The Marktgasse (rooms from CHF 234), in the centre of Zurich, is everything you want from a boutique hotel. Housed in two restored buildings that date back to 1291, its walls still show snippets of 16th-century friezes. Yet the mid-century furniture brings it up to the age of the modern traveller. Beautiful flowers from Urs Bergmann Florist adorn the light lobby and bedrooms. There are water stations on every floor with marble basins and carafes and glasses aplenty. With health in mind, cloth jogging maps are given out in every room, which were used on the first morning to explore the stunning riverside. Choose the junior suite with a terrace overlooking the dreaming spires and mountains beyond.