Welcome to beautiful Zurich, the largest city in Switzerland. On the northern end of the Swiss Alps, Zurich is a scenic center of commerce and research. BuildSys is located in the CAB building up the street from the ETH main building. BuildSys is held in the CABinett room F21-26. Just enter through the main entrance, climb the first set of stairs and take the aisle to the left. The building is in walking distance from the Main station (15 minutes) and from many of the conference hotels listed on the registration page. You will have beautiful views of the lake and the surrounding mountains right from the ETH CAB Building.
Public Transport, Airport and Hotels
Zurich airport (ZRH)
Zurich airport is located to the north of Zurich and easily accessible via public transportation.
Travelling by train
Zurich can be conveniently reached by train from the major cities in Germany, France, Italy and Austria.
Public transportation - tickets and fares
Public transportation is very convenient, typically a station is very close. Public transportation typically runs from 5.30am till about midnight. The city of Zurich is divided into fare zones. Depending on where you travel to, you need to pay a different amount depending on the number of zones you are passing. At the vending machine you have to enter the destination and whether your ticket is valid for 1 or 24 hours. Most of Zurich is within zone 10. Special (outside) locations such as the airport require a 3-zone ticket. Tickets must be purchased before boarding and can be used for trains, trams, buses and ship within the validity range of your ticket. For more information see the homepage of Zurich public transportation. We can recommend the Zurich Card. The Zurich Card is valid for 72 hours and allows you to travel within zone 10 and all surrounding zones (including the airport).
From the airport to the main station (“Zürich HB”)
If you travel from the airport to the city centre (Main Station, in german: “Zürich HB”), you should travel by S-Bahn or train. The trains leave from the station “Zürich Flughafen”. The train station in the airport is on the lower floor. You may take any train heading to “Zürich HB” (Main Station). Journey time: about 10 minutes
From the airport to ETH
The tram station is in front of the airport building. Take tram no. 10 (direction Bahnhofplatz/HB) to tram stop “ETH/Universitätsspital”. The airport tram operates daily from 6 am to 11 pm. with trams departing every 7 to 15 minutes. Journey time: 30 minutes
From and to the hotels
Information on the hotels can be found on the registration page.
Hotel Alexander Guesthouse and Hotel Limmathof are in short walking distance from the Main Station (to ETH approx 15 min). Hotel Comfort Inn Royal and Hotel Sunnehus are in short walking distance to ETH (approx 5 min). For Hotel St. Georges you walk to the tram station Stauffacher. From there you can take a tram. For Hotel Ibis Zürich City-West, you walk to station Hardbrücke. There are regular trains to the Main Station.
Getting to the Workshop Site from the Main Station
The conference is located in the ETH Main Building (german: “ETH Hauptgebäude”). You can see an overview of the conference site at the ETH webpage. If you take public transport, you need a ticket for zone 10.
From tram stop “Bahnhofstrasse/HB”
Tram no. 6 (direction Zoo) to tram stop “ETH/Universitätsspital”. Journey time: about 6 minutes
From tram stop “Bahnhofplatz/HB”
Tram no. 10 (direction Flughafen or Bahnhof Oerlikon) to tram stop “ETH/Universitätsspital” Journey time: about 8 minutes
From tram stop “Central”
Polybahn (departing every 3 minutes) to the Polyterrasse. Walking takes approx. 10-15 minutes.
Power adapter
Switzerland predominantly uses Type J-power plug. Type C (Europlug 2.5 A/250 V ungrounded) work as well. They all run on 220v. Bring a converter and check out the wikipedia entry.
Currency
The swiss franc (CHF) is the currency of Switzerland. The smaller denomination, a hundredth of a franc, is called “Rappen“ in German. 100CHF costs 96USD or 75Euro as of August 19.
Finding your way around
As Google has an office in Zurich, we have all the nice features in Google Maps that one needs: Walking directions and directions with the public transport are available. Additionally, most of downtown Zurich has street view data. This facilitates getting around. Public transportation maps and schedules can be found at the ZVV page. Specifically, a network plan of public transport around ETH and Main Station can be found at http://www.zvv.ch/en/routes-and-zones/city-zurich-network.html.
Touristic activities
Coming to Zurich offers the possibility to visit beautiful Switzerland. For information on activities in Zurich refer to Zurich Tourism. For information on Switzerland visit My Switzerland.