City venue guide

The 10 best wedding venues in Zurich

Zurich weddings divide between the old town, the hills either side of it, and the lake. In the centre couples take the 1636 guild rooms of the Zunfthaus zur Waag on the Münsterhof, the Storchen's terrace over the Limmat, or the private park at Baur au Lac, while the two hilltop hotels — the Dolder Grand on the Adlisberg and Uto Kulm on the Uetliberg summit — hold the view end of the market. The industrial option runs to Giesserei Oerlikon, a metal foundry of 1910, and Kraftwerk, a former substation at Selnau a few minutes from the main station; further out are the garden at Thalwil, the Gold Coast shore at Herrliberg and Schloss Rapperswil at the head of the lake. One rule shapes every plan here: Swiss law recognises only a civil ceremony before a registrar, so the venue is where you celebrate rather than where you sign.

Researched and last reviewed 2026-08-17. We have no commercial relationship with any venue listed.

Zurich, Switzerland — where couples marry — Zurich · Photo: Thomas Wolf , www.foto-tw.de · CC BY-SA 3.0 de

The Dolder Grand — wedding venue in Zurich, Switzerland

Photo: NOTE: This image is a panorama consisting of multiple frames that were merged or stitched in software. As a result, this image necessarily underwent some form o · CC BY-SA 4.0

No. I

The Dolder Grand

Grand hotelAdlisberg, above Zurich270 at dinner in the Ballroom; 400 in the Gallery

Jacques Gros designed the original building as a curhaus in 1899, and its towers still anchor the property; everything added after that date came off during the Norman Foster rebuild that finished in 2008 and put two new wings on the restored core. Couples take either the 400-square-metre Ballroom, which seats 270 under a cupola that can be lit to any colour and has parquet laid for dancing, or the Gallery at 715 square metres, which banquets 400. The Garden Salons open onto terraces facing the city, the lake and the Alps, and the wedding party sleeps upstairs — worth something, given the hotel sits on a wooded hill fifteen minutes above the centre.

1899 curhaus rebuilt by Norman Foster

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Baur au Lac — wedding venue in Zurich, Switzerland

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No. II

Baur au Lac

Grand hotelTalstrasse, at the foot of Lake ZurichUp to 300 in Le Petit Palais with Salons I and II

The park is the argument for this one — an enclosed private garden at the point where the Schanzengraben canal reaches the lake, screened from the traffic that runs past every other city hotel and used for open-air vows and drinks through the warm months. Le Petit Palais has been the ballroom since the hotel opened in 1844: mirrored, chandeliered, with a gallery above the floor and a pair of staircases running down into it that couples time their entrance to. Open the two adjoining salons and the room takes 300. Zurich books it when the brief is formal and the guest list expects to be left alone.

Private park and an 1844 ballroom

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Zunfthaus zur Waag — wedding venue in Zurich, Switzerland

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No. III

Zunfthaus zur Waag

Historic guild houseMünsterhof 8, old town15 to 130, depending on the room

Built in 1636 for the guild of wool and linen weavers, bleachers and hatters, this is one of only a handful of buildings in the city licensed for a legally binding civil ceremony outside the Stadthaus. Three panelled rooms take bookings: the Zunftsaal runs the full width of the façade on the third floor and seats up to 130, the Zunftstube below it 60, and the Waagstübli fifteen — the couple, the witnesses and nobody else. The kitchen downstairs does the catering, and the Fraumünster stands across the square, which puts the gap between signing and lunch at about two minutes' walk.

Licensed ceremony rooms, guild house of 1636

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No. IVStorchen Zürich

No. IV

Storchen Zürich

Riverside hotelWeinplatz, on the Limmat100 at round tables in La Rôtisserie; 200 standing

The house appears in Zurich's tax roll for 1357, at the point where the Limmat narrows and the crossing carried the traffic through town, and the hotel has held the Weinplatz ever since. La Rôtisserie is the room most weddings use: 150 square metres, 100 at round tables or 200 for a standing party, with the Grossmünster in the windows opposite. Behind it the Salon Littéraire and Limmatsaal add 86 square metres under a stuccoed ceiling, seating 56. What people actually book is the terrace cantilevered out over the water — and it only runs May to October, which decides the date more often than the room does.

Terrace over the Limmat facing the Grossmünster

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UTO KULM — wedding venue in Zurich, Switzerland

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No. V

UTO KULM

Mountain hotelUetliberg summit, 871 mUp to 600 guests across the banquet rooms

Everything here follows from the 871 metres: the summit is car-free, guests come up by train and walk the last stretch, and the ceremony can be held outdoors with the city, the lake and the Alps underneath it. The hotel keeps 45 rooms and nine suites, a sun terrace and a winter garden for smaller sit-down dinners, with a viewing tower in front of the building for the group photograph; the banquet rooms together handle up to 600. Wedding menus are quoted from ten covers up, so a party of a dozen is as welcome as a party of two hundred. One date-critical detail: between 29 April and 18 October 2026 the S10 starts at Zurich Selnau, not the Hauptbahnhof.

