁹.

Questions about Widder Bar

Do I have to stay at the Widder Hotel to drink at the bar?

No. A bar that takes no bookings¹ has no list at the door, for hotel guests or anyone else.

What do I pay on a Jazz Night?

Nothing at the door⁴. The bill is whatever you order from the card.

Is there a non-alcoholic cocktail?

Yes, 4, at CHF 20 each²: Jamais Vu, Mini-Me-Mosa, Guava Libre and Raspberry Fields.

Is the Widder Bar the same as the Widder Restaurant?

No. The restaurant is a separate room¹³ with its own tasting menu and bookings; the bar is the place for walking in.

Pick a Tuesday in the jazz calendar and arrive early

See the Jazz Nights

We wrote this on our own: Widder Hotel reads it as you do. We sell no rooms: the links go where we read it.

Where we read it