Car-free summit, city and Alps below

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No. VIGiesserei Oerlikon

No. VI

Giesserei Oerlikon

Former foundryBirchstrasse 108, Zurich-OerlikonTen rooms, from 12 to 320 guests each

Nyffenegger & Co. cast metal in this Oerlikon hall from 1910 until the firm moved out in 1996; an artist took the empty building on as a studio, the parties that followed turned into a licensed restaurant business in 1999, and Alfredo Häberli and David Joho rebuilt the Workshop, the Subclub and a terrace in 2005. Ten rooms let separately and combine in most directions — Metalli at 320 square metres takes 320, the Workshop 220, the Cynar Room and the Cheminée 200 apiece, the Library twelve. Two terraces, one of them on the silo, cover the aperitif, and the Subclub in the basement takes the night to its end. Oerlikon station is roughly ten minutes on foot, which is more than most Zurich venues can say at two in the morning.

1910 foundry with ten combinable rooms

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Kraftwerk — wedding venue in Zurich, Switzerland

Photo: Andréas Hagström · Public domain

No. VII

Kraftwerk

Former power stationSelnaustrasse 25, by Bahnhof Selnau100 seated, 500 standing in the event space

Shipping containers stacked inside the old Selnau substation give the place its shape, and the 1934 command room survives behind them with its original switchboard — it lets by the hour and holds 25 to 50, which makes it an unusually good room for the small symbolic ceremony. The 190-square-metre event space seats 100 at dinner, 160 in rows or holds 500 for a party, with a terrace outside for another 100. The kitchen is vegetarian and regionally sourced, a selling point to some families and a negotiation with others, so raise it in the first conversation rather than the last. The building works as a co-working space on weekdays, so Saturdays are the dates to chase.

Container stack around a 1934 command room

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No. VIIITraumgarten

No. VIII

Traumgarten

Garden venueZürcherstrasse 63, Thalwil150 at the willow temple; up to 200 seated in the tent

Twenty thousand square metres of mature garden at the edge of Thalwil, laid out among old trees on the western shore about fifteen minutes from the city. Ceremonies go in the Weidentempel, a living willow structure seating up to 150, and dinner moves into a white marquee that takes 200 at tables. A wooden pavilion beside the natural swimming pond handles the aperitif and the barbecue for up to 60, and a small bar sits out on a jetty over the water. Parking stops at about 25 cars, so budget for a shuttle from Thalwil station — and check the year first, because the garden's own listing says it is taking no bookings for 2027 while it rebuilds.

Ceremonies inside a living willow temple

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No. IXSeehaus Herrliberg

No. IX

Seehaus Herrliberg

Lakefront restaurantSeestrasse, Herrliberg, Gold Coast

Herrliberg is fifteen minutes down the eastern shore — the side Zurich calls the Gold Coast because it takes the afternoon sun — and the Seehaus stands on the water there rather than across a road from it. The restaurant hosts the wedding and the Seeloft above it is a single lakeside suite, so the couple can stay the night where the party was. Water access is direct enough that guests genuinely do arrive by boat, and Herrliberg-Feldmeilen station is a short walk for everybody who does not. Capacities are not published, so ask for them in writing before you commit to a guest list.

On the water, arrive by boat

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Schloss Rapperswil — wedding venue in Zurich, Switzerland

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No. X

Schloss Rapperswil

CastleRapperswil-Jona, head of Lake Zurich60 in the small Rittersaal; up to 200 in the large one

The counts of Rapperswil raised this on a rocky spur above the old town around 1220, using sandstone quarried on the island of Lützelau; Zurich's mayor Rudolf Brun burned it in 1350 and it was standing again within four years. The small Rittersaal seats 60 and is the room the town uses for civil ceremonies, on Fridays and the first two Saturdays of the month; the large Rittersaal banquets 180 or seats 200 at tables, and the courtyard absorbs 300 standing. Water lies on three sides of the promontory, so the view runs the length of the lake back towards the city. One operator holds the catering outright and takes no outside firms, which reduces the supplier question to a menu tasting. Thirty-five kilometres out, direct on the S-Bahn.

Thirteenth-century castle above the lake

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Marrying in Zurich?

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Tell us where you’re marrying in Zurich, Switzerlandand we’ll build the invitation around it — the venue’s own colours, an illustration of the building if you want one, your map and timings already in place. One link for every guest, with live RSVPs.

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Planning a wedding in Zurich

The legal marriage happens in a registry room and nowhere else — in the city that means the Trauzimmer at the Stadthaus, which seats about ten guests and is over in minutes, or the licensed rooms at the Zunfthaus zur Waag and the Weinschenke at the Hotel Hirschen; whatever a hotel or garden stages afterwards is symbolic, so plan the day around two appointments. Ceremonies in Zurich are conducted in German, and if either of you cannot follow the proceedings you must bring an interpreter as well as your two witnesses, both over eighteen. Transport is usually the easy part, but check the details: the S10 up to Uetliberg starts from Zurich Selnau rather than the Hauptbahnhof between 29 April and 18 October 2026, while that stretch of line is rebuilt, and the Storchen's river terrace only operates from May to October.

When to marry — July is the strongest month on the numbers, with close to 230 hours of sunshine and warm evenings, and September is the sensible alternative — less daylight, but the lowest rainfall of the warm season, whereas June is in fact the wettest month of the Zurich year.
What it costs — Swiss wedding budgets cluster between CHF 25,000 and CHF 55,000 for 60 to 80 guests, with catering alone at roughly CHF 150 to 300 a head — Zurich sits at the top of that band, and the landmark hotels quote room hire as a line separate from food, so the first figure you are quoted is rarely the bill.

Once the venue is settled, the next thing most couples deal with is telling everyone. A digital wedding invitation carries the address, a map, your timings and a live RSVP on one link — which matters more than usual when guests are travelling to Zurich and need directions, and plenty of notice.

Questions

Marrying in Zurich: your questions.

Can we legally marry in Zurich if neither of us lives in Switzerland?

Yes. Switzerland imposes no residency requirement, which puts it in a small group of European countries where two foreign nationals can contract a full legal marriage while visiting — you do not need a separate civil ceremony at home first, though it is worth confirming your own country will register the Swiss certificate. Where both of you live abroad, the registry office in the place you intend to marry runs the preparatory procedure, and you normally start it through the Swiss embassy or consulate where you live; allow around five weeks for processing. You will need birth certificates, passports and, where relevant, divorce decrees or a previous spouse's death certificate, with translations, plus two witnesses over eighteen on the day. The civil ceremony itself costs in the region of CHF 300 to 400.

Can the ceremony take place at the venue we have booked?

Not the legal one. A Swiss marriage is valid only when performed by a registrar in a designated ceremony room, so in the city that means the Trauzimmer at the Stadthaus or the licensed rooms at the Zunfthaus zur Waag and the Weinschenke in the Hotel Hirschen; out at Rapperswil the castle's small Rittersaal serves the same function on set days. Anything staged at the Dolder Grand, in the Traumgarten's willow temple or on the Storchen terrace is a symbolic ceremony — widely done, and often the emotional centre of the day, but it carries no legal weight. Most couples sign in the morning with a handful of guests, then reconvene at the venue, which is why Zurich venues are relaxed about a mid-afternoon start.

What does a Zurich wedding actually cost?

Swiss couples generally land between CHF 25,000 and CHF 55,000 for 60 to 80 guests, and catering is the single biggest line at roughly CHF 150 to 300 a head before drinks packages are added. Zurich is the most expensive market in the country, so treat those figures as a floor rather than a midpoint, and note that the hotels quote room hire separately from food while venues like Giesserei Oerlikon and Schloss Rapperswil tie you to an in-house or exclusive caterer, which removes the option of shopping the food around. Add the registry fee, and budget for guest transport if you are marrying up the Uetliberg or out on the lake.

We have 180 guests — which Zurich venues actually take that?

Fewer than the listings suggest, because the historic city venues are the small ones. The Storchen's largest room seats 100 at tables, and the old-town guild rooms stop at 130, so anything above about 150 pushes you towards the hotels or the industrial spaces: the Dolder Grand's Ballroom banquets 270 and its Gallery 400, Baur au Lac reaches 300 with the salons opened up, Giesserei Oerlikon's Metalli hall takes 320, and Uto Kulm handles up to 600. Outdoors, the Traumgarten marquee seats 200 and Schloss Rapperswil's large Rittersaal 180 to 200. Book Saturdays in July and August well over a year ahead — that is the narrow window when the terraces, gardens and mountain views all work.

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Marrying in Zurich?

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The 10 best wedding venues in Zurich

Researched and last reviewed 2026-08-17. We have no commercial relationship with any venue listed.

Planning a wedding in Zurich

When to marry — July is the strongest month on the numbers, with close to 230 hours of sunshine and warm evenings, and September is the sensible alternative — less daylight, but the lowest rainfall of the warm season, whereas June is in fact the wettest month of the Zurich year.

What it costs — Swiss wedding budgets cluster between CHF 25,000 and CHF 55,000 for 60 to 80 guests, with catering alone at roughly CHF 150 to 300 a head — Zurich sits at the top of that band, and the landmark hotels quote room hire as a line separate from food, so the first figure you are quoted is rarely the bill